Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140718 : c

Includes the upset is a dealing with these delphi switches and their ability to i dignify delivery of parts for testing purposes. Taken together this evidence with them to indicate the problem was greater than we would initially be led to believe, now that the ignition switch issues come to light, have you gone back and reviewed these concerns and determine what they will do in the future . We did go back and look extensively at the documentation and we found nothing that was abnormal in terms of Product Development and also what you run into as you move from development to production and etc. So as ive read our product met the requirements and it entered and ignition Assembly System that had other products our product the acquirement and when they come together they form a system and as was said earlier, making sure that those products work in total harmony when they come together and so weve gone back and understood that. And so this includes part by part and we totally embrace that and we are diligently with General Motors. In 2006 they change the ignition switch and is it a common practice . In 2013 we have about 120,000 changes, engineering changes and only about 40 of those had an actual change. Thank you very much. Senator blunt . Thank you. In your report, under the legal team know about this problem . When did they first learn of the fact that they had airbag women issues . I think that if you go back it probably wouldve been in the range of 2007 and it was called to their attention and they began an inquiry about that to the investigator assigned by the gm legal team and when did they know about the ignition switch problem . It developed over it. Lack of time and as i have said, this matter was being called to their attention in the two may have been as early as 2009 or 2010. How long have you been the chief counsel . Of the middle 2009. When did you first find out . Ive been with the company. See where any legal side of the company before that . Yes, sir react when did you find out about these two. The first week of february of this year. How is that possible that no one wouldve told you before the first week of february this year this and talking to other lawyers who have had involvement. Theres a lot of a connection made in this nondeployment of air bags. And i think it all came together for the lawyers at the time of the deposition in 2013 and this includes people who can take action caused the organizations to take action. They did not, that was tragic, its been brought to my attention at that time. From the time that they have taken action until now. Im basing it on the data and i believe that was in april of 2013. Im going to ask predominance while but will this kind of probably allowed to happen again and what will be the ability to prevent that from happening again . Before any case can be settled were taken to trial, involving a fatality or injury coming to me regardless of the amount of the element proposal, i want to brought to me with a full explanation of the case and a focus on any open engineering issues so that i have an opportunity to take these issues if theyre not being properly addressed. Is there any way to trigger this if you have a fatality . There other things that ive done to make sure theres a flow of information that would also bring to my attention cases on a more regular basis. Is it your view that changes have been made that would prevent what has happened from ever happening again . I believe that the answer is yes and one of the things that has happened here is the flow of information which are able to identify in this instance, the trends so that the Engineering Department was in acting on it and the Legal Department would be in the position to push that enforce that take place. Have employees been let go because of this . You have to address that. Are any of the employees challenging their dismissal . Theyre not. One must question. Recalling lots of cars, i think 25 million, why would there be so many recalls and and im not suggesting thats a that thats a bad thing, but that is a high number. When we learned what happened, we immediately redoubled our efforts and went and looked at a number of places and we tackled all of those and we ran back extensively and looked at information that we had to see that we could more quickly put together turn. We also as it relates to every safety item that the gentleman had every responsibility for, we assessed this and there is not even any field information to suggest there is an issue. As we do this, simply by an insert into this, we could make the system more robust than and we did that and we are intent upon a company known for our safety and this is an important step and we will continue to look for the items to make sure that we have a company that is dedicated to the safety of our vehicles. I thought of one final question for those employees that were dismissed, were any of those employees given Retirement Benefits or a salary that they had not previously earned called packaging now . Yes, they were. That could explain why they are not challenging their dismissal and that is all i have. Thank you, senator. Thank you, madam chairman. I would like to ask the gentleman. You have been the general will come as i understand it, since july 2009. July 20, 2009. And youve had a long legal career at gm . That is correct. Wanting the deeply troubles me is an important regulator for gm. As i understand it there response into a number of complaints regarding this matter, this is in terms of inquiries made about problems in this specific issue, the Attorney Client privilege and the answers were things like we had not asked the case and gm is opting not to respond. And i guess i have a question, are these complaints brought to your attention and the response of the company to these complaints . On multiple occasions, lawyers of the report to me, they have brought safely concerns to my attention. Looking at some of my emails of alaska with years, theres been frequent occasions that they have brought this up to my attention, including some of the lawyers that we had to let go, so there was a clear understanding in terms of my expectation of the kinds of issues that need to be brought to my attention and for some reason i did that did not happen here and thats very troubling to me. That is why i am doing the things im doing to make sure that im Going Forward. Not only were you not notified according to her testimony about the potential for unitive damages and that that potential, but also in terms of what i understand were complaints that were brought forward about this matter and you were not informed about those either . The reports were mentioned in a newspaper yesterday and i looked at when those reports were given. Was there one in 2009 that was involving this crash . Im saying that there was one when i was general counsel their and that did not come to my attention. So that is not something brought to attention. What was the companys response to that he . I dont remember what the companys response to that specific complaint was. But if i remember this correctly the initial thought based on an investigation that was done was that it was the response that wasnt attorneyclient privilege, that there was a response, that there was a refusal to answer the Regulatory Agency in that regard and the absolute shocking that you would be the general counsel and what that company would respond with in regards to this and that includes the Regulatory Agency in terms of public eesti and that you wouldnt have known and i also see a consistent pattern of gm refusing to answer this. Im looking forward to also hearing from them because i think that there was am serious lapses of responsibility by the Regulatory Agency because they should have refused to accept your answers and those not answering, asserting the attorneyclient privilege, refusing under circumstances that i dont know how you can accept that and be able to use they the public youre going to protect peoples eesti. So given that this pattern with punitive issue, how it wouldnt have come to your attention based on the 2009 crash where a young woman was killed and was quite shocking that you wouldnt have understood that. And its interesting that you hold this position or get this critical information from a regulator. Thank you for being here again. Im sure that you are familiar with this and it has appeared in many areas around the country. The key to safety is removing weight from the keychain until the car is repaired, there have been egregious delays in the delivery of those who want to repair those cars. The key to safety and my view is to take these cars off the road and not taking them off the chain. So i hope you will work with the gentleman who is right next to you so they can be sure that these are prepared and made safe. And so i also hope the will expand the Compensation Fund to vehicles that were in crashes as a result of effective ignition switches beyond the 2. 6 million that have been recalled, including the millions more that gm has acknowledged and the cost at least three deaths and many injuries and theres no view the entries resulting from those crashes so i hope you will consider extending this and im glad that theres no cap to it. But both by fairness and equity and accountability, they are powerfully part of this effective because of exactly the same part. So with all due respect, if gm is serious about changing its culture and imposing a new era of truth telling, it is with your Legal Department. Lawyers are responsible for being the conscience of the company for this in spirit and in this incident, the lawyers enabled purposeful concealment and cover up and possible criminal actions that is the subject of investigation. I know that you have responsibility to choose your own team and my team has to change right now and the buck stops at this empty desk. And so i know that you say that you wish you had done it differently. And would you agree that gm should unseal all of those elements involving the millions of dollars, a secret settlement that could have saved lives if they had from the beginning. Will you agree to waive and this includes people suing gm in court because of what was granted during the bankruptcy proceeding and the taxpayers that build about. We have done that already. Would you allow this against the company or pre2009 . We have done not with a protocol. What if someone does this . We will not. I have a couple of other questions, would you agree to make public all the documents available to you . We will not. Will you agree to agree to have all those 50 people under confidentiality agreements not to talk to you in order to overcome that . The people who were let go in the agreements that they have, they have enabled them that they feel that they need to or to answer any questions that come from any governmental body. What about the public and reporters and the customers as they go to those 15 people and can they answer those questions . And have to take a look at the agreement. Would you wave the confidentiality requirements that they have been awarded to agree with this . I would have to take a look before i could answer that question. I hope that youll come back to this panel with different answers. If not, i would suggest that this company is not well served. Senator . Thank you, madam chair. According to the report in 2004, gm and the Transportation Department had a meeting in which the attendees agreed by themselves and that this was not necessarily a safety problem. Do any of you disagree that members of the public would have rejected this conclusion if they had known about it in a. Let the record show that no one disagrees. Some of these warnings and reports were not publicly disclosed or acted on. Do any of you disagree that if they knew about these reports, it is possible that some of the deaths and injuries caused by this could have been avoided . Guest. Let the record reflect that. In 2007 we asked for and received a document from gm related to the deck content up into wisconsin teenagers and that was made public in may 79. And it was considered repeatedly and it said that the ignition switch prevented this from the point. And they have at other cars and the delegates about the safety defect at that time. And this includes that at the time and it is possible that some of the deaths and injuries could have been avoided. Let the record show that none of the witnesses disagreed. In 2006 and 2007, they receive this related to two fatal crashes involving the gm kobolds and this is described airbag that did not deploy because the ignition switches had turned off. Do any of you disagree but if they had reviewed these are poor at and inform the public about this, it is possible that some of the deaths and injuries could have