point is to bring access to communities because women who were expecting, were not able to get to these health facilities which are so few and far between. and that is something we intend to do, continue to do postcrisis. . .risis. >> miss bass? >> i will, again, want to thank all of you for your testimony. i think it's been extremely helpful, and i have questions for each of you. mr. torbay, pronounce that correct? in your recommendations, the second one says you wanted to make sure that the construction of the etus are appropriate for the needs of each country and so i was wondering if you find what is going on now is not appropriate? are you saying this in response to something that needs to be improved?

>> thank you for your question. that's actually very important question and we've been discussing it over the past week. there had been plans to build a certain number of etus in every country based on findings of -- that are about two months old. the situation is evolving rapidly. and we need to make sure that as it evolves we do not stick to the old plans that actually we adapt and we're flexible enough to, if there's no need for an etu, let's not even build that etu. if there's a need for mobile teams that would go out and get patients to an ebola treatment unit hat that has empty beds, let's do that. because we've seen -- we've see the tab overflow of patience and found the bullet treatments and we need to make sure we balance that. >> so i heard about that too when i thought one of the reasons was because the population must come the you know, afraid to come forward. the best cases they are not needed, but that wasn't the a few. so why do you have that discrepancy? what you are saying is what

dr. mans was saying that etus is not the way to go right now. >> versatile, the virus is moving. you get it under control and work between the treatment approach. it's getting under control, but then it's another country, another county. that is why a larger number of insurgency and those need to be coordinated. we support the community effort because that the end of the day, this is where it is, at the community level. we need to make sure the community centers can actually -- the staff are well-trained to isolate so they can refer to the treatment units for further treatment and those that can be discharged back into the community. this is what the strengthening of the work being done. >> so, you know how i said in my

opening i was interested to know in the building would they stay? i have just seen them on tv. is there any value to the etus been left there for other infectious diseases or other companies? >> you know, some of those etus are not built to last. they are built with temporary materials that will last a few months and that is good to know. one of the approaches his work trying to build a more permanent structure that could be later on turned into something else. it could be turned into a training center or clinic and that is the obtainable aspect of it and what we are encouraging. there will be a need for isolation wards. so isolation units in west africa even after we contain ebola because there might be other diseases that might

resurface. there is a need for the facility as well as equipment and training staff there. >> so, it was the first time i had heard him talk about the only time a health care worker can be with the patient is one to two hours. i seem equipment and the stories, but that implies a large number of health care workers. though if you are only with the patient for an hour and you believe, do you have for leave? you understand what i'm saying? how does that work? >> in our ebola treatment center, we have 230 staff members. >> wild. >> woodworker round-the-clock by ship. when a doctor goes out, another one will be in quickly. >> so when the person they've been there an hour or two, they take a break of how god and i imagine they go back. >> it depends on the level of exhaustion and dehydration. usually not less than three to

four hours. they need to recover before you bring them back in. >> well, okay. dr. mans, maybe you could respond to this if you want to add anything about this etus. also, i know there is an issue around the health around the health care workers at one point and then being paid. i was wondering what the situation was with that, if that is improved. >> thank you. i completely agree about it emergency treatment center and there are some certainly challenges training and we have seen the 100 bed emergency treatment center, three miles operating with the chinese

government has built one in between and get communities where there are hot spots. not very accessible by road to get into any of those. so again, the challenge of planning or ordination. >> how does that happen quite >> it is important from the responsibility of government. so i think finding ways again has probably summed up so well, making sure that there is a more mobile response to be able to get people into the facilities where they need support. because what worries me in this is the gaps that i see him talking to liberians is about the big numbers that they hear committed to ebola an actual response taking place on the ground. it is extremely important to be sure the planning is done in effect to play in that

communication is out there and citizens in these countries and expectations can be better managed. the other thing i just wanted to add about training, which i think is extremely. we think a lot about community health workers and of course the big challenges so few.yours and 420.yours. but it is a big challenge i think to provide not just more training for medical personnel, the son of this preservice training at the technical level is desperately needed and could be done pretty quickly. i think that there are institutions here in the united states that can provide the kind of support that wanted to ramp

up preservice training as well as in-service training by institutions in the affected countries. >> both of you -- all of you made reference to the need to take it to the community and have the community be involved. i wanted to know if maybe you could be specific about that. i understand the community peace in terms of contact tracing, identifying people that are in fact did. if there is not etcs, etus, then what? you identified a person and then what. do you follow me? >> i can try to answer that. the role of the community is critical. as you mentioned, contact tracing is critical. informing the authorities is very important so they can enter the body, but also to educate

the community about what to do if they see someone presenting with symptoms. how to isolate the person and make sure they have of these gloves are thanks to protect themselves. but make sure they isolate and inform the different authorities, the health workers, community health workers. this is critical because what is happening is there are people that have ebola thursday in the same room with five other people and that cannot happen. the isolation is critical and this is where the education at the community level becomes important because that is the only way we can contain it. >> should there be smaller etcs? i understand isolating, but if you have treatment, the person will sit there and die. and many said they are maybe in inappropriate places or maybe not needed. in the places they are not needed, what happens to the person? >> that is a very valid question. the community care centers that are being established, which

