Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and DCCP Subcommittee Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) sent a letter to Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) and Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) today requesting that Heidi King, the nominee to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), respond during her Senate confirmation hearing tomorrow to numerous outstanding questions dating back to her appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in February.
In February, Ms. King was unable to answer a number of key questions during the hearing including on NHTSA’s plans regarding changes to Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements and the agency’s many failures to complete crucial safety rulemakings Congress mandated by statute. Following the hearing, members sent Ms. King follow-up questions and requested a response by April 26, 2018. To date, the members have yet to receive any response from Ms. King.
“We therefore suggest that you press Ms. King for answers to these questions at your hearing tomorrow and seriously consider her answers as you make your decisions regarding her confirmation," Pallone and Schakowsky wrote. “Americans’ lives depend on the decisions made by the NHTSA Administrator. We all must be sure that she takes the role seriously and considers the safety of the public as her first priority."
Full text of the letter below:
May 15, 2018
Dear Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson:
We are writing with regard to the hearing you have scheduled tomorrow to consider the nomination of Heidi King to be Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Ms. King appeared before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on behalf of NHTSA on Feb. 14, 2018. At that hearing, Ms. King was unable to answer a number of key questions about the workings of the agency she is now being asked to lead.
Following the hearing, members submitted a number of questions for the record. Those questions, which are attached for your convenience, include questions about NHTSA’s plans regarding changes to Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements and NHTSA’s many failures to complete crucial safety rulemakings Congress mandated by statute.
Ms. King’s responses to those questions were due back to the Committee by April 26, 2018, but, as of today, we have still not received her responses leaving many important questions unanswered. The public should be able to consider whether Ms. King’s responses to these questions are sufficient.
We therefore suggest that you press Ms. King for answers to these questions at your hearing tomorrow and seriously consider her answers as you make your decisions regarding her confirmation. Americans’ lives depend on the decisions made by the NHTSA Administrator. We all must be sure that she takes the role seriously and considers the safety of the public as her first priority.
Sincerely,
Frank Pallone, Jr.
Raking Member
Jan Schakowsky
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection
