Their dealer vehicle Identification Number off the top of their head. Is there a place to find that identification . Good point. Im sure not man eve us wouy of know that. You can find it on the windshield, on the insurance card. We have a mobile app. Very good advice. And our trip up to your location, your fine people informed me that i had a problem with my vehicle, not the one i was expecting, but nevertheless, it was Important Information to have. Now lest people think we come here with just assigned talking points and we never listen to each other, i wanted to point out after your testimony earlier in the year at that time we doing the appropriations bill for the department of transportation. And i did offer an amendment that night because of your testimony during the day that took 4 milli 4 million and move it to your budget. I think afterwards when i discussed with you, the offer still stands, ill be happy to discuss with you or even go to the appropriate appropriations Sub Committee when the budget request is made for, to the Appropriations Committee next year, because this, this is, this is important. Just one, one final observation, and then im going to go to mr. Cardenas. In the inspector generals report, your response thats in the appendix, your response to the things that were brought up, i wanted to highlight one of the bullet points is use of Safety Systems approach to look for possible relationships between a sem tomorrow in one Vehicle System and a possible critical failure in another system. As we were going through, and this is prior to your tenure. But last year we were going through on another Sub Committee, the ignition problems on the cobalt vehicles and the nondeployment of air bags, that being such a critical finding, it was of concern to me that this would appear in accident reports, all be it over a tenyear time span, and there werent a large number, but anytime a vehicle air bag nondeployment occurred, it seemed that that should be a sentinel event and something that should be investigated and you even outlined here that it, consider if its possible to defect theories that did not fit was previously held assumptions, in other words, look for another reason other than something where you normally would. And ill never forget the accident report where one vehicle, there were two vehicles involved in a headon collision. Unfortunately, not survivable in either vehicle. In one vehicle the air bag goes off. In the other it doesnt. There youve got the perfect test case. There wasnt a curb hit, tree lanced, that would perhaps jar the ignition switch. It was a straightup headon collision. One air bag works, the other doesnt. Why did the one not work. Im grateful to see that line item in your discussion of the points that were brought up by the i. G. s report, and i think thats important. And im going to yield for five minutes for questions, please. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Appreciate this opportunity, and want to thank the witnesses for being here to answer our questions. Keeping in mind the millions of cars on our roads, keeping them safe is complicated and expensive. The draft were looking at today does not address increasing funding for nhtsa, though many of its provisions would certainly present significant additional costs and responsibilities to the agency. Dr. Rosekind, in your testimony today, you said the failure to address gaps in nhtsas available personnel is a known risk to safety. Can you explain how penalties for violations of Motor VehicleSafety Standards and other violations affect those gaps . All of the penalties that are collected go right to the u. S. Treasury, so we dont get any of those for our work. Okay. So no matter how effective you are or even the industry admits and or submits those penalties, theres no parallel to the work. And the last time i appeared here, i made the statement that if you gave us more resources we could deliver more safety. And that is very clear. If you give us more demands without resources, you get less safety. Thank you. This draft does not address raising the cap that nhtsa can seek for violation. The Vehicle Safety yes, maam prompt act would eliminate that cap. In the past few years, there have been several widelypublicized scandals, and nhtsa issued more than 127 million in penalties. 35 million sounds like a large a money, but we continue to hear about new egregious violations. They have had to find new ways to make penalties appropriate for the violations. And the current max number penalty, is that enough to be an effective deterrent . No. And thats why in grow america we suggested a 300 million cap. No caps good with us, too. But at least 300 million is to have a meaningful deterrent. Now if the 35 million cap were significantly raised, what, in your opinion, would affect or the expectation of how the behavior automakers may or may not change . I think our expectation would be with appropriate deterrence, like the Civil Penalties, that we would want to see a more proactive safety culture, catch defects, conduct recalls earlier and faster. Okay. Would raising the perviolation fine and eliminating the cap on Civil Penalties improve safety in your opinion . Thats intent, and we think the current level is not the deterrent it should be. And when was the last time that level was a rairaised . Good question. Its been a while. So that the 35 million has basically been on the books for a long time. So for years now . Yeah. And the curve on activity or the volume of vehicles and the industry dollar amount value year to year, has that been going up . Absolutely. And if youre trying to make that distinction, yes. Our authorities have stated at a certain level, while the number of vehicles were about 265 million on the roads. If you look at the budget, which we talked about last time i was here, really, in sort of real dollars, were down from where we were 10 years ago. Mmhm. I constantly hear elected officials across the country talking about how we should run government more like a business. Does it seem like were running your Department Like a business when you just described the amount of activity going up, the amount of dollar amount in the industry going up, et cetera, yet, your budget and your ability to create more safe activity is flat . No. And ill make a personal comment, which is i have sort of a different unique background having been in academics, as a scientist, had my own business which consulted with top 1 hu00 companies all over the world, so i bring that. And its one of the major frustrations basically of wanting to do more with, you know, not enough resources. People, money. Well, im of the opinion in this country, that were fortunate to take Public Safety for granted in so many ways. Its unfortunate that were not fortifying you with the resources necessary to keep us as safe as you can. Thank you so much. Yield back. Chair thanks the gentleman. The gentleman yields back. Seeing there are no further members wishing to ask questions for our first panel, i do want to sincerely thank both of our witnesses for being here today, for their time. This will conclude our first panel. And we will take a twominute recess to set up for the second panel. Welcome back. Thank you all for your patience and taking time to be with us here today. Well move into our second panel for todays hearing. And we will follow the same format as during the first panel. Each witness will be given five minutes for an opening statement, followed by a round of questions for members. For our second panel, we have the following witnesses. Mr. Mitch bainwol, from the alliance of automobile manufacturers. Mr. John bow sell la. Mrs. Ann wilson, mr. Greg dotson from the center for american progress. Ms. Joan claybrook. Mr. Peter welch, president of the National AutomobileDealers Association and mr. Michael wilson, the ceo of the automotive recyclers association. We do appreciate all of you being here with us this morning. Were grateful for your forbearance during the first panel. And well begin with mr. Bane wol, and youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Given the size of this panel, im reminded of what former senator john warner said when he became Elizabeth Taylors sixth husband. He said i know what to do, im just not sure how to make it interesting. So here i go. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of 12 global oems based in the u. S. And europe ands yeah. Our companies represent about 75 of the marketplace. Our industry will put about a billion, a billion new cars on the road over the next decade around the world. With more than 15 of those on the road in the u. S. Thats a lot of steel and aluminum and an astounding amount of production and massive job implications. But even more striking than scale is a Game Changing ability that will generate benefits. Our companies are investing about 100 billion a year including the development of next generation of connected vehicle technologies. These vehicles will save lives, save fuel and enhance mobility. Your colleagues have invested substantial highway dollars to make it a reality. Senate will come to order. The clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington d. C,