early quality treatment centers. the patients will be taken there. they will be isolated and cared for until the test is done. there are important things for them to have taken. one thing you mentioned initially about the just government and our discussions with the u.s. military as well as with the usaid about the need for ebola treatment. they have been extremely flexible receptive. there's no need for rest and move it there, they have been extremely responsive to recommendations and i would like to commend them for that. >> you might want to respond, but i want to ask you a series of questions about cultural practices. >> i would like to catch up a little bit. i would like to reiterate this flexibility on both the designation of where the etus

are and in general the flexibility that in particular the usaid, dart and general response has been really fantastic and has allowed us to make sure we are able to position resources as quickly as possible. on the issue of the community, we spend a lot of time and have spent a lot of time since april going over the past way over the best way is to interact with the community. a lot of these dialogue sessions i have been talking about. it is really focused on making sure that we are not top down. we are not distributing leaflets in just doing radio shows, though we are doing that, but making sure it is a conversation with the community about what ebola is and what it is not. and having them, put their own

solutions that we will work through. that has been able to allow us to make sure that the communities, when they have a suspected case that they put their community member in a separate location that the communities are doing a lot of their old monitoring and sure they make the old phone call is the phone call is the most bang. sure that zack steffen were suspected victim is isolated and making the phone call is really huge. in the long term, you know, before we started -- we were doing these water and sanitation activities with the government. we were successful in working with over 350 communities on proper sanitation and proper hygiene. that effort was incredibly successful.

in all 350 communities, which are some of the hardest hit counties, none of them have been effected by ebola. if you make a long-term investment and prepare the communities before it hits, it has a huge impact than i really prevent that from happening. i only wish we were able to hit all of the communities in liberia before the virus hit. >> so, i wanted to ask if you expand a little bit more. you are talking about the cultural practices. i do understand first of all you said it was something than 70% of the transmissions were contacts with people who had passed away. how long is the body contagious? my colleague was asking about the role of the faith community. i am wondering if leaders, since obviously the traditions are a part of peoples faith, if they were taking the lead in getting

people to deviate, to differ from traditional practices. i would imagine that would be really hard. you said they have come up with ways to safely say goodbye. and i thought you said they did that with all of the protective gear on. i was wondering if that was what you meant. finally, i want to know what happened to you. you were there, you came back. did they hold you in a tent at the airport? seriously. i'm glad they didn't if they didn't, but how did you sneak back in? >> thank you you a series of great questions. i will answer the last one first, which i was at the airport. there was an xmi piece of paper that pulled me over to this side. and so i connected an interview with the cdc. >> what airport? >> toles. >> they were really great.

this streamlines the process as quickly as possible, asked me about my level of -- my potential level of exposure, which was very offended did and took my temperature. and since then, i have been in daily contact with the d.c. department of health. i lived in d.c. i am in contact with them everyday and myself monitor, take my temperature twice a day and monitor any symptoms of which i have not. what i would like to reiterate the cdc and the d.c. department of health are really focused on the partnership aspect of it and the fact that we are working together on this and that they understand why i am there and why i went and that it is not an antagonistic relationship, that we work together and that allows not just me, but everyone coming

back to feel free and happy to discuss our health with the department of health and with the cdc and that really opens up the dialogue and makes it much more impactful in terms of a monitoring tool. on your question about safely say goodbye, we don't allow the community members to dawn ppec as a prevention tool because it requires a lot of training. we do actually allowed them saw them to make them feel better. because honestly, the burial teams are wearing full ppe's. it is fully intimidating. if inexpensive better to wear some ppe, we allow them to do that, but we don't allow that anywhere near the body. >> of burial teams you are describing.

they might burial teams where the full ppe's. a community members are allowed to attend the burial. if you want to, they can wear some limited ppe's, that they are not allowed close. but that allows them to understand what is happening with imperialist to watch the process, which is incredibly important to make sure they are engaged and the next time there is a victim, that they make that phone call. so that interaction takes the bulk of the time. with the burial teams interact with the communities community and make sure to stand in a dignified way is a huge part of their time. there were a couple of other -- a small item that i wanted to respond to was on the hazard pay, which is a really important aspect of the response because

these are really brave people doing really important work. they do want make sure they are being compensated, so a part of our effort is to make sure that pay is happening on time and will working to ensure that. it is a small amount of money by our standards, but it is incredibly important that they understand they are valued in the work they are doing is important. >> just quickly to the two last questions, which were how long is the body and if someone could address the abandoned children. where are they with? >> sure. on the length of time the body is contagious, we don't exactly know. the cdc and who are looking at this. and so that is why we are just

focused on it is a long time. it is on the order of weeks. and so, that is why we make sure that the body is, you know, covered and chlorine, placed in a body back, covered and quarreling again when it is. it is alternating soil and chlorine so that there is no risk. the virus doesn't last very long in water even. so it is very low risk to the water tables, but we also make sure that the orioles have been above the water table just to make sure. >> thank you. just a few follow-up questions. in our september 17th hearing, dr. kent brantley spoke about a number of the having lived to it and having survived.

one point that he made was the 100 isolation unit and his hospital was turning away as many as 30 infectious individuals each day. i am wondering, has that changed, is the capacity growing? you might give us an update on how the united states military is doing in creating the capacity. he also made a very strong point about those who will stay in their home and be cared for by loved ones. husbands, wives, children. he said without education and protective caregivers, mothers, daughters and sons to death simply because they chose not to let their loved ones died alone. i am wondering since obviously isolation is one of the keys to breaking the transmission chain and many of these affect people,

infected people will stay home. if the outreach to the individual caregivers as robust as it should be? let me also ask at our hearing, the second hearing, dr. kochi from nih used the word exponential time and time again during his testimony. we had a group of top people, including the head of usaid and last week of the full committee. that wasn't uttered once. i asked them about are we seeing a turn. you know, cdc has said if the rate of increase continues at the pace in september, there could be as many as 1.4 million cases by late january. where are we in europe you in terms of the estimations of how large this epidemic may grow. let me also ask you and one of

the 10 points that you have suggested, mr. torbay, is the importance of a capable ambulance network. i am wondering since so many people can't get to it etu or any other health facility, where is liberia and the other two countries as well that you know more about liberia in terms of an ambulance, capacity. and also that i could, all of you might want to touch on this. you know, dr. brantley may have been helped. we still don't know. there are other drugs still in the pipeline in the vaccines and cured of potential drugs. you know, i was amazed and positively shocked when you said, mr. torbay, that the rate of liberia is approximately 26%.

that is far lower than the average fatality rate in the three affected countries. i am wondering, what is being done there to achieve those remarkable results in terms of mitigating fatality? so, if you could speak to those issues. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would actually start with the last question about the low fatality rate of the ebola treatment unit. we are not using any miraculous drugs or any testing drugs they are. what we are doing is working with the community to make sure patients are referred to the unit as soon as possible. that has been one of the major errors in the wearing mortality rates. as you have seen in the u.s., those caught early on and sent to the hospital survived and those that relate to not make it, unfortunately. for us that is extremely import.

it is titration, balance of electrolytes, making sure people are actually healthy enough for them to fight the virus on their own. one very critical component of our success has been the u.s. navy lab that was set up right next to our ebola treatment unit. it used to take us back to seven days before we got the test result. now it takes five to seven hours. so basically, people are coming in. what if they are sent home and that comes down to the potential exposure as well. >> excuse me. that would be people manifesting some symptom like >> correct. >> a put as a suspect case and then we decide whether it's possible. >> if they are not manifesting a

symptom, no testing is done quite >> no. >> this actually ties into your question about the ebola treatment capacity. actually, the lab facilities are playing a critical role because the unit expects suspect case. that is why we are turning a lot of cases of because they did not have the capacity to test a lot of those patients. they have to keep them there until they are tested. with the additional numbers of lives being established, that is helping a lot and is no longer the case. hardly any unit is pushing patients away. the situation in liberia and this is something that dr. shaw mentioned here in his testimony. it is looking better than it looks a couple months ago. the numbers are lower. the new cases are lower than it was before. it is much better than what we estimated two months ago. if we continue on the right

track and we have to not slow down, we will get it under control. the same applies for the other countries. now we see the numbers in year-over-year are increasing at a much faster rate than liberia. so we need to work together. community, treatment, the government as well as other governments and the military to contain it. liberia could be a really good success story. we shouldn't start celebrating yet. we have to be very careful. it is still not under control. it is looking positive. if we continue, we look at under control, but it is too early to celebrate. on the individual family protection, this is some aid that is definitely important. this goes back to educating the family, but also giving them a safe redaction. gloves, masks, but at the same time, we do not want to give

them a false sense of protection. we do not want them to think because they have closed and a mask they are okay to be near patients. we need to make sure the education takes place properly and are very well at the risk, even with the protection and that is very critical. ambulance network is very important in all three countries. you know, we turned anything we can get our hands on. we are looking at different types of ambulance, including the ambulances that can take patients in faraway units in setting up a treatment in those counties. there is a need to increase the capacity and also a need to train staff working in ambulances because that is a very risky job when you are in an ambulance. it seems there is a move now to actually get ambulances there. there are about being donated.

also looking at alternative way of transportation. >> if i may, i just wanted to add to all of these points about getting to that inflection point on the ebola crisis. i think this combination of getting both the hardware right and the software rate come the hugely important. one, etcs and getting community care centers to improve access. on the other side is what i see happening on the technology front end very quickly so we are in a position to do a better job of testing, tracking and treating the virus. on the testing side, a number of rapid diagnostic tests are being available test it on the ground in the next couple of months. a lot of work is being done with u.s.-based technology companies, working with people on the ground to develop tools to

automate contact tracing, to bring the power of technology in today's, to be able to do a much better job of tracking and surveillance. back to is coming in addition to what is happening on the treatment side. so like my colleagues, i am very hopeful, but we cannot be complacent or declare victory. there's still work to be done on all these fronts. >> and i would like to go through a few of your questions because i think they are really interesting and show the changes, especially in reference to mr. bradley's testimony. i believe there was a sort of a vicious cycle that was going on at the early stages, where there was not enough testing. so there were not enough beds. and so, ebola patients were be

turning away from etus because at the lack of testing and the simple lack of ads and health care workers. and so then at the community members -- the victims were turned away. they go back into their community and they in fact others and they pass away and the burial teams at that point were overstretched. so both of those issues he addressed, the etus really had a significant impact on lowering the rate of transmission. that cycle continued to bring down the number -- but ebola victims going into the etus. that is one of the big flips

