To be a concern about the growth of government and government power in general. And think the Obama Administration in the past 18 months has stepped into a number of woodchuck holes that have a them look not particularly competent and graceful, and not concerned about congressional power. The republicans made a good effort at saying he is becoming an imperial person, you doing stuff on his own, which of w congresse cannot get to pass anything, so he has to do things on his own. In his a backandforth issue. The backandforth on this really does help republicans. The economy has seemingly but it has gone through fits and starts in the past two months. Itcould see it slow a bit if is not Getting Better ands lives. That could help democrats. More time to talk about 2016 later on. Thank you for being with us. An f on transparency and freedom of information. I think my colleagues in journalism would give a similar grade, whether they are liberal or conservative. The freedom of information processes become a joke. It was well on its way prior to the Obama Administration, but this administration has perfected the stall, the delay, the reaction, the excuse. I think the information they find many times launch to the public great but there is no sense of that, they covet it as if they are a private organization disseminating trade secrets. An rill is tonight, cspan q a with shar yl. Years, cspan has been putting you in the room and hearings, and conferences. Offering complete gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. H ouse. Brought to you as a service of your local cable or satellite provider. Facebook, follow us on twitter. Mary barra was on capitol hill this past week to testify about and an ignition switch problem. At least 1000 people are believed to have died as a result of the faulty switch dozen people are believed to have died as a result of the faulty switch. This hearing is just over three hours. I now convene this hearing of the Oversight Committee called the gm ignition switch recall. Perhaps this report should have been titled do not assume would do. E when it in many ways i the facts surrounding the gm recall his truck is more troubling than a coverup. Bring out who were past with what went wrong did not connect the dots. They were either incompetent or intentionally indifferent. Not just how it happened, but why it happened. Is the key people at gm seem to lack all of these way in a litigatewe cannot morality or competent or compassion. If employees do not have the moral fiber to do the right thing, do not have the awareness to see what mistakes are being made we must either change the people or change the culture. I hope the officials from the Veterans Affairs department are watching. The Company Appears to be in no great hurry to figure out the problems with its vehicles. Despite reports from engineers and reports of that, it took them years to figure out it had anything to do with the power mode status of the car. The discovery was not a result tiveheir own investiga work, but a lawsuit by a young womans family. You saw this internal recall. Your company has cooperated with this investigation and i thank you for that. You have taken corrective action by trying to make sure made through safety concerns come to light. This the no possibility that these problems are pervasive and cultural deeply concerns me, concerns us all. We learned on monday that gm has announced another recall, its 39th of january. This one is hauntingly similar to the ignition switch recall. It moves out of the run position if the key has too much weight on it. Your report tells us about the engineering and legal findings with gm, but what it does not default is whether the gm attorneys made conscious deliberation that prevented the truth from coming out sooner a potentially saving lives. That kind of malfeasance should be the crux of a coverup. I want to delve deeper and find out if that occurred. Why did this happen . We know that engineers approved safetythat did not meet specifications. Was it just a rush to get a car out on the road, or was it just sloppy . Lack of education about how the car worked, or a culture that does not respect accountability or take responsibility for problems . Little to noo be evidence that this troubled anyone. Is a result of poor information sharing, and silos, but why did they not say we have wrong . Ng we are still trying to that led tofacts one of the worst auto tragedies decade. Ast bad from thewere start. They should have never been installed. Once they were installed, if they can quickly clear to gm officials that something was very wrong with them. Disturbingly, the company left these unsafe bugles on the road for over a decade. Donealukas, you have important work describing how this kept going. This describes engineering and investigative failures, and lack of urgency in addressing issues, poor communication within the company, and numerous other systemic problems. Companyhe end, the failed to inform customers and federal regulators of the deadly problem. But the report does not answer all of the key questions. Explain how itly was approved without meeting specifications, and how it was redesigned in 2006. It does not fully explain why considered anot safety issue within gm. Explaindoes not how this culture took root. T does not identify one individual who was responsible. Officials, theer sbarro, and the board from knowing. This is not acceptable. That they would not know about this defect causing death is alarming and does not absolve them of this tragedy. Barra, while you are a new ceo you have a long history with gm. At least one highlevel executive who was working on solutions to the ignition switch problem reported directly to you. While you may not have known about this defect in the many people who work for you did. The culture of a company is shaped by its Senior Leadership. And shape theone attitudes of the employees. Theyre also responsible for putting in place systems to foster transparency and to ensure that safety issues are taken seriously. Is howhat i want to know the culture of secrecy at gm can be changed, not just structural management changes. I appreciate the changes you have made so far, but i think the jury is still out on whether we can have success in changing the culture. As the chairman mentioned, gm announced a recall of over 500 thousand late model chevy camaros, including 2014 model year vehicles because of the ignition switch problems. Monday evening, just a couple of days ago, another 3. 