been avoided. Let the record make it clear that none of the witnesses disagreed. And so i have energy says the calls were important steps in the best way of ensuring that the does not happen to ensure that this transparent in the future. And you cant give me the confidence that they will take more aggressive action in the future. That is why the bill that we have introduced requiring the public availability alerts them to fatality that clued it in turn could include this is so important. We need this to be publicly disclose in the Early Morning system. So i want the public to be able to access this kind of information for it to provide real Early Warnings. Thats gm support the legislation . You and i agree completely on the need to make sure that we are doing everything we can from a safety perspective and we support efforts accessible and useful and we suggest that this will be added to the bill and we think that will be make sure that we get to people with a safety defect and we support this with fatality and Early Warning and protect confidential information from an overall perspective. So we are more than willing to continue to work with you and are often and anything that advances the safety agenda. I think you, thats going to go a long way. And thats the surest way to ensure this will not happen again and i thank you for your focus as well because i dont think that we can conclude this entire process. That is absolutely correct. Thank you. Senator boxer . Thank you. After months of negotiation, the senators and i thank you for your support and i ask unanimous consent to put their letter into this and i will work with you to convince other automakers to follow that lead. Is it all right . That will go on the record. Thank you. A month ago an article was published entitled gm recalls, how gm silenced a whistleblower. Have you seen that article . And i ask unanimous consent to place it in the record. Without objection. A thirdgeneration employee and inspector since 1983 sought to protect gm and the public by bringing safety concerns to light instead of praise and gratitude, i he was met by retribution. He approached a supervisor and his supervisors supervisor because he couldnt get any help and he approached them about a few defect and he noticed they were not even part of his line. And he sued them just gets noticed. His warnings were ignored, his case dismissed and he was transferred to a job with no responsibilities and he calls it a gm version of purgatory. On page 93 heath quoted as saying that he was to involved. After he was clunk will push out of the job for doing just that. And even this last year 2013 survey of gm employees show that employees are reluctant to report misconduct and some fear retaliation. So this is terrible. People die because of this. So im asking you, have you met with all the employees and have you told them that you value honesty and integrity and whistleblowing. Senator boxer, on june 5 i have an employee meeting that thousands were live in the room as we talk to them and share the results of this report which i personally found disturbing and troubling. And that was broadcast globally and we have since communicated this. I will stop and say congratulations and could you send your speech and also part of the policy of the company and im sure that you have all this . Because i think that that is really important. Picking up on where the senator was going with this article in the New York Times. My documents show that gm kept silent and this is extremely disturbing because the senator pointed out these inquiries were called death inquiries. And what you are saying is that even one that was issued under your watch, you never saw it. Is that correct prevent. Just. You never saw this inquiry from those who regulated the Auto Industry in safety . That is correct. Said so who is the person who saw that . I do not know. Did you ask about this issue in your report . No, i did not have. Thank you. I consider it a coverup the manufacturer does not respond about what it knows. Because this was not a casual memo. I agree that we should ask. But they did their job in setting up the initial inquiry. I am shocked and stunned that on one occasion, didnt even go to this . Senator, when i saw the article yesterday, it was all news to me and we have caused a review to be done so the information can be brought forward. You dont know where the inquiry went or who answered it the next america goes to the department of engineering. I think it is called i dont know the name of it. Product investigations. Thank you. Who answered and wrote all those answers . My understanding is that those wouldve been done by an organization that is part of this function is called product investigations. What i can tell you is that now that would not happen. Before you tell me that, i am not done looking at this. You can say this and forget the past. Because people die. So you have to move on and god bless you, you are doing a good job. But we have to find out what happened. So then i went to this office of product investigations. Okay, what we know from the New York Times unless we doubt their reporting, is that one answer is that gm is opting not to respond. I wish that i could talk that way my constituents. And then we have other answers. We cant answer because its attorneyclient privilege. Okay, in another case we have not assessed a and so because i believe it is a coverup and you are firing people, who have you looked at, and who signed off and have you filed it down . I believe that i have. Okay, can you give us the names of the people. I would provide that later, please. That is absolutely fine. So now when an inquiry comes, which department is responsible for reviewing those inquiries . It would go to the Product Development<\/a> and also what you run into as you move from development to production and etc. So as ive read our product met the requirements and it entered and ignition Assembly System<\/a> that had other products our product the acquirement and when they come together they form a system and as was said earlier, making sure that those products work in total harmony when they come together and so weve gone back and understood that. And so this includes part by part and we totally embrace that and we are diligently with General Motors<\/a>. In 2006 they change the ignition switch and is it a common practice . In 2013 we have about 120,000 changes, engineering changes and only about 40 of those had an actual change. Thank you very much. Senator blunt . Thank you. In your report, under the legal team know about this problem . When did they first learn of the fact that they had airbag women issues . I think that if you go back it probably wouldve been in the range of 2007 and it was called to their attention and they began an inquiry about that to the investigator assigned by the gm legal team and when did they know about the ignition switch problem . It developed over it. Lack of time and as i have said, this matter was being called to their attention in the two may have been as early as 2009 or 2010. How long have you been the chief counsel . Of the middle 2009. When did you first find out . Ive been with the company. See where any legal side of the company before that . Yes, sir react when did you find out about these two. The first week of february of this year. How is that possible that no one wouldve told you before the first week of february this year this and talking to other lawyers who have had involvement. Theres a lot of a connection made in this nondeployment of air bags. And i think it all came together for the lawyers at the time of the deposition in 2013 and this includes people who can take action caused the organizations to take action. They did not, that was tragic, its been brought to my attention at that time. From the time that they have taken action until now. Im basing it on the data and i believe that was in april of 2013. Im going to ask predominance while but will this kind of probably allowed to happen again and what will be the ability to prevent that from happening again . Before any case can be settled were taken to trial, involving a fatality or injury coming to me regardless of the amount of the element proposal, i want to brought to me with a full explanation of the case and a focus on any open engineering issues so that i have an opportunity to take these issues if theyre not being properly addressed. Is there any way to trigger this if you have a fatality . There other things that ive done to make sure theres a flow of information that would also bring to my attention cases on a more regular basis. Is it your view that changes have been made that would prevent what has happened from ever happening again . I believe that the answer is yes and one of the things that has happened here is the flow of information which are able to identify in this instance, the trends so that the Engineering Department<\/a> was in acting on it and the Legal Department<\/a> would be in the position to push that enforce that take place. Have employees been let go because of this . You have to address that. Are any of the employees challenging their dismissal . Theyre not. One must question. Recalling lots of cars, i think 25 million, why would there be so many recalls and and im not suggesting thats a that thats a bad thing, but that is a high number. When we learned what happened, we immediately redoubled our efforts and went and looked at a number of places and we tackled all of those and we ran back extensively and looked at information that we had to see that we could more quickly put together turn. We also as it relates to every safety item that the gentleman had every responsibility for, we assessed this and there is not even any field information to suggest there is an issue. As we do this, simply by an insert into this, we could make the system more robust than and we did that and we are intent upon a company known for our safety and this is an important step and we will continue to look for the items to make sure that we have a company that is dedicated to the safety of our vehicles. I thought of one final question for those employees that were dismissed, were any of those employees given Retirement Benefits<\/a> or a salary that they had not previously earned called packaging now . Yes, they were. That could explain why they are not challenging their dismissal and that is all i have. Thank you, senator. Thank you, madam chairman. I would like to ask the gentleman. You have been the general will come as i understand it, since july 2009. July 20, 2009. And youve had a long legal career at gm . That is correct. Wanting the deeply troubles me is an important regulator for gm. As i understand it there response into a number of complaints regarding this matter, this is in terms of inquiries made about problems in this specific issue, the Attorney Client<\/a> privilege and the answers were things like we had not asked the case and gm is opting not to respond. And i guess i have a question, are these complaints brought to your attention and the response of the company to these complaints . On multiple occasions, lawyers of the report to me, they have brought safely concerns to my attention. Looking at some of my emails of alaska with years, theres been frequent occasions that they have brought this up to my attention, including some of the lawyers that we had to let go, so there was a clear understanding in terms of my expectation of the kinds of issues that need to be brought to my attention and for some reason i did that did not happen here and thats very troubling to me. That is why i am doing the things im doing to make sure that im Going Forward<\/a>. Not only were you not notified according to her testimony about the potential for unitive damages and that that potential, but also in terms of what i understand were complaints that were brought forward about this matter and you were not informed about those either . The reports were mentioned in a newspaper yesterday and i looked at when those reports were given. Was there one in 2009 that was involving this crash . Im saying that there was one when i was general counsel their and that did not come to my attention. So that is not something brought to attention. What was the companys response to that he . I dont remember what the companys response to that specific complaint was. But if i remember this correctly the initial thought based on an investigation that was done was that it was the response that wasnt attorneyclient privilege, that there was a response, that there was a refusal to answer the Regulatory Agency<\/a> in that regard and the absolute shocking that you would be the general counsel and what that company would respond with in regards to this and that includes the Regulatory Agency<\/a> in terms of public eesti and that you wouldnt have known and i also see a consistent pattern of gm refusing to answer this. Im looking forward to also hearing from them because i think that there was am serious lapses of responsibility by the Regulatory Agency<\/a> because they should have refused to accept your answers and those not answering, asserting the attorneyclient privilege, refusing under circumstances that i dont know how you can accept that and be able to use they the public youre going to protect peoples eesti. So given that this pattern with punitive issue, how it wouldnt have come to your attention based on the 2009 crash where a young woman was killed and was quite shocking that you wouldnt have understood that. And its interesting that you hold this position or get this critical information from a regulator. Thank you for being here again. Im sure that you are familiar with this and it has appeared in many areas around the country. The key to safety is removing weight from the keychain until the car is repaired, there have been egregious delays in the delivery of those who want to repair those cars. The key to safety and my view is to take these cars off the road and not taking them off the chain. So i hope you will work with the gentleman who is right next to you so they can be sure that these are prepared and made safe. And so i also hope the will expand the Compensation Fund<\/a> to vehicles that were in crashes as a result of effective ignition switches beyond the 2. 