that has happened since dr. bradley testified, which is wonderful to hear, obviously. and i would like to reiterate that while the community dewdney protective equipment and you need education about how to handle the sick, that risk of the false sense of prevention that mr. torbay brought up is something we are careful about. it doesn't mean they are going to be able to safely handle victims. the etus are not always fall in terms of how they are put together. they are very straightforwardly put together. as you mentioned, most are temporary structures and they are the fastest, latest, high-quality treatment that you can get. and so, as he moved down from that, you do and curse the risk

in terms of the community care centers that have to be looked at there really carefully to make sure the quality of care are very, very high. in terms of the projections that you mentioned, a lot of those projections were if nothing happened, if we didn't do anything. so now we are doing something and i think we are doing a lot, that is bringing down projections. i think we look forward to future projections as they come forward. on the ambulance network, it is some need that we are involved in responding to. we got into a lot of the other activities we are doing such as contact tracing and ambulance work because we are our teams at the county health team. so we had a significant relationship with every county health team and we make sure the

burial teams are run out of the county health team. so when they say are ambulance broke down, can you help us out? we are able to immediately respond and very, very quickly to make sure they have another ambulance for that air ambulance gets repaired and that has allowed us to engage about 10 ambulances run out of different county health teams that they've requested from us. and i think that aspect of it, to make sure that we are hearing to beckley from the county health teams and some of these incredibly remote counties, and some take two days to get to on a dry day and we hear immediately and allow us to respond to it quickly. the i know our ranking member on the orphan issue, it is pretty significant issue that is being looked at by a bunch of different ngos. the entire question of how you

respond to the families that are affected orphans, widows, widowers is really significant and it is one of the last in a fax that is going to have on this virus. >> just let me conclude with the following questions. who is really in charge like in liberia? is that the ministry of health? we know that who came under some withering for this event in mid-october or in a report on how they had missed it and had inadequate staffing. i am wondering who is truly in charge. what role do they play? we know cdc is playing a significant advisory and leadership role. secondly, on the issue of training health care workers, community health care workers, could you just get a sense of what their ages are?

are they older, more experienced people who have come back into the system? are the young people stepping up to the plate? what does that look like? does the usaid provides any salary support? we know it catastrophic situations, very often that kind of subsidy can be provided. i remember being in sri lanka after the typhoon, the tsunami i should say. we were paying salaries to individuals to do work, to do cleanup. not only was the motivating, it's not obvious that time -- they were actively in their own homes and communities, but there was that significant subsidies to help them get money in their pockets for me to get businesses are locally. i wonder if usaid or any other entity in government is providing salary support.

>> the liberian government is in charge and they should be in charge. that is their country and we are just aghast there. we only work through them and with them. i don't think any of those countries were prepared for such an outbreak. especially countries like liberia and sierra leon that we are trying to recover from that and i still haven't fully recovered. in addition to the other systemic issues within the health system they are. the world health organization, cdc, ngos work to support the liberian minister of health and they have people step into them. they have a body that coordinates the ebola response and people from different agencies supporting. one thing we definitely go back to your initial question about

what needs to be done to make sure we do not go back there, we cannot afford to go back to where we were before the ebola outbreak. we need to build the suspense much better than they were before because as we saw, it wasn't that effect. we need to actually support the liberian embassy early on for guinea government ministers of help train the staff, get them all the support that they need to move things forward. you know, and they are doing but they can't but they can given the limited limited capacity and capabilities they have. it is now playing a more robust role than they did it while ago. as i've mentioned in my testimony, there still needs to be clarification in terms of who is responsible for what and who is coordinating what. that is very important. i think discussion take place should be verified.

i will answer briefly about the health workers and i'm sure michael here will give you a more detailed answer. most of the health workers that are working with us, the majority are younger and they are college kids or people who went to school or are working in the market, but they are younger and those are the ones that have been working with us mostly. in terms of usaid support, usaid has been very generous with us working on the ground. whatever we ask them for, including the salary staff working at the community would be a poetry make units, there hasn't been any hesitation. i don't know what is going on in support for the liberian government who is paying the incentives. but as far as we are concerned, they've been extremely generous and effective and very pragmatic in their approach. >> yeah, i would like to

reiterate the liberian ministry of health -- the government of liberia in general has been leading the effort and the administrative health and social welfare and reticular, the assistant minister of health has been leading the incident management system, has been a really great coordinator of the effort and those meetings, which have been think about three times a week, make sure everyone is on the same page. and that has allowed us, you know, that has been our approach to make sure we are leveraging the resources we have been implemented to make sure we are successful, they are successful in doing so has allowed us to move quickly in a very responsive as i mentioned before. that said, you know, the other actors, especially the usaid dart has been incredibly

responsive and excellent at coordinating their efforts and their various arms. the dart has been really credible partners for us to make sure that as the situation changes on the ground, we are able to move very, very quickly. on the community health workers, the system in liberia that existed before was for all the community health workers to actually be community health volunteers. so they were on paid volunteers that received supplemental support in some way or another occasionally. i believe that depending on what the activity is, they are getting some limited level of support. certainly from our side when we do activities, they do get some incentive payment if they are able to bring -- if they are

able to achieve certain deliverables, then we do give them some payments occasionally. but yeah, i don't know if they are receiving large-scale salary from the administrative health at this point during the emergency. >> the only thing i would add again as i said earlier is the great frustration that exists within liberia. this crisis and the gap between what people perceive is actually happening on the ground and is very big numbers that the public hears about. the government, the president in particular has been very forceful and demanding that the government be very focused on this agenda. as you know, she just had a shakeup in the cabinet. she replaced the minister of health to be sure that she has the leadership and not ministry to see this thing through.

