{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-to-auto-safety-nominee-agency-must-be-feared-and-respected-", "McCaskill to Auto Safety Nominee: Agency Must Be ‘feared and respected’", "2014-12-03", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "McCaskill to Auto Safety Nominee: Agency Must Be \u2018feared and respected\u2019  \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t After GM ignition switch and Takata airbag recalls, Senator questions  transportation expert and nominee Dr. Mark Rosekind on better oversight for safety agency \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, December 3, 2014\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today questioned Dr. Mark Rosekind, who has been nominated to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, on how the agency can better exercise authority and oversight of the auto industry, in light of ignition switch problems at General Motors and airbag malfunctions at Takata that have both been linked to a number of consumer deaths.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s become fairly clear to me in the hearings we\u2019ve had on both the ignition switches at GM and the Takata hearing, that these companies are way more afraid of a civil lawsuit than they are of NHTSA,\u201d said McCaskill, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance. \u201cAnd I think it\u2019s really important that you keep that at the top of your list, in terms of priorities. If you are not feared and respected, then you cannot do a good job policing the safety of automobiles in this country. You have to be feared and respected. And I don\u2019t think NHTSA is feared or respected at this point.\u201d\r\nMcCaskill also questioned Carlos Monje Jr., nominee to be Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy at the Department of Transportation, on how to improve the safety of crude oil moving by rail, and communication with first responders in the event of an accident in a major metropolitan area.\r\n\u201cKansas City and St. Louis are the second and third largest freight rail hubs in the country. And obviously we are very aware of the increase in the movement of crude by rail across our country. It is one of the reasons I support the [Keystone] pipeline, because I think that product is going to move, we\u2019re not going to stop it from coming out of the ground. So the question is, how do we move it a way that is most safe, both to the environment and to the people of this county?\u201d\r\nMcCaskill requested the Committee expedite the confirmation process for the nominees, in order to have an opportunity to confirm them before the end of the year.\r\nEarlier this year, McCaskill led the Senate\u2019s investigation into recent recalls at General Motors. McCaskill led three Senate hearings into issues surrounding 2.6 million vehicles recalled for defective ignition switches that have been linked to a number of deaths, and also held a hearing on bipartisan rental car safety legislation that she has introduced.\u00a0\r\nIn November, McCaskill\u00a0called on the Justice Department to consider criminal charges against Takata, an airbag company which identified and then covered up airbag safety problems that resulted in five deaths. McCaskill subsequently grilled automakers on their lackluster response to the more than 14 million vehicles currently subject to recalls or service campaigns due to airbag rupture risks.\r\nContinuing her support for whistleblower protections and auto safety, McCaskill recently announced her support for a bipartisan bill to reduce the number of Americans killed or who suffer serious injury as a result of unreported defects in automotive products. The bill, cosponsored by Republican Senator John Thune and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, incentivizes employees in the automotive industry to voluntarily report faulty products to the U.S. Department of Transportation.\r\nVisit mccaskill.senate.gov/consumers to learn more about McCaskill's fight to protect American consumers.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-to-auto-safety-nominee-agency-must-be-feared-and-respected-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5243280213326216, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}