6 million that have been recalled, including the millions more that gm has acknowledged and the cost at least three deaths and many injuries and theres no view the entries resulting from those crashes so i hope you will consider extending this and im glad that theres no cap to it. But both by fairness and equity and accountability, they are powerfully part of this effective because of exactly the same part. So with all due respect, if gm is serious about changing its culture and imposing a new era of truth telling, it is with your Legal Department<\/a>. Lawyers are responsible for being the conscience of the company for this in spirit and in this incident, the lawyers enabled purposeful concealment and cover up and possible criminal actions that is the subject of investigation. I know that you have responsibility to choose your own team and my team has to change right now and the buck stops at this empty desk. And so i know that you say that you wish you had done it differently. And would you agree that gm should unseal all of those elements involving the millions of dollars, a secret settlement that could have saved lives if they had from the beginning. Will you agree to waive and this includes people suing gm in court because of what was granted during the bankruptcy proceeding and the taxpayers that build about. We have done that already. Would you allow this against the company or pre2009 . We have done not with a protocol. What if someone does this . We will not. I have a couple of other questions, would you agree to make public all the documents available to you . We will not. Will you agree to agree to have all those 50 people under confidentiality agreements not to talk to you in order to overcome that . The people who were let go in the agreements that they have, they have enabled them that they feel that they need to or to answer any questions that come from any governmental body. What about the public and reporters and the customers as they go to those 15 people and can they answer those questions . And have to take a look at the agreement. Would you wave the confidentiality requirements that they have been awarded to agree with this . I would have to take a look before i could answer that question. I hope that youll come back to this panel with different answers. If not, i would suggest that this company is not well served. Senator . Thank you, madam chair. According to the report in 2004, gm and the Transportation Department<\/a> had a meeting in which the attendees agreed by themselves and that this was not necessarily a safety problem. Do any of you disagree that members of the public would have rejected this conclusion if they had known about it in a. Let the record show that no one disagrees. Some of these warnings and reports were not publicly disclosed or acted on. Do any of you disagree that if they knew about these reports, it is possible that some of the deaths and injuries caused by this could have been avoided . Guest. Let the record reflect that. In 2007 we asked for and received a document from gm related to the deck content up into wisconsin teenagers and that was made public in may 79. And it was considered repeatedly and it said that the ignition switch prevented this from the point. And they have at other cars and the delegates about the safety defect at that time. And this includes that at the time and it is possible that some of the deaths and injuries could have been avoided. Let the record show that none of the witnesses disagreed. In 2006 and 2007, they receive this related to two fatal crashes involving the gm kobolds and this is described airbag that did not deploy because the ignition switches had turned off. Do any of you disagree but if they had reviewed these are poor at and inform the public about this, it is possible that some of the deaths and injuries could have been avoided. Let the record make it clear that none of the witnesses disagreed. And so i have energy says the calls were important steps in the best way of ensuring that the does not happen to ensure that this transparent in the future. And you cant give me the confidence that they will take more aggressive action in the future. That is why the bill that we have introduced requiring the public availability alerts them to fatality that clued it in turn could include this is so important. We need this to be publicly disclose in the Early Morning<\/a> system. So i want the public to be able to access this kind of information for it to provide real Early Warning<\/a>s. Thats gm support the legislation . You and i agree completely on the need to make sure that we are doing everything we can from a safety perspective and we support efforts accessible and useful and we suggest that this will be added to the bill and we think that will be make sure that we get to people with a safety defect and we support this with fatality and Early Warning<\/a> and protect confidential information from an overall perspective. So we are more than willing to continue to work with you and are often and anything that advances the safety agenda. I think you, thats going to go a long way. And thats the surest way to ensure this will not happen again and i thank you for your focus as well because i dont think that we can conclude this entire process. That is absolutely correct. Thank you. Senator boxer . Thank you. After months of negotiation, the senators and i thank you for your support and i ask unanimous consent to put their letter into this and i will work with you to convince other automakers to follow that lead. Is it all right . That will go on the record. Thank you. A month ago an article was published entitled gm recalls, how gm silenced a whistleblower. Have you seen that article . And i ask unanimous consent to place it in the record. Without objection. A thirdgeneration employee and inspector since 1983 sought to protect gm and the public by bringing safety concerns to light instead of praise and gratitude, i he was met by retribution. He approached a supervisor and his supervisors supervisor because he couldnt get any help and he approached them about a few defect and he noticed they were not even part of his line. And he sued them just gets noticed. His warnings were ignored, his case dismissed and he was transferred to a job with no responsibilities and he calls it a gm version of purgatory. On page 93 heath quoted as saying that he was to involved. After he was clunk will push out of the job for doing just that. And even this last year 2013 survey of gm employees show that employees are reluctant to report misconduct and some fear retaliation. So this is terrible. People die because of this. So im asking you, have you met with all the employees and have you told them that you value honesty and integrity and whistleblowing. Senator boxer, on june 5 i have an employee meeting that thousands were live in the room as we talk to them and share the results of this report which i personally found disturbing and troubling. And that was broadcast globally and we have since communicated this. I will stop and say congratulations and could you send your speech and also part of the policy of the company and im sure that you have all this . Because i think that that is really important. Picking up on where the senator was going with this article in the New York Times<\/a>. My documents show that gm kept silent and this is extremely disturbing because the senator pointed out these inquiries were called death inquiries. And what you are saying is that even one that was issued under your watch, you never saw it. Is that correct prevent. Just. You never saw this inquiry from those who regulated the Auto Industry<\/a> in safety . That is correct. Said so who is the person who saw that . I do not know. Did you ask about this issue in your report . No, i did not have. Thank you. I consider it a coverup the manufacturer does not respond about what it knows. Because this was not a casual memo. I agree that we should ask. But they did their job in setting up the initial inquiry. I am shocked and stunned that on one occasion, didnt even go to this . Senator, when i saw the article yesterday, it was all news to me and we have caused a review to be done so the information can be brought forward. You dont know where the inquiry went or who answered it the next america goes to the department of engineering. I think it is called i dont know the name of it. Product investigations. Thank you. Who answered and wrote all those answers . My understanding is that those wouldve been done by an organization that is part of this function is called product investigations. What i can tell you is that now that would not happen. Before you tell me that, i am not done looking at this. You can say this and forget the past. Because people die. So you have to move on and god bless you, you are doing a good job. But we have to find out what happened. So then i went to this office of product investigations. Okay, what we know from the New York Times<\/a> unless we doubt their reporting, is that one answer is that gm is opting not to respond. I wish that i could talk that way my constituents. And then we have other answers. We cant answer because its attorneyclient privilege. Okay, in another case we have not assessed a and so because i believe it is a coverup and you are firing people, who have you looked at, and who signed off and have you filed it down . I believe that i have. Okay, can you give us the names of the people. I would provide that later, please. That is absolutely fine. So now when an inquiry comes, which department is responsible for reviewing those inquiries . It would go to the Vice President<\/a> of Global Vehicle<\/a> safety along with his team and i will tell you that there will be no answers as you stated we are working productively and we want to understand anytime any time there is a fatality or a serious injury or even an issue that happen that didnt necessarily cause an injury and so that is how we are approaching. And so the president will also inform you of this inquiries . I believe he will because i will make sure of it. We meet on a regular basis and he calls me 24 7. When you say that i believe so, i would love to hear you say that you will do so and take it seriously. The more moment i leave this i will have him make a responsibility to bring this may. Im grateful to that. Let me give everyone more information. Heres what im planning on doing right now. We are allowing senator baldwin to do her questioning and there may be a senator that shows up and we will adjourn at about 12 15 p. M. Or 12 20 p. M. Around 20 to 25 minutes to go down and vote. We have briefings we have to vote on and we will come back. But you dont need to panic because theres a another hearing soon. We wont be here all day. We will use the time that we have to allow members to ask a second round of questioning so that all members know that we will come back immediately after the third vote and probably do another halfhour to 45 minutes. Thank you. For those on the panel of witnesses, thank you and i will explain that im not a member of the committee but here as a guest because of the tragedy related to the cool bald ignition switch and wisconsin, taking the lives of two young women and seriously injuring a third young woman in october of 2006. I wanted to call your attention to an article on june 19, 2005. The reviewer who is doing a companion article on the cool cobalt and that which is entitled making a case for admissions that dont need keys, and includes a statement from the gm spokesman about the endtoend shutoff problem. So he downplayed the issue saying that it is still controllable and when the power engine is cut. And the engine can be restarted after shifting to neutral. And he said that he did not consider the situation besides him saying that, hes statement demonstrates that someone at gm new about the defect back in 2005 before the tragedy that occurred in 2006 and two at gm directed him to make this statement about the cobalt engine cut off. Because i assume, and this is an assumption, that his role as spokesman when include this, so he had had information and be directed to make the statement that this was not a safety issue some wondering who made that determination that this was not a safety issue. Senator, as was uncovered in the report, early on this issue, they didnt understand the connection with the airbag didnt deploy. So this was misclassified at the very beginning as more of a customer annoyance that they didnt understand the connection to. At that time across the industry , you can install if you run out of gas, it wasnt considered and it is anytime there is a strong issue we identify the defect that causes this and in this case it wouldve been the ignition switch. And we treated as a safety issue and we understand what had happened. So that is a broader view at that time. I cant tell you who did that but i can tell you that it was a broad understanding beyond gm at that time. Who counseled the gentleman before making the statements . I can look to see if i can find it. There was a discussion, including discussions within the staff, including a lawyer involved in that. Im curious with a lawyer that was involved in that, was that mr. Camp . Yes. May i correct something i said before . Absolutely. I was asked whether or not we look at the death reports and we did look at this death reports as senator boxer have asked. We reviewed those that we reviewed those for purposes of seeing whether there was information there that would reflect why and how the sticks along. We did not review them for some other purpose. Okay. Im going to now ask a question for senator rockefeller and then we will adjourn until the votes are over and we will come back. Senator broad feller could not be your today so im going to try to pair face his question for him very them going to change it a little bit because there has been testimony that would have impacted it that he hadnt heard. Im putting that on the record so the chairman knows why im changing slightly his question. Ms. Barras senator rockefeller has two constituents mr. Sam spencer and ms. Belinda spencer who tragically lost their son leslie in a crash in the 2007 chevy cobalt one of your automobile subject to recall. Losing power because of a defective switch an airbag not applying upon impact however for reasons still unknown and the airbag eventually deployed after the initial deadly impact. Consequently as we heard earlier, this is where im changing it slightly, its myth claim can in fact be made. But, it is not clear i think two victims out there this scenario that there may not have been an initial deployment but upon impact may be a deployment afterthefact. Mr. Feinberg did testify that somebody should file a claim in those situations bubut s as you have consistently stated in public that gmm will do all it can end up repeatedly told congress that the new gm will do the right thing. If they are correct, their son did in fact tragically lose his life because it lost power because of a defective ignition switch will you pledge to do everything it can to allow the spencers and victims under similar circumstances to seek financial hele Compensation Fund<\/a> if thats what it takes . So first of all i want to be very clear that i would like the compensation problem that mr. Feinberg is administering to reach every person who might attempt been impacted in this case are these ignition switches. So as mr. Feinberg said i would encourage the Spencer Family<\/a> to submit a claim. There is an extensive worker that has gone on in the protocol for months that has worked so i am confident in the protocol to wait stands today so i do not plan to amend it but i still believe within that protocol there are technical issues that need to be understood in the spencer case and i incurred them to submit a claim. We will now a chernenko vote and we should be back here in hopefully 20 to 25 minutes come as soon as the third vote opens because your folks will understand this better with you. When the third vote opens i will but immediately and come directly back here so within five minutes after they call the third vote i will be here. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] thank you all very much. I appreciate your understanding and as much as i was tapping my foot over there i couldnt get them to roll the votes as the liaison would like so i appreciate it very much. Ms. Barra when you were here before, you were very forthcoming about the facts and in fact i think that direct quote the facts will be the facts. My question to you today, have you accepted the loucas report the valukas report is factual . Yes. Is there anything in it that you think is erroneous or mistakes that facts in any way . Overall for valukas characterizes and captures what is happen. That is what we have dealt with and that is why we are going to implement all of the recommendations that were made. My question to you mr. Millikin if the ceo has said on the record that this report is factual why is General Motors<\/a> refused to stipulate to the valukas report is factual in Bankruptcy Court<\/a> . Senator mccaskill im not aware of our position on the Bankruptcy Court<\/a> that i can tell you that issue is associated probably with the Attorney Client<\/a> privilege issues that are in that proceeding in on that basis they will probably probably take a position im not familiar with the position you are talking about in Bankruptcy Court<\/a> on that issue. Who would be . That is obviously an important legal decision that has been made by your company and you are the lawyer in charge. This is obviously, i dont know if you could have any more highprofile litigation the bankruptcy proceedings right now as to what did and didnt happen when bankruptcy occurred as a relates to our presentations that were made so if you dont know, who does no . Senator that piece of litigation ive been working with the lawyers on it in terms of making sure that we are making the arguments that need to be made to deal with the Economic Loss<\/a> claims that are part of that litigation. On that particular point i dont know the answer youre asking. You understand its a big one. That would be terrific because this is a big question. Yes, it is. If we are in fact and i will tell you i believe ms. Barra. I believe her that there is a disconnect here. Again, because if in fact your company has decided this report is factual and mr. Valukas did a good job of ferreting out all the facts then why in the world wouldnt you save time in the Bankruptcy Court<\/a> by acknowledging that . Senator is my understanding is correct its the attorneyclient privilege. I dont know the issue. Im assuming that position may be associated with that. I can imagine how evidentiary wyatt when somebody presents, asks for a stipulation than the issue is your company has decided through its lawyer to say they will not stipulate to the valukas report being factual. But thats not attorneyclient. Attorney client would be the discussions between you and your lawyer. The position you have taken in the preceding would not be subject to attorneyclient unless you are saying the advice youre youve been given a something you dont want to share trade. What im saying senator and i committed to you to find out exactly and come back to you. Who in your company is monitoring this . When mr. Halliday took the deposition when the bombshell dropped the call the lawyer on your staff that day as i said in a previous hearing. The first thing he did was call somebody that worked for you mr. Millikin and that lawyer was at his hotel room that night in michigan picking up those pictures. Thats correct. So few is the person in the bankruptcy . If something happens in Bankruptcy Court<\/a> i assume you have outside counsel for bankruptcy proceedings and who is that outside counsel reporting to you directly . He is reporting to mr. Michael ruskin. Where is Michael Raskin<\/a> lets us see below. Mr. Ruskin reports directly to me. What is his title . I have split the litigation function into two parts. One is private dedication one is general litigation. Michael ruskin has general litigation. Michael ruskin has never stipulated to you that the Michael Ruskin<\/a> report is factual . Its not a conversation that ive ever had had with mr. Ruskin. Okay, not okay. Then that answers on the death inquiries. Who signs off on those in the Legal Department<\/a> . The answers where they said gm refused. There is no way they are sending information, your company is not sending information from nhtsa without somebody from legal signing off on that correct . Senator i will have to get the answer that and get back to because thats handled by private investigations. Is there a lawyer that would look at a . There could well be. I dont know that for a fact. I would like to know what part of the Legal Department<\/a> signs off on their responses to nhtsa and greece particularly the death and greece. Who was it that gave product investigation the authority and sign off to say we wont answer this question . I understand. Okays secondary secondly the attendance bulletins. They were certainly in the valukas report information about not using the word stalled. There were some fear that stall would bring in regulators and it would catch the attention of nhtsa. Im assuming Technical Service<\/a> bulletins the language of those are also red by the department. I would assume so. Do you know who in your Legal Department<\/a> does that . Its done of the supervision of lucy working with jeff buyer and his organization. I would like to know who did it when the word went out that they could not use the word stalled in a Technical Service<\/a> bulletin. I will get that permission and get back to you. Mr. Valukas one of the thing that was interesting to me was that the georgiou situation where, this is how old i am great when i try to explain to my staff that mr. Digiorgio remind me of a character in court hogans heroes, i know nothing nobody in my staff even got it because none of them had heard of hogans heroes. I get it. Im hoping you have heard of hogans heroes. It sounds to me like mr. Digiorgio has refused to acknowledge all of the involvement yet in changing the switch but its interesting to me is that theres no evidence that mr. Digiorgio ever told anyone else about switching out the part and not changing the number. If anyone on one on to say there were emails. The emails that were copied to other engineers but your report didnt go any further about the other engineers that were copied. Could you briefly because im over my time and my colleagues are here now. Could you briefly explain if you can remember and if not i would like to get it for the record to the engineers that were copied on emails that showed that this part had been changed . Yes, let me give it to briefly and i will give it to you and much more detail since there was a time issue here and im happy to submit that. On the report on page 102 theres a a footnote 417 which focuses on this issue and very briefly what took place was theres an email june 2, 2006 which comes from delphi. There are 30 people on that email. Six of them were associated with General Motors<\/a>. The email related to changes that were taking place. Most of the changes you are talking about were in the Circuit Board<\/a> and we sought out the individuals who are at best we could tell, we dont know that all of them were we thought they were on that i am side. None of them had strike that. Individuals we talked to said this meant nothing to him about the change in the detailed switch. It was focused on the issue of the electrical issues that were involved here. The best we can tell from our permission we were not able to reach all of them. They were long retired and we could not find it that they were not involved in the process of stalls airbag deployment or stalls in particular at all. This is just an issue that the people that were copied had no understanding of the significance of that informati information . Exactly. Short and sweet but i will get you the details. Its relatively complicated the best answer. Thank you very much. Senator klobuchar. Thank you very much madam chairman. Mr. Valukas your report demonstrated clearly that the ignition switch issue was viewed internally at gma customer and as a result it didnt have the urgency to fi fix it. From your. From your report and this is a quote not one of the committees switching considering the switch were filled with engineers and Business People<\/a> whose job it was to understand how gm cars were built and how the systems interact request by the problem from one of customer convenience to one of safety or demonstrated in a sense of urgency in their efforts to fix the switch. You want to elaborate on that . What took place back then, we are talking 2004, 2005, 2006 period when we knew in fact the switches, the cars were in fact stalling. They knew at the time one of the president s of that was taking taking place sunday at the New York Times<\/a> articles and other articles calling that to their attention by what happened in connection with this is a singleengine air looked at this and said the stall doesnt constitute a safety issue. Having made that decision thats where they went in connection with that. We went back announced the individual senate committee, did you know that the airbag wouldnt deploy if it went into the accessory and the answer was no, we didnt know that in the question then became had you known this would you have responded differently and the answer was yes. What we found was that people who were in this silo looking at the switch were not covering the issue of the deployment which was in another silo with you will. So those that were making the decision did not focus on that issue and claim not to know about that issue. Somehow this state trooper saw the issue so ive found that interesting. Miss up to Going Forward<\/a> now what is going to be the process when these things are considered or is this still can be silent when something is viewed as a customer convenience issue versus a safety issue . Absolutely not. First of all we have put in much more rigor on how issues are analyzed and at the heart of it is with a pocket product Integrity Organization<\/a> and impact in addition to a group of people responsible for parts and designing individual parts the parts integrated will be in the product Integrity Organization<\/a> and they will look at it from a systems perspective and they will specifically designed around all the Safety Systems<\/a> in the vehicle. We are actually bringing in outside groups for instance from aerospace to look at the way we designed a product Integrity Organization<\/a> to ensure that we have stateoftheart or the most modern possible to make sure that these types of issues wont happen again and we will really be looking at how the system operates especially as relates to safety. Is there going to be some kind of a metric used to decide what is customer convenience or where it goes . I would say theres going to be much more rigor and all the Safety Systems<\/a> in the vehicle and those individuals will have you know i will say the ability to change someone elses venue. As someone on the part sites it is customer convenience those that truly understand from a systems perspective will be the ones who make the call and overwrite if someone else has a different opinion. I think its going to be the very knowledgeable people that we are putting in a Systems Engineering<\/a> to know that. We are also though looking at the systems and that responsibility wont cut across a couple of different folks who will be more in one more in one groups of a whole understand the way the whole system operates. Very good. Mr. Valukas another thing from your report points an instance in september 2005 when a team of engineers considered or placing the switch but it was rejected because an engineer that you interviewed told you it was rejected as being too expensive and resulting in offsetting changes on savings and warranty costs. Do you find throughout throughout that period revenues when confronted with replacing the ignition switch the employees use the acceptable Business Case<\/a> is the most important metric . What happens in that context is that once you have characterized it as nonsafety or customer convenience then it becomes an issue. The issue becomes will this Solution Solve<\/a> the problem completely and how much will it cost . That was the consideration will it solve the problem completely and how much was it going to cost. Had they elevated it to a safety issue those considerations would not have been in place. I assume would be similar to what we talked about earlier. Yes, definitely. We look at what it takes to fix the issue and cost does not come into the at the question. We talked earlier in the first round of questions about the gm and the change of culture and what you have been working on and just one last question along those same lines along transparency. I think that its been a major focus to respond to work with nhtsa nhtsa. My colleagues are preset number of instances where things were forwarded and work with congre congress. Thats a good thing and then transparent way to ensure we improve vehicle safety. Could you last talk about the steps you have taken so far to ensure that you are fulfilling his commitment to process more transparent and whether the end whether they think stephen could be due in the future . Again or may transparency perspective a couple of categories. One the way we do the work across the company and that would very much be looking at the integration of the car as we do with the product integrity. So they will be transparency in the way the systems operate in much more rigor in the validation of the systems. As we work with nhtsa again with the appointment of jeff buyer who is the Vice President<\/a> of safety, he will be working much more cooperatively and already is to make sure when nhtsa has an inquiry we are responsive to it. I would also say the way that we are working with our Data Analytics<\/a> as pieces of information come and whether they come in from our plans, from warranty data out in the field from our dealers directly from customers. Theres a tremendous amount of information through social media to legal claims. We are working and have Data Analytics<\/a> tools to mine that data. There will be information one place that isnt not across the company. Those are three examples and then the most powerful because its the people just make sure people understand their expectations and i have employees call me personally to raise an issue. We have turned it around to 24 hours. In addition to the engineer responsible talking i to the employee ive called him back and said are you comfortable with that answer . That type of behavior demonstrate to our engineers and employees we take and want to listen to them and take their issues seriously. Thank you very much. Senator blumenthal. Thank you very much senator. I think you can fairly gather that this committee is listening with a fair amount of incredulity to the intention that the general counsel of this company had no knowledge about this defect or about the concealment of the defect and the deceit of the federal government and of its customers before february of this year. And you have provided answers that i think for me are unsatisfactory on weeping the bankruptcy shield, disclosing documents, making employees available and opening the secret settlements. I want to ask you about a specific person whose life was changed and she is still alive. Her name is Candace Anderson<\/a>. As you know she pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide after a car she was driving crashed and killed jean erikson and she was found to have traces of a drug in her system. We now know that the crash was due not to anything she did. It was due to a defective ignition switch. She still has that conviction on her record. She has borne the feelings of guilt, suffering for years thinking she was responsible. I would like to ask you mr. Milliken will you recommend to ms. Barra that gm join me and others including the former prosecutor and calling on the governor of texas to pardon ms. Anderson . I will recommend to miss up to the General Motors<\/a> corporate with any Governmental Agency<\/a> thats taking a look at the circumstances behind that conviction and what needs to be done with it. Ms. Barra will you recommend to the governor of texas that he pardon ms. Anderson . We will provide information to support that decision but i dont think its him, its not something thats appropriate for me to do. With all due respect and im sympathetic to what you are trying to do in changing the culture at gm and i cannot say enough good things about your workers and about the company, but i think that answer really is unworthy of gm and i hope youll think more about it. This is a young woman whose life has really been changed as a result of a perversion of the justice process as a result of gm knowing and concealing that she was innocent. Gm allowed an innocent person to be convicted of a serious crime and we have been talking here about the gm nod. Ive been feeling what we are getting here is the gm salute. Someone else is responsible. Someone else should take the job of doing the right thing. So i hope you will reconsider. Im not taking this answers necessarily final and i hope well have a chance to talk more about it. Let me ask you ms. Barra about expanding compensation. I mentioned at the opening that there have been a number of recalls. I think the number is 8 million of cars with defective ignition switches which the company acknowledged caused the deaths and injuries. Will those deaths and injuries be included in the Compensation Fund<\/a> . There are very distinct differences between a population that is included in the Compensation Program<\/a> that is being administered by Kenneth Feinberg<\/a> as it relates to specific issues, series of mistakes that were made of were made over long period of time and what ill call the cobalt family of vehicles. So a very specific set of facts. On the other vehicles i would say quite the contrary. We went aggressively and proactively and looked at each of the systems as it relates to how they worked. And recommending in some cases even with no field data and tesl we did testing to understand what people put on their key rings and then it generally the population puts. 6 pounds. I apologize for interesting and stand stand that there are technical distinctions between the two ignition switches but isnt it true that regardless of the distinctions in the socalled population group, ignition switches failed in all of those models . No. I would say there are very different facts related to what happened in the cobalt ignition switch situation versus the actions we have taken are very different. Of you could supplement that response was more technical detail i would appreciate it. Let me ask you one more question. I appreciate your response to senator markey on what seemed to be your support for legislation on expanding accountability and information going to nhtsa. I wonder if you would agree with me that corporate officials to conceal or hide dangerous defects that can cause deaths or injuries ought to be held criminally culpable . I dont support that concept. I think think that there are many other avenues for those types of issues are a detail with so i dont support the change. Do you support legislation which i proposed with senator graham that would provide for Public Interest<\/a> standard before any settlements are sealed as those involved in the defective ignition switch . I would have to understand the legislation a lot more than to be able to answer that question. Thank you madam chairwoman. Mr. Markey. Thank you madam chairwoman. Mr. Oneal documents show that in 2001 delphi engineers drew up two signs two designs for the gm ignition switch. The main difference between the two designs was the one that failed dramatically, the 2006 switch had a spring that were shorter and less stiff than the other one and it was that spring that caused the switch to fail to meet gm specifications and cost the key to so easily turn the engine off. Why was the weaker spring used in the actual vehicle rather than the stronger one, which was clearly available simultaneously in 2001 . Senator our investigation into that portion of the evolution of that switch actually supports what mr. Valukas also uncovered in the original specifications were sort of a target and then assess which evolved from a developmental standpoint mr. Ray did georgiou also wanted a switch that had a certain tactile feel and by that i mean it would feel a certain way, as smoothness as you moved it from one position to another trade that believes description was to be more european like. In order to achieve that feel, that is where the softer spring comes into play and as a result of that. To delphi produce a cost estimate that compared the cost of the two switch designs . I dont recall but i would think the cost involved in that two switch from one to another would be insignificant. Could you provide that information . Sure. In 2006 when gm was starting to acknowledge that it had a problem to change the ignition switch designed to this version and the switch turned out to consist of the identical stronger spring design that was not used in 2001 but available in 2001. Was delphi involved in the design discussions with gm gm in this later period of time and did you suggest one over the other . That is the one that was accepted or the one, this one that was rejected an earlier time period . Obviously that change could not be made. Our investigation shows that the gm team was extremely concerned about the warranty Customer Satisfaction<\/a> and quality issues. They actually approach the delphi side. Was there anything that could be done in order to raise perhaps the park level to improve some of those issues . Not safety related quality and obviously what came up as a solution set that we have today. So, do you have documentation back in that earlier period of time as to why one was chosen over the other . And it was the ease of the selection of the one that did were . I dont think it was the esa of the selection of the spring that was in play from the initial post in question in terms of it was selected and it was approved via General Motors<\/a>. I dont think so yes we do have that and i think mr. Valukas reports suggest that. Did you recommend, did you recommend the one that was selected in 2006 over the one that ultimately was used in 2010 that has been working that in 2001, did you wet delphi make that recommendation . It was a mutual giveandtake giveandtake between the supplier and the manufacturer. But what did delphi recommend at the time . Obviously at the end of the day what we ended up with was what we all agreed to do to make their apartments of the switch. Again its important for us to have that as part of the record and whenever you can provide to us from that early decisionmaking period would be very helpful to us. Madam chairwoman i would like to thank you for also focusing on nhtsa. The nhtsa administrator told the New York Times<\/a> just yesterday that it was gm that stood in the way of safety and of course we all agreed that gm deserves much of the blame but while ms. Barra and mr. Valukas have described the gm not which was set to occurred when everyone in a meeting all nodded their heads but did nothing to solve the safety problems but we have that nhtsa is they nhtsa shrunk. Nasa didnt think the reports of car stalling post a safety problem so they ignored its own contractors report linking the ignition switch defect to fatal accidents in which airbags didnt deploy. And thats a paid no attention to documents they requested for gm that spelled out exactly what was causing these crashes and thats a completely failed to notice the high numbers of consumer complaints and other reports about gms vehicles that were submitted to its databases. Nhtsa nhtsa was also repeatedly warned and nhtsa also just shrugged in response that we do have the gm not and also swam all tenuously a nhtsa shrug and i think the whole story ultimately passed out there and i thank you for the pursuit of the im curious about esis this company that handles of ministers claim for you. Its a weird deal. They work at gm. They work only for gm but they are not gm employees. Now, they are not. Why is there that structure . To look for anybody else on the world but you. They are a capture company. Are they a subsidiary of your company . Not to my knowledge. Are they a subsidiary . Not that i know of. So the people that are on the front lines gathering the information and handling these claims as they come in, im trying to understand for what Business Purpose<\/a> would you want them to be separate from your company if they are completely captured by your company and doing nothing but a gm function . They have been doing product product investigations for us for quite some time. They have been doing a very good job for us for quite some time. Im not familiar with the initial setup for them. I do know that there are people whose names im familiar with who i talked with our products litigators about who say they do a good job. Its not unusual to see the use of outside suppliers to take on functions inside General Motors<\/a>. For a long time for example we outsourced as they call it our security functions and they did it. I think a security functions a little different. I understand the point youre making. If you can provide any elimination for the record as to why that Business Model<\/a> makes sense for your company its unusual to have the frontline claims people in my experience and nice to do legal work on behalf of Insurance Companies<\/a> and obviously they have a whole wad of claims people. Typically. Mr. Valukas you made a couple of statements. Im familiar with the report. I felt like that was back in school studying cross referencing and going to the acronym table. I did think it was thorough. I did think it was complete but a couple of conclusions that are interesting to me. One is that you said that you kind of one out of your way to conclude that gm did not put cost over safety hazard related to this defect. Artifacts in that reporting complicit in that regard . I you had to go on to say that is what the people that you interviewed told you and these were the same people that you have called out for indifference, incompetence, lack of urgency. Is there something im missing here that you base that conclusion on . Guests and if i could be helpful in this regard. My experience as a former prosecutor and as an individual who is a litigator peoples recollections are where peoples recollections arent sometimes they change over time in considering where they are to give him point. We focused initially throughout the 41 million documents that we were reviewing and pulling out and looked atbats for purposes of saying dont tell me what you are telling me now. I would like to know what you were thinking and doing then. As we review reviewed the documents he reviewed those documents very quickly carefully on these very carefully. An analysis which says i would like to deal with this analysis but it cost too much so we dont want to deal with this issue so we looked at cost over safety. We looked at that issue in a number of different ways. The witnesses witnesses testified and what the witnesses testified to war told us and you have that in your report that the documents do not reflect that cost over safety matter. That being said, we also call out the fact that there was a normas costcutting taking place at gm during that. Of time. Engineers were being doubled up with the initial information. People were assigned to two or three assignments and we could not say with certainty that at impact. So macrocostcutting could have been hard at the ambulance that you found no smoking gun in evidentiary documents that would indicate that this was actually being discussed . Guest and in no testimony and in fact in the testimony people disclaimed that was not the way they were doing business. Okay. The other thing that jumped out in a report that i found astounding was the recall on power steering. In 2010 you were called, General Motors<\/a> to do recall on a power steering defect or most interesting about that is that of course he did not consider a recall for stalling problems with the faulty ignition and according to the report, gm did not consider the loss of power steering a safety problem. You internally noted the power steering was normally a Customer Satisfaction<\/a> issue. Cobalt was handled in a different manner based on gms desire to attain a quick resolution and closure of the government investigation so ill nhtsa had to do was write a letter saying they were going to look into the power steering defect and you guys were called. You did the recall on the power steering defect. Alan abdur gms manager for safety clinic patients remember gm had been planning to characterize power steering as a Customer Satisfaction<\/a> issue but as a result of the congressional scrutiny of toyota and the unintended acceleration issues it was agreed that gm should issue the recall for the hearing so quote we would not get mentioned and dragged into the senate are you that is concerning to me ms. Barra because it looks like there was a Quick Reaction<\/a> when nhtsa threatens, combined with congressional action against another manufacture that got the result that was so desperately needed thomas ignition switch. One of course the tragic ironies is one of the young women i was seriously injured and one of these accidents, her car had been taken in for the power steering recall and it was fixed for the power steering but of course there was no recall for the ignition switch. So have the same urgency been around for stalling and the engines turning up in the ignition switch issue, so have you figured out why structurally there were such a Quick Response<\/a> on something that you typically would not have quickly responded to and do you really feel you have got a handle on changing that a culture . I think the valukas report captures any of the stated a lot of the reasons and if you looked at the data around the power steering it clearly lead you to support that. I do feel we have gotten that, around that very much so and i have data to support that with the recalls we have done. Because when you look at the fact that in some cases 29 million vehicles that we have recalled this year with 58 recalls in some cases we recalled vehicles that have no field instance because we went back and looked at the Systems Engineering<\/a> perspective did it meet what it needed to meet and even if there was no field data we would make the recall. I appreciate that. I had one last question on the recalls and if you could just go through again how you are doing this recalls. We are aware of the large number of recalls and im trying to focus on the second round of questions about how things are going to change in the future. I think we all know that this was a tragedy and the justice issues and compensation issues are going to be key for the victims of the key for those victims families and consumers are the changes Going Forward<\/a> and i think we can learn as much about the changes that are being made as we can from the past. I want to know just exactly beyond the power steering issue just how these recalls are done differently and how that will continue in the future . First off i would say we are dedicated to creating and designing invalidating vehicles that will need recalls because they will be designed well. Thats the validation work in the Systems Engineering<\/a> focus so thats. 1. And if they get data from any number of sources i have already shared that data is being processed much more quickly for us to look at and say is there an issue that affects the Safety System<\/a> that requires a recall. I would also say that jeff buyer who runs this process are head of global Product Development<\/a> sits on that committee. I get an agenda for that before the meeting occurs so im completely aware along with their general counsel, our cfo under president. This is now at the top of the company and we are demonstrating and focused on safety. We are mining the data and again as we see issues we are going to be quick to respond as we have done before. I would just add one of the dealerships looking at getting my 15yearold saturn turned up a little bit but there was a lot of action at the steelers. This is one that had repairs going on so i can see people are bringing them in these cars are getting repaired and again just like everyone else we hope that the next versions of these cars wont have to do it again so thank you very much. Senator blumenthal. Thank you. I was interested in your response on the testimony and the documents which seem to support gms contention on putting profits ahead of safety mr. Valukas and i was interested in it because it would seem to be an gms interest to make public the documents. Is that so . Im sorry senator i had problem hearing on the right side. Could you repeat the last question . Sure. I will try to restate it and i hope my time will not be subtracted. Thats my fault. And not back. [laughter] it would appear to be in gms interest to make public some of those documents and testimonies that underlie your report. Is that correct . You just made reference in your response to senator mccaskill and heres an example of transparency as we work in gms interest. Senator i cant respond to that question. My responsibility when i was asked to write this report to gather the facts and i believe we did but we are asked to do. The issue of how we ripple to be disclosed or what should be disclosed to resize with the client. I dont have that ability. Mag ask you ms. s barra does gm know about application to the fund at the time they are made and how much knowledge will gm have about the applications are, what the awards are in realtime so to speak . Mr. Feinberg is completely independent as he administers this. I dont know this procedure if anything will be shared but it will be his sole discretion if anything a share to be chooses to do that. Will it be his discretion alone as to whether applicants are given time to postpone their decisions until after the department of justice concludes the investigation . In other words will applicants be given a choice to wait until they know what the full story is out of the department of justice investigation . We have been clear what the timeline associated that claims will begin to be accepted on august 1 in the period for applications will and at the end of the year. Then he will evaluating make decisions. But he has not as far as im aware definitively stated whether applicants can postpone the decision as to whether to accept the offer for the fund or bring private litigation. I dont know the timeframe in this process of how long a person has. I dont know the timeframe on that. That will be i think what is called out but i just dont have it in front of me. If its not part of the protocol now it would be within his discretion . Again i dont plan to change any part of the protocol. I think the protocol is very welldefined and its its going to stand. And let me ask mr. Oneal if i may, you do anything to accelerate the production of these Replacement Parts<\/a> that go into vehicles . We have worked extremely hard to do exactly what you said terry at where up to a million completed at this stage and it looks like the 2 million mark will be clipped right around the end of august. There is little more we can do because of where we started. I dont think we can do more between now and then. If gm were to pay more for investment are is it that something you could do . Know, theres only so much you can get accomplished in a short period of time to wrap up from literally nothing to a million. I think the fast as we can go but we will look at it again. Mary and i have talked a few times about this and things have improved considerably from when we started talking probably by several almost months as a matter fact. We will look at it again. I understand the need to get it done as soon as possible. Because im hearing from dealers who are hearing from consumers and dealers say they are having trouble at least in connecticut and i think its probably elsewhere, and really getting the parts they need as quickly as they would like to do. I understand you have to make the machine tools. There is no magic wand here but if you could tell us whether in fact there are steps you could take i would appreciate it. Again we will go back and look at it but right now the commitment is to see the 2 million by the end of august. I just want to make a final question to ms. Barra. On those issues where mr. Milliken has said he has recommendations for example the bankruptcy shield issue, i hope you will reset her reconsider as the Candace Anderson<\/a> reconsider the responses we have heard here. I know that you are making value efforts to overcome these problems and i think consumers appreciate the numbers of recalls and frankness and candor that those recalls demonstrate and my hope is that the new gm wont be hiding behind the old gms bankruptcy on giving those pre2009 customers the opportunity to go to court and have a choice between the fund and what they could have obtained in court and also others economically. I thank you very much for being here today and all of the witnesses for your testimony here. Thank you. I want to thank all the witnesses. Mr. Milliken, ms. Barra mr. Oneal and mr. Valukas. Thank you for your patience. I know this is not your first visit out of a feeling you are not looking forward to another invitation anytime soon. I knew i could speak for you in that regard but it is important and the fact that you acknowledge our world and this and that you respected it is important. We all want General Motors<\/a> to succeed. There is no one in congress that doesnt. This is an American Company<\/a> that all of us are very proud of than those of us that helped save General Motors<\/a> with votes during the crisis are proud of what the Automobile Industry<\/a> has in fact accomplished since those days. You have got a big problem still ahead of you and we will continue to be asking questions to do followups on this hearing but we appreciate the efforts you are making and we will look forward to checking in with you after we have a further visit with nhtsa and making sure that all of the systems are working the way they should so that we have the right oversight on ongoing basis so we never have to deal with us this again. Thank you all very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] new Jersey Governor Chris Christie<\/a> was in iowa yesterday. On this mornings washington journal, the 45th anniversary of the first moon landing. The Un Security Council<\/a> will meet this morning about the downing of the Malaysia Airlines<\/a> flight. Live at 10 00 eastern. A few live events to tell you about. Congressional Staff Members<\/a> will talk about military personnel costs. Policy center and American Enterprise<\/a> institute coasts the event live at 9 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan2. Thed karzai has served as president of afghanistan since 2001. The u. S. Institute of peace will look at the legacy of mr. Karzai live on cspan2. At noon eastern, the cato will debate ways to improve the Housing Finance<\/a> system. Live coverage on cspan2. Jersey, my lex new Jersey Governor Chris Christie<\/a> was in davenport, iowa iowa fundraiser for Governor Terry<\/a> branstad. Christie has been mentioned as a possible candidate in the 2016 president ial race. This is part of cspans road to the white house coverage. All right, all right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It is great to be back in iowa. Governor, thank you so much for that introduction. And, you know, its kind of funny for me to stand up here, and to hear Governor Terry<\/a> branstad say that i was the inspiration for him to run for governor. Because i can tell you that in 2010, when we got that phone call in new jersey, from governor branstads campaign asking if i would come and campaign for him, near the end of the campaign, i said to my staff, i was like, Terry Branstad<\/a> knows who i am . And this is a legend. This is a guy who has set the example for governors all across the country in both parties. And not just because he initially served four terms and did an extraordinary job, but to me, the thing that makes his Public Service<\/a> so extraordinary is the example hes set for the last four years. Because four years ago, when he was in a very good job that he was doing a great job at, and getting to spend more time with his family, he saw what awful shape iowa was in. He saw what the last administration was doing to iowa, to iowas economy, to iowas education system. And to the pride that iowa rightfully feels about itself, who was diminishing, because of the awful policies being put in place in the state capital. When he could have just as easily said, no, thank you, i served four terms as governor of iowa, ive done my service, instead he did what real selfless Public Service<\/a> is all about. He put the people of iowa and the state that he loves ahead of his own personal interests. And thats the greatest inspiration you give to anybody who offers themselves up for public office, is that its not about you, its about the people that you serve. And so i know the people in this room understand this. But hes not just an inspiration to fellow iowaians, hes an inspiration to leaders all across this country. Hes been a great governor and he will continue to be a great governor, because you all are going to return him to office on november 4th, arent you . [ cheers and applause ] and i like Lieutenant Governor<\/a> kim, too. My Lieutenant Governor<\/a> is acting governor while im here in iowa. Lieutenant governor kim has great ideas, and shes somebody who i think iowans all across the state look up to. Because, again, shes someone who is doing the job every day. Not looking for fanfare, not looking for the limelight, not looking to be the star of the show. Looking to get the job done. And thats the kind of partner you want when youre a governor. Governor branstad picked really wisely four years ago. Theres no reason to change a winning team right in the middle of a winning streak. So please give as much support to Lieutenant Governor<\/a> reynolds as you give governor branstad. Shes earned it, and shes great. [ applause ] now here we are. Were at scott county. Now, you know, i probably shouldnt say this, but when i was walking in, branstad said this is the best county. This is just incredible. These guys, i never lose in scott county. I never lose in scott county. These are really good, good supporters of our party. And so for all of you who are here tonight, and i turn to the chair while governor branstad was talking and said, this is such an amazing turnout in the middle of july, for you all to be here, supporting this team and this ticket in the middle of july when you could be doing lots of other things, it is incredibly impressive for me to see all of you out here. And so i can tell you that were working just as hard all across the country to give the same kind of support that youre giving to terry, right here in iowa, to all the other republican governors, and the folks who want to be republican governors. And were going to do great things. Weve got 29 republican governors now. And as terry said, im going to be to 14 states in july and august alone. Well go all across the country raising money, campaigning, and speaking to folks about why it makes a difference to have a republican governor in your state house, rather than one of the other party. Of the 20 best performing states on the economy, in the country, 19 of them have republican governors. That is not a coincidence, everybody. [ applause ] and so now ive got a job to do. Not just to be the governor of new jersey, but also to be the person who tries to lead this group of governors to bigger and better things. And when i get to leave my state, and im doing today, and i get to come to a place where here in iowa, you have a Republican House<\/a> of representatives, i must say that it brings out a bad side of me. I get terribly envious. Green with envy in fact. Because i have an all Democratic Legislature<\/a>. And its governor branstad mentioned, ive had an all Democratic Legislature<\/a> since the day i walked in. And while we get things done, and ive worked real hard, and its the governors job to work with the people they send you. People in new jersey have an extraordinary sense of humor. Extraordinary. Twice now theyve elected a conservative republican governor. At the very same time, elected a liberal Democratic Legislature<\/a>. New jerseyans are like the 13yearold boys in the basement doing a science experiment. They say, lets mix these two things together and see what happens. Well, weve had some explosions every once in a while. Weve had some real conflict between us. But weve also gotten things done. See, because the difference is, when you have an effective governor, when you have someone who understands what it means to try to work hard, and work productively for the people, you dont use those things as excuses. Governor branstads had a split legislature here. Earlier in his tenure, he had an all Democratic Legislature<\/a>. You never heard Terry Branstad<\/a> use it as an excuse. Oh, i cant get anything done because of the legislature, the people who sent me. Thats not the way you do business. The way you do business is, whoever you send me, its our job to make things harp. And so in new jersey, even despite those things, despite all the vetoes, and hes right, my first two years as governor i set a record for vetoes for a twoyear period. And then the two years after that, i broke the record for the first two years. And then the next two years, the pace im on, were going to break another record. Sometimes as a governor you have to say no. Someone asked me if im staying in iowa tonight. I said, listen, part of my legislature was in town today without me there. They are not allowed in the state house without adult supervision. I have to get home. I need to get home and make sure im in the state house tomorrow to see what the heck they were up to today. But also, weve been able to cap property taxes in our state. We have 6,000 fewer employees on the state payroll today than when i got in office in january of 2010. We are spending 2. 