3 million cars with ignition switch and engine shut off issues were recalled including chevy and policies that are currently in production. This year alone, gm has , affecting4 recalls more than 20 million vehicles worldwide. The record reinforces notion that the safety problems for the cobalt and ion were not gm, and that you should have acted sooner to result the companys culture. Now we need to see, we need to show the American Public that the changes that have been announced will really address the longstanding problems at gm. This bar is not the only one with work to do. Ms. Barra is not the only one with work to do. I also want to acknowledge the families who are here in the hearing room today, and their beloved loved ones with the pictures on the back wall. I know it is not easy for you to learn about so many things that went wrong at gm. You have my word, we will do our best to make sure that this kind of tragedy will never happen again. Workhairman, i know we can together in a bipartisan way to do that. Thank you. We now recognize instructions for five minutes. We all thank you for joining three years ago we held our first hearing on the gm switch recall, we asked tough questions but not little answers. I expect it to go differently today. We have the valukas report, and the findings. A deadly breakdown over a decade. Engineers did not understand how Vehicle System for link together. The company believed that a car in the stalled while driving was not a safety concern. Despite having proofread before their eyes that an airbag system was not deploying when it should. All of this existed in a bureaucratic culture where takinges avoided responsibility. This very disturbing and downright demonstrating to you, to gm, to folks who live in michigan and take pride in the auto industry, and most of all to the families of the dems. Victims. This is not just a cobalt problem. Facing a switch recall ype of problemim in smaller vehicles with fatal consequences for drivers. We will focus on how and why this happened. I intend to focus on how we can make sure it never happens again , a culture that allows safety problems to fester for years will be hard to change. But if gm is going to recover and regain the trust, it will have to fix the problems that led to this unimaginable breakdown. I want specifics about whether the changes you have put in place have made a difference can. Does continue. On of the committee has reviewed over one million pages of documents and interviews with key personnel, while we are addressing gms responsibility, we do not have all of the and others about changes in our laws answers about changes in our laws. We are going to find out. Yes we will. The system failed, people died, and it could have been prevented. I yield the balance of my time to dr. Burgess. I thank you for yielding. We now know this is not an evidence problem. The evidence is overwhelming. It is an analysis problem. General motors still needs to answer the fundamental problem of how it missed all of these glaring signs. Cost 13 have well people their lives. Maybe the most concerning aspect of the report is the simple recognition that well everyone at General Motors had responsibility to fix the problem, no one took responsibility. That is unacceptable for one of the flagship companies, and one that millions of us rely on every day. Mr. Valukas offer 90 recommendations. Accountability, accountability that is not transferable is crucial. If personable accountability missing, the disastrous consequences will not only occur, they will recur and recur. Here, this for being is a start, a first step to solving a problem. I hope also there are some answers for many of us as to the ofect of the understanding the problem and when the understanding occurred. Will this affect those cases that have been litigated, how does the bankruptcy affect its thation on those cases were previously later created, and perhaps we can even t ouch on mr. Feinbergs employer. All of these questions need to be answered today, and i look forward to your testimony. Thank you. I thank you mr. Chairman for holding this hearing. The second on the failure to recall defect of pickles in a timely manner. I think our witnesses for being here. Of families of the victims gms respective vehicles deserved better. Gm failed you. We are looking at those pictures in the back of the room, and they need more than an apology. , who was, mr. Valukas well known in chicago and well respected reviewed the ignition switch failures, and his report was released on june 5. It characterized the company as a convoluted structure and very little accountability weathers with an institutional failure to meet and coordinate between different departments. There is a story today Bloomberg Business week about a whistleblower who tried to bring these albums to the attention of the company and lost his job as a result. Previous appearance, ms. Barra pointed to the valukas as important to answering questions she could not. Gm will compensate those who ere injured or lost loved ones. Said itkas ms. Barra would take her and kenneth from theup to 60 days time of the first hearing to determine how to proceed with those claims. Days. Now been 79 i hope we will have the answers today. When the valukas report became public am a ms. Barra said we have failed these customers and we must face up to it. It is not clear to me that any senior level manager has been held responsible for the Corporate Culture that allowed the ignition switch defect to go unreported for years after being discovered. Ms. Barra, my understanding, it was you who was responsible for safety issues. Serious question should have been asked about the admissions a missions. Ignitions. If i were a senior level executive that write about the problems and a newspaper, i would want answers and ask them. Responding better and faster to safety issues, including improving mitigations with the National Safety entrance for safety and transportation board. Dmk paid the maximum penalty for inform conform as the Ranking Member of the comers manufacturing and trade subcommittee i am working on legislation that would do the same while also addressing several other issues raised by the gm ignition switch defect including requiring the Public Disclosure of Technical Service old since. Bulletins which provide information to dealerships about how to repair pickles that are experiencing a widespread problem vehicles that are experiencing a widespread problem. Instructed dealerships to replace the affected part. I hope this will allow us to consider additional actions that will be in additional recalls. I yield back. Would like down to introduce the witnesses on the panel for today. Mary barra is been in the position of ceo for General Motors since february 14. She has in the Vice President of Global Manufacturing and 2008. Ering this litigator, as a former u. S. Attorney and a fellow of the American College of trial lawyers. The reportuthor of on the findings which were released two weeks ago. Im now swearing in the witnesses. Ware that we are taking testimony under oath. Do you have any objection . The witnesses say they do not. Under the rules of the house and the roles of the committee, youre advised to be counsel by counsel. Both the client. If you would please rise, raise your hand and i will swear you in. These were the trust money youre about to give us the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth . Thank you. Both witnesses answer in the affirmative. Youre now under oath, and subject to penalties under the code. You may not give a fiveminute minute summary of your written statement. Give a five minute summary of your written statement. Thank you. I appreciate the chance to appear before you again today on the missions which issue. , i want tooceed express my sympathies to the families that lost loved ones and those who suffered physical injury. Have aer mindful that we special responsibility to them and to those families, and the best way to fill that responsibility is to fix the problem by putting in place to needed changes to prevent this from ever happening again. When i was here 11 weeks ago, i told you how we intended to proceed with this matter. I promised we would conduct a comprehensive and transparent investigation. I promised we would share the findings of mr. Valukas report. Hold peoplee would accountable, and make substantial in rapid changes in our approach to recall. Wouldy, i promised we charge mr. Feinberg with creating a program for those who have lost family members and suffered serious injury. We have done these things and more, and i look forward to discussing these with you further. The valukas it paints a picture of an organization that failed to handle a complex safety issue in a responsible way. I was saddened and disturbed as i read the report. For those of us who have dedicated our lives to this company, it is enormously painful to have our shortcomings laid out so vividly. There is no way to minimize the seriousness of what mr. Volukas discovered. I will leave it to mr. Volukas to say what he found in his report. Made a number of personnel decisions. 15 individuals identified in the report are no longer with the company. Restructured our safety decisionmaking process to raise it to the highest levels of the company, addressing a key point in the volukas report that key points were cap from senior management. We are currently conducting what i believe is the most exhaustive, comprehensive safety review in the history of our company. We are leaving no stone unturned in devoting whatever resources it takes to identify potential safety issues in all of our current vehicles and on vehicles no longer in production. To set ansibility is new norm and industrystandard on safety and quality. I have told our employees its not enough to simply fix the problem. We need to create a new standard and we will create a new norm. We are taking a very aggressive approach on recalls. It is difficult to announce so many recalls, but it is the right thing to do. Wewe discussed last time, have engaged kenneth feinberg. The fullerg has authority to establish Eligibility Criteria for victims and determine compensation levels. He has indicated he will share his final criteria with us by the end of this month and we will begin processing claims by august 1 grade we created a new position of Vice President of Global Safety and appointed jeff boyer to this position. I have personally told jeff he will have whatever resources he needs to do the job. In addition, we have added 35 safety investigators already allowing us to address safety issues much more quickly. We have executed a speak up for safety program, encourages it encouraging employees to speak up about safety issues quickly. The start of changing the way we think and act that General Motors. Two weeks ago i addressed the entire Global Workforce about the report. I told our team that the series of questionable actions and interactions uncovered in the investigation were inexcusable. I told him a while i want to solve the problems as quickly as possible, i never want anyone associated with gm to forget what happened. Want this terrible experience permanently etched in our collective memories. Thatis a tragic problem should never have happened and must never happen again. The report makes a series of recommendations in eight major areas. I have committed the company to act on all of the recommendations. Members of thed committee, some of you are wondering about my commitment to solve the underlying cultural problems uncovered in the report. I will not rest until these problems are resolved grade im not afraid of the truth, and im going to accept business im not going to accept issues at gm. So we can unleash the full power of our employees, are 21,000 dealers and 23,000 suppliers. We are a good company, but we can and must be much, much be