so there is no sense of complacency. write the opposite. they are leading and working very hard to ensure that there is a joined up government approach on their side of the united states government that has taken a joined up whole averments approach. >> thank you. just to conclude, i mentioned in the outset that we have just introduced h.r. 5710, the trend for emergency response act and you have response to what is in there. i ask you to take a look at it to see if it covers all the bases accupril and a few. look at it, perhaps support it because i do think we are talking about a sustainable problem that needs a sustainable response. you know, the good work that our house appropriations and senate appropriations committees have done, particularly when the dod

asked for a request that was huge, it was done without the slightest bit of hesitation. but we need to have the authorizers i think as well making sure that we leave no as the admitted taking and hopefully ending this crisis. please take a look at the legislation if you would be at anything you'd like to say before we conclude? >> that would just like to thank you for your leadership and the leadership of the u.s. government. we are very proud of what has been achieved so far and the continuous focus on resolving this issue. again, thank you for having us here today. >> thank you. >> i would like to reiterate the efforts that you see on the ground in liberia in particular are really incredible and the large volume of that is due to the leadership of the u.s. government and leadership of the subcommittee to make sure that it happens. it is truly inspiring when you are and liberia seeing the response has been in see the

impact that we are all having. so, thank you. >> i want to thank you for your continued leadership long after the headlines say it, and they will, to be sure that everybody is focused on how to be built in liberia. the health sector and get these countries back on track. so, thank you for your leadership. >> thank you so much. i went to thank you for your expertise, your tremendous leadership, the three of you. it is just remarkable and that is it. the hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations]

>> now, to house assistant minority leader, james clyburn who speaks about the midterm election, the democratic party and, the democratic party and president about his intention to take executive action on immigration reform. run the national press club, this is 20 minute. [inaudible] >> and not going to compare to when i'm not to sign down.

[laughter] okay, so we are going to start now. hi, i am bob weiner. i am the newspaper committee coordinator for this wonderful event today. welcome to the national press club, the world leading organization for journalists and where news happened. today, we welcome an old friend, congressman jim clyburn, the house assistant minority leader who will discuss governing and the issues in the post-midterms environment. congressman clyburn was just elected by the democratic caucus as the assistant minority leader and can for the how many times now, jim? or a time, great. president barack obama has said that congressman clyburn is one of the handful of the people when they speak the entire congress listens.

as assistant democratic leader, clyburn was one of the primary liaisons to the white house. he plays a prominent role in messaging and outreach. one of the nation's highest-ranking african-american members of congress represents the sixth district of south carolina. when he came to congress in 1993, he was elected copresident of his freshman class and rose through the race rapidly. he was elected chairman of the congressional black caucus in 1999 and he built a reputation as a leader and consensus builder. he was elected vice chair in 2002 in a three-way race in three years later was unanimously elected chair of the democratic caucus. when democrats regained house majority in 2006, thompson clyburn was majority of it. he was elected president of his president of the naacp chapter one covers all, helped organize any civil rights marches and demonstrations at the south carolina state college and met his wife emily in jail during one of his incarceration. i hope you'll post more on that story.

well, c-span and others asked what news will be made in addition to governing and the issues in the post-midterms environment. jim boyle of course answer the questions about what is going to happen on the immigration order. the health care law, will it be tweaked? birthday? bubble have been? with there be a shut down rat, and impeachments and why did the democrats lose than what his prognosis for the future? so, i would like to introduce -- this takes a number. i would like to introduce my wife, pat, who puts up with all this organizing work we do. dr. patricia burke, rebecca zander lynn. rebecca will take the mic to the audience that they will answer questions since we promised c-span we would have a mic, so we will. florian, raise your hand. i've been dumbbell joseph abbé

and our new intern, autumn kelley. okay, i want to thank your staff, jim. you're scheduling staff and rashard devlin, your communications director. so we will get underway. jim will present a speech and we will make enough 15 minute you will get a couple questions you jim, go ahead and take it away. >> thank you very much, bob. pat on the thank you for a long friendship. by then i go back to oregon democrat days when both of us at half and i was 40 pounds smaller. the bells just rang. i am not going to get into this. i may take first the most current gang, immigration. we did have a dinner and we

discussed the executive order that is going to be issued, signed sometime tomorrow. he will speak to the nation about it. and i think he takes off the bad tomorrow to discuss exactly what it is all about. many of you may know that i have for several years now been urging the president to use his executive authority to deal with immigration as well as with the debt limits. you may recall the deal on the depth is something i did not particularly like. i did not like it being held up and i thought that he should use his executive authority. now, there are a lot of people who debate whether or not that is beyond the law. we have all of these discussions

even this morning about the lawlessness. well, let me tell you some team. when abraham lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation, it is going beyond the law because the law mandated slavery. and by executive order, he got rid of slavery. now, the big debate over the movie link in with all about whether or not after the presidency was over, whether or not they would have an amendment to the constitution to maintain freedom for slaves because the executive order would die. so the fact was not over. the fight was over putting it in the constitution. let's look at someone more current. truman. the congress did not get rid of segregation.

in fact, roosevelt wouldn't do it. when truman became president of an incident, isaac woodard downed in my state, incident of a gentleman returning from world war ii, going home and being arrested by the sheriff and his deputies, blinded. truman saw that. and he decided that he would use his executive authority to outlaw and to integrate the armed services. that is how the armed services got integrated. so i am pleased the president is moving on this. he will take his place alongside abraham lincoln, harriet truman and many others and using the executive order to do big things. now, are they going to have a governor stepped down? i hope not. will there be rumors have it? the rumors have already started.

the senior senator from my state is asking his people to stop talking about impeachment. the fact that the matter is they are discussing it and i have always maintained that there is an element that they would love to see this president go down in history but the next campaign and that is what this is all about. there are going to be lawsuits. you know, what president -- all of this highest level discussions of lawsuit is all about driving the narrative more than doing what they had the authority to do. i used to run a state agency. i can't even tell you how many times i was sued. you make executive decisions and get sued for them. that is to determine whether or not the cost to small outfit or the legality of what you did and then just move on.

i have been in office now for 22 years, so the lawsuits -- none of the lawsuits were successful. now, what happened on november 4th? what happened on november 4th was spending too much time, in my opinion, apologizing for being democrats. we seem to feel that there's something wrong for being no as the party for the little guy. the party that addressed the middle intern issues. i am proud that my party did social security. and a lot of the democrats paid dearly for that.

go back and read the history of end you will see how many democrats lost their seats because of social security was just the worst thing they could possibly do. but today, everybody relishes in the fact we are a part of social security. i am proud of the fact that my party is the party that gave us medicare and medicaid and we have heard the other side saying how bad that a few days. in fact, i am not against it. i don't want to get rid of it. just let it with her. i am very proud of that. i am proud that i am a member of the party that's a step to what was going on in this country back in the 1940s that hairy truman and in the 1960s with lyndon johnson. so, where would i be today were

it not for the 1964 -- the 1965? where would i be living today if it were not for the fall? and, what i have ever gone to work in state government in south carolina if we had not outlawed discrimination in 1972 in the public sector. and so, all of those things were delivered by the democratic party. i think it is high time that we democrats stop apologizing for being the underdog for the little guy and being for middle intern americas. for us to spend all of our time moving forward. i find it kind of interesting. yesterday we heard from congressional members, i went to the soviet union in 1972. my daughter went back and 1992.

now, when she left to go back over there in 1992, i said i hope you really enjoy going to the soviet union. and bring me a souvenir bat. so she presented me with an envelope, a souvenir and i opened it and it was a polaroid picture of her. what kind of souvenir is this? a polaroid picture. she said i thought you might want to see a difference of 20 years when you went as opposed to when i went. i am looking at the pictures say what does this picture say? she was by the mcdonald's golden arch. i felt so that i didn't catch

that. nothing stays the same. this country is always moving like a pendulum on the clock. this country does not move from point a to point b. to point c. the country is always going back and forth, back and forth. the supreme court goes back and forth. dred scott, brown, the congress always going back and forth because the country goes back and forth. i say to people all the time, the country goes to the left into the right, the right into the latch. always passing through the center. one of the things we understand

is when it is moving from left to right and right to left, the country spends twice as much time in the center as it does out of the left or the right. it is the intervention of the vouchers that determine when they should top out and start back. the country moved right base here, i believe honestly that if the voters intervened, as i hope they will, as efficiently, it will go back to the last. ..

reauthorize it or get rid of it. i i think we will have this for two years. as far as the health care law,, the healthcare law needs to be tweaked. remember, i just laid out a litany of points. not called the healthcare law, the civil rights law of the 21st 21st century. i made my speech. i said, this is the civil

rights act of the 21st century. we were outlawing discrimination. no longer will you be allowed to discriminate against a a woman as soon as she gets breast cancer or a a man with prostate cancer. that is what this law is all about. so i feel sincerely that we just took the first step, this immigration thing. when the civil rights act was passed, it started out as a comprehensive law. it it could not get past. lyndon johnson jettisoned voting. he got rid of housing. these were issues that riled the american people. they did not want to see neighborhoods integrated or voting made easy. a lot of people, he even got

rid of the public sector discrimination. it only outlawed discrimination in the private sector. so it jettisoned enough to get the votes needed to pass. one year pass. one year later you get the voting rights act. three years later, the fair housing law. four years law. four years after that outlawed discrimination. it was not until 1972. the same thing here. when i first said when i first said that this law must be done in such a way that it can be implemented incrementally a lot of my friends on the left castigated me. i laughed at them.

done incrementally, and it should be done so. honor the fact that you should not bite off more than you can chew. >> okay. maybe one or two questions. >> can you speak to how the entire heads of the party of both chambers were reelected, de record low approval rating of congress and what the american people can expect them to do differently? >> that came from the republican congress. everyone was rated pretty low, democrats or significantly above republicans. let me say this. my dad used to tell me all the time, sun, experience is

the best teacher. i just recently published my memoirs. amazon.com amazon .com gives it five stars. blessed experiences. and what i say in the i say in the book is, all of my experiences have not been pleasant. all of them i consider to be blessings. sometimes i have to look back in order to see it. one of the things we just did on our side of the aisle , we are blending the old with the new. i will tell you this, i believe we would much rather have a 34-year-old a 34 -year-old joe dimaggio than

a 34 -year-old clarence thomas >> one more question in the back. >> national association of beverage importers. i importers. i wonder if you could comment on the approaching ferguson decision and how this will roll up for ferguson, the midwest and the rest of the country? >> one of the things i should highlight is the fact that community participation, you cannot just drop out. every election is important. and to me, much of the atmosphere that has been created and ferguson is because local community people just fail to participate at the level that they should. i am told in this community, six or 7 percent african-american, only to

african-americans on the police force. that would never happen that would never happen in my congressional district, never. i just don't understand that. that. i don't understand how you have an election with only 6 percent of the people show up to vote and wonder why you have an all white school board. come on. you have a responsibility to participate. it is not about the elected class but decisions being made. who will hire who will hire the police chief, oversee the police chief when he is refusing to integrate, let his police force reflect the community

they represent? 67 percent african-american, and only two out of 56 or seven police officers are african-american. give me give me a break. there is something wrong with that. i believe this highlights the fact that you just cannot vote when there is a presidential election. no president goes to your school board meeting. streetlights get in skull. these are local these are local decisions that are just as important in many instances as who sits in the white house. thank you so much. appreciate it. >> and we are adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

>> earlier this year c-span q&a spoke with a winner of the national book award for his book age of ambition. in it, he. in it, he describes the rising conflict between the individual and the chinese government. he he spent eight years living in china as a correspondent for the new yorker. tonight and tonight and encore airing at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span two. all next week on c-span interviews with retiring members of congress. here is a look at what congresswoman mccarthy has to say about the future of her party.

>> we have a lot of talented members. and it is members. and it is not just ms. miss pelosi. she is good at raising money. but they have to start training younger people and bring younger people into the caucus to become hopefully the future leaders one of the one of the things that i believe with all of my heart and soul , you have to know when to leave. nancy does not feel this is the time. hopefully she will turn the reins over to someone else. when i look around, is anyone really ready to replace her? it is a hard job. i give her i give her a lot of credit, but i think it is time that the leaders start

looking at, who is going to fill my spot? there might be bumps in the road, but i believe it is time for the younger people with fresh ideas and new ways of doing things. that is a normal progression >> see her full remarks along with our interview monday starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern on our companion network c-span.

>> now a senate committee looks at defects and airbags made by the japanese supplier takata and the recalls. senators here with a senior official from the organization. also the acting head of the national traffic highway safety administration and a victim of the defect. this hearing runs just under three hours. >> good morning. may i ask morning. may i ask everyone if they would take their seats.

>> good morning, everyone. we have been looking forward to this. we want to thank the witnesses for coming. we are here to we are here to investigate the link between defective airbags and the numerous injuries and deaths across the country, indeed, across the globe. globe. more than 7.8 million vehicles in the us have been recalled because of defective airbags, and just this week the national traffic highway safety administration announced that it was calling on all automotive makers to expand

not recall from a few states, states, what they called a regional recall, to the entire country. well, the first thing that needs to be done is to take care of consumers. automakers need to get a replacement part so that the airbags can be replaced. that needs to be sent to the dealers, and they need because of people potentially driving around with a defective airbag in their steering wheel and dashboard, the dealers, automobile makers need to provide a loaner vehicle or rental car for those whose cars cannot be immediately fixed. general motors recently took

that kind of step for certain models with faulty ignition switches, and there is no reason why the automakers covered by this notice should not be required to take the same kind. i think it is absolutely imperative because of the fear that has gripped the public by virtue of what has already been said and what will be stated in this hearing today that a loaner or rental car the provided for someone if they cannot get their replacement of their defective air bag on the recall list done immediately. the owners should have a right to expect that the cars that they drive are as safe as possible.

and so that is going to be what we are going to be facing in the next immediate future, as we dig into the question of what, in fact, is the problem. now, i have now, i have written to secretary fox urging him to impose civil penalties up to the full extent of law on any company that refuses to provide drivers with an alternative form of transportation, if they are going to have to wait to have their car repaired. the american people have a right a right to know about the story behind this airbag recall. and so that is why we are here today. let me show you some of the items. this is part of the steering

mechanism. it would be facing the driver like this, and it would look like this in the wheel of the steering hub. and, of course, the chemicals inside this mechanism, upon impact the chemical reaction causes and inflation of the airbag,, and upon close examination, you will see the little holes around the mechanism that the gas that is created by the chemical reaction comes out, inflates the

airbag,, and it is a device that has saved many, many people's lives. this compound, ammonium nitrate, seems to have a problem. long about the turn of the year 2,000 when it was changed as the compound, perhaps some of the metal as well, and when the explosions occur, instead of the gases formed to fill the airbag, additionally it explodes with such force that this metal shreds. and as a result, what you see in this particular case of an airbag, metal has

shredded it. here is a big hole. here is another whole. and the very advice to five device that is supposed to save lives becomes a device that is taking lives. that is absolutely unacceptable. now, after the opening statements of the respective chairmen and ranking members , i have asked an air force active duty first lieutenant, who happens to be stationed at the large air force base in fort walton beach, florida to be

our first witness. witness. she will give you a first-hand account as to what her and counter has been with the defective airbag. and so let me turn to our ranking member, our future chairman of this committee. thank you for participating. >> thank you for serving as chairman of this morning's hearing to examining the alarming takata airbag recalls and the action of the national highway traffic safety administration. these are issues that belong on the agenda, and i appreciate your calling this hearing to examine these details in greater detail. i first want to thank the lieutenant for being here today. thank you also for your service to our country.