2 billion less today than we did in fiscal year 2008 on everything but our pensions and health care. We have squeezed government to become smaller and smarter and more efficient. Its the conservative principles we all stand for, whether were republicans who live in new jersey or iowa, whether we live in florida or georgea, we all stand for those things. Those are the principles that unite us as a party and we have to continue to have unite us as a party. Because believe me, whatever differences we may have once in a while inside our own party, theyre very small. Compared to the differences that we have with the other side. Just remember, back to four years ago with governor colver sitting in the capital, how much different iowa feels today than it felt four years ago. So youve sat here through a lot of speeches. And a top ten list. Im not going to wear you out tonight. I want to say one more thing to leave you with something to think about. Because here in this room, all these folks, all of you are people who are already on the team. You wouldnt be here tonight if you werent on the team. You wouldnt be here tonight if you werent willing to stand up for the people on our republican ticket here in iowa and do a great job for them. As some people would say, that what im doing tonight by exhorting to you is preaching to the choir. I talked about this earlier today in iowa. Im married to a woman who is number nine of ten children. She has six older brothers. And two older sisters. And a younger sister. See, its a small Irish Catholic<\/a> family from the northeast. And what it means is, when i got married into that family, i have relatives everywhere in america. Aunts, uncles, first cousins, second cousins, second cousins twice removed. Weve got them all. Theyre everywhere. We have relatives in albany, new york. I went up to visit my brotherinlaw and sisterinlaw a number of years ago in albany, new york. Mary pat and i are catholics, my sisterinlaw is a lutheran. They go to lutheran services. She asked if we would go. So we went with them. And i heard the best explanation that day from the pastor that ive ever heard about preaching to the choir. Because tonight im here preaching to the choir. And we had this kind of popular sentiment about that phrase. Thats wasting your time. Hes just preaching to the choir. But this pastor explained it that day. He said, i preach to the choir, i plead guilty of preaching to the choir every sunday. I preach to the choir so theyll sing. And for the first time i really understood the power of briefing to the choir. See, because all of you are part of the choir for the Republican Team<\/a> in this state. And im here to preach to the choir so youll sing. Youll sing to your family and your friends. So youll sing to your neighbors and your coworkers. So youll sing to the people that you see in the parking lot at church on sunday. So youll sing to the people you see on the football fields this fall, on friday night or saturday afternoon. So youll sing to the people you see in the supermarket checkout line. Every place you go, youll tell people that youre amongst the leaders in this state who will be able to look at others and say, ive met the governor, ive met the Lieutenant Governor<\/a>, ive looked them in the eye. Ive taken the measure of their character. And i not only voted for them, im working for them. 110 days to go. And the results in this election about whether were going to expand republican gains in the house, whether were going to take over the state senate for the republicans here in iowa, whether were going to elect a republican woman to the United States<\/a> senate and give us a republican majority in washington, d. C. [ applause ] whether were going to elect a new female congressman from right in this district [ applause ] i have to tell you the truth, at this point, given everything ive seen, its not up to the governor, its not up to the Lieutenant Governor<\/a>, its not up to these individual candidates. Theyre going to work hard, you know they are. Im tired of hearing how hard working branstad is, ive got to tell you the truth. Weve done five stops today, hardest working governor in america. I heard it, i know. Hardest working governor in america. Hes not going to let up now. Hes going to work hard. Kims going to work hard. All the candidates are going to work hard. How about you . How about you . 110 days to go. [ applause ] there are two scenarios that im going to lay out for you, because im from new jersey, and were an hour ahead, so i can see into the future. Heres the thing. I can see into the future. Two different scenarios. Scenario number one, wake up on the morning of november 5th. We come just a little bit short, one seat short in the state senate. We dont expand our margins in the house. We dont have a new republican United States<\/a> senator from iowa, and we dont have new republican members of the house of representatives in washington. Because we came just a little bit short. Think about how youll feel that morning when you wake up. Make the clock radio wakes you up and you hear the news being reported about the slim losses by republicans in iowa. You wanted to lay there and think to yourself, if i had only done a little bit more. If i had only put aside some of my personal pursuits for that 110 days, and put my state first, put my country first, just for 110 days, if id done that, maybe wed have had a different result. Governor branstad would have had a legislature who would have been moving fully in the direction of his bid for iowas future. Maybe we would have a republican United States<\/a> senate and bigger majority in the house of representatives that would pressure the president of the United States<\/a> to finally start leading and acting in this country, and not being a bystander in the oval office. [ applause ] but we didnt do it. We came up short. Well have that feeling of regret. And those pangs of guilt. Scenario number two. Its much better. You wake up on november 5th. The clock radio goes off. Youre hearing the news reports. And were talking about a new female republican United States<\/a> senator who is the difference in a republican majority in the United States<\/a> senate. A new state senate thats controlled by republicans in iowa. A bigger House Majority<\/a> in iowa. A bigger House Republican<\/a> majority in washington. [ applause ] and youre going to know, youre going to know you did it. Youre going to know you did it. It wasnt the 30second tv ads, as nice as they are. It wasnt the mail in the mailbox. It was you. Because you are still the most powerful force in american politics. You talking to friends and neighbors and others who look to you as a leader. Youre still the most important force in politics. And you know what . I suspect iowa understands that better than almost any other state in america. You get the fact that youre the ones who can make a difference. So lets not fall short. Lets not wake up under scenario number one, with pangs of guilt and regret. Lets wake up after a joyful, celebratory evening on november 4th, where we have now set a record for the longest and bestserving governor in the history of america, and his Republican Team<\/a> showing the rest of america what strong conservative Republican Leadership<\/a> can do to turn our entire country around. Because when we get done, on november 4th, of 2014, we will all turn our eyes towards 2016 and taking our country back. But first things first, everybody. [ applause ] ill end with one of my favorite quotes. From one of the great leaders in the history of this country. He was a really blunt, direct, outspoken guy. So you cant imagine why i might like him. Hes one of the founding fathers, john adams. As he was nearing death, near the 50th anniversary of the country that he helped to birth, he was concerned that america was moving in the wrong direction, concerned like many of us are today about our country. He was older, and weaker, and living up at his farm and didnt have the energy any longer to be able to travel to the Nations Capital<\/a> and speak out. So he wrote for us in his diary, in his dying days, and i think it applies to what ive just been urging all of you to do. His advice is very similar to the advice i just gave you. He gave it to all of us. He wrote this in his diary to his fellow countrymen. He said, you shall never know the sacrifices that we made to secure for you your liberty. I pray you will make a good use of it. For if you do not, i shall repent in heaven for ever having made the sacrifice at all. John adams understood how precious liberty was, because he watched people fight and die for it. He birthed a country that has produced the greatest economy, the greatest military, and the most compassionate people the world has ever seen. And he would say to us, if we let this opportunity go by, that we didnt really truly appreciate the price that has been paid for the liberty that we enjoy. He would want us to work to make sure we expand that liberty, and that freedom, for everybody. Not just for us, but for the next generations. So if we do what we need to do over the next 110 days, i guarantee i will travel to every corner of this country to get this message out there, and and do inside iowa in the next 110 days, two great things will happen. Iowa will have a better and brighter tomorrow for your children and grandchildren, and john adams will not have to repent in heaven. For having made the sacrifice of giving us the liberty that we exercise here every day. [ applause ] so thanks for inviting meere today. We have had a full day. A full day across this entire great state with the governor and the Lieutenant Governor<\/a>. Ive enjoyed every minute of it. These press who follow me around asking me, do people in iowa love you, governor . And, you know [ applause ] and i say, heck, i dont know, we just met. But the early indications are good. The early indications are good, and i will tell you that i feel so wonderful coming here. Ive been here for governor branstad, ive been here for governor romney. And every time ive come to iowa, ive been greeted so warmly and so kindly, by all of you, and it makes me feel really good. To be able to get on the airplane and go home tonight knowing that i made a lot of new friends, and hoping that i did just a little bit to make victory on november 4th for people that i care deeply about, like terry a little bit more possible. So lets not let up. Lets work as hard as we can the next 110 days. And ill see you back here in iowa again very soon. Thank over 35 years, cspan brings Public Affairs<\/a> events from washington likely to you. Putting you directly into the room at briefings and offeringes and complete, gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House as a Public Service<\/a> of private industry. Created by cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service<\/a> by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch is in hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. Live events we are covering. The Un Security Council<\/a> will hold a meeting on ukraine and considering a statement calling for full investigation into what crash of a malaysian airliner over Eastern Ukraine<\/a> yesterday. Live coverage from a u. N. At 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. A conversation on the legacy of afghan President Hamid<\/a> karzai who leaves off ice in august. As special envoy for liberias president will join a conversation on Economic Development<\/a> in africa. Live coverage from the center for strategic and International Studies<\/a> at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. Coming up on washington journal on yesterdays Malaysia Airlines<\/a> crashed in Eastern Ukraine<\/a>. In an hour, a look at the federal budget outlook. We will talk to Maya Macguineas<\/a> of a committee for responsible federal budget. This weekend marks the 45th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing. Nasa administrator Charles Bolden<\/a> and then space analyst miles obrien will join us to discuss the history and future of u. S. Space explanation. We will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Host good morning. The questions continue today from members of congress. Response from the white house and the International Community<\/a> following the downing of the malaysian airliner. All 298 people on board were killed in what Officials Say<\/a> was a missile strike law along the russiaukraine border. Meanwhile, russian president Vladimir Putin<\/a> said none of this would have happened if there had been peace in the territory. Some scathing editorial this morning including the New York Times<\/a>, and the white house is calling for a ceasefire. They nearly 10","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia802708.us.archive.org\/10\/items\/CSPAN_20140718_090000_Key_Capitol_Hill_Hearings\/CSPAN_20140718_090000_Key_Capitol_Hill_Hearings.thumbs\/CSPAN_20140718_090000_Key_Capitol_Hill_Hearings_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240621T12:35:10+00:00"}