this hearing is an important one, and in our discussion we will explore matters of accountability, ensuring the safety is a priority. but the public trust has been shaken due to the record number of recalls and the beliefs many have about problems in the industry. this year record fines have been levied. with the latest problems we are faced with examining an apparent failure with serious safety consequences. today we will be asking increasingly familiar questions about how these faulty products made it into consumer vehicles, when the problem was first discovered, and discovered, and what steps, if any, could have been taken sooner in this case many would like to know whether the allegation reported in the new york times years ago are

true. questions also exist about the wisdom. a decision which has since reversed. the troubling string this year should be a wake-up call. i believe we can do a better job of addressing safety issues and holding people accountable to the shared mission of ensuring safety. in recent years a robust early reporting regime has been sought to be implemented. the have sought to improve internal safety reporting systems. reports of employees who may have been ignored, ignored, silence, or even covered up persist. i believe we can do more. that is why later today i i

along with senator nelson will be introducing the motor vehicle safety whistleblower act. i am pleased that senator mccaskill is also a sponsor of this legislation. this will incentivize employees who uncover serious allegations or violations of law to voluntarily provide that information to the department of transportation such information leads to enforcement action. the whistleblower would be eligible to share in a portion of total penalties collected. this will protect identity and allow sharing of information where appropriate. other agencies have similar programs, including those that incentivize people to report. if there are potential

whistleblowers to help identify more defects, we want them to come forward so that these problems can be identified earlier. i think we would all agree it is better to address a problem before injury or death,, rather than relying on fines imposed after the fact. i i look forward to working as we continue oversight. we will undoubtedly revisit many of these issues when we consider the president's nominee. having written president obama twice, i am pleased i am pleased the president finally announced his intention to nominate doctor mark on the eve of this hearing. long overdue, and. long overdue, and i look forward to reviewing the qualifications. finally, i urge my constituents watching to pay

attention to any recalls warfield action, and if you determine your vehicle is subject to a a recall to get it repaired quickly. i look forward to your testimony. >> thank you. we want our two leaders in the subcommittee to make a short opening statement. a short opening statement. the chair of the subcommittee, senator mccaskill. >> thank you, senator nelson. i find it troubling,, but i am sad that i am not surprised we find ourselves examining another example of a manufacturing failure. honda is under investigation for failure to provide early

warning reports related to the death the company has linked to takata airbags. takata itself is also under investigation over troubling claims that it might have known a long time before it notified of the public safety defects. ten automotive makers have now recalled at least 7.8 million vehicles in the united states. related to defective takata airbags. what i want to try to get to the bottom of is what is the difference, and difference, and isn't it important? a safety recall versus, their seems to be a lack of understanding, and part of that is because not all manufacturers are treating this the same, and we failed to have clarity. this committee has held

three automotive safety hearings since general motors recall earlier this year for the defective ignition switch, that was largely ignored by the company for more than ten years. i think we will hear many of the same things, an industry that fears no consequences for not complying with the law, companies more law, companies more focused on defending against private litigation, and regulators that lack resources and technical expertise to effectively do its job. i am i am pleased the president has finally nominated a candidate to fill a position that has been vacant for a critical year. i a critical year. i look forward to hearing from him particularly in regards to strengthening oversight of the automotive industry.

here's of work in the area of automobile and transportation safety. this committee should move quickly. i have a lot of question. this committee should make legislation reauthorizing. we are not going to agree on everything, everything, but i think there is enough common ground to act without delay. i look forward to working with the new chairman and all of the members of the committee in the next congress. thank you. >> senator heller, the ranking member. >> thank you, you, and i will keep my statement brief before i begin i want to a knowledge the lost due to the takata airbags and would like to thank the lieutenant for being here today. thank you for your service to this country and sharing your story with us today. i think this is the year of the airbags. gm had defects.

now we have takata airbags that send shrapnel into the face of drivers. i know a little i know a little bit about cars. i raced them, build them, break, and fix them. that just seems to be how it works out. the out. the most terrifying thing and driver experiences is a crash. we have common themes emerging this year from this committee and our subcommittee. it has taken far too long to get these cars off the road. i am proud to stand and introduce legislation to bring this information forward faster by rewarding whistleblowers. it whistleblowers.

it is our hope that the motor vehicle safety whistleblowers act will solve problems we are seeing time and again. it is my hope it is my hope that a significant monetary payout will get this information to the public faster today this committee has takata here. we here. we need to know what they knew and when they knew it. i am troubled by the new york times article. just yesterday the president submitted his nomination, and i have called on him to do this for months. we will review this nominee. i am hopeful we can process them accordingly. it has been almost a year, and i, and i fear the trust of the public in this agency has been eroded greatly.

far too important for that to happen, and i want to work on solutions. nevada will be producing cars soon. we need to make sure these cars of the future can be handled. so thank you, mr. chairman. i i look forward to the testimony and this hearing. >> with the indulgence of the committee, we want to get into the testimony. after the lieutenant we will have the next panel. the chairman will defer his questions so that we can get the members plenty of time to have their questions, and then we have a third panel, which is the administration. so let's get right to it.

lieutenant, we are certainly appreciative that you would be willing to step forward, first lieutenant united states air force, graduate of the university of texas system, rotc graduate, one of her first duty stations of which she is a compliance and testing officer in the air force testing and evaluations command at egeland air force race. and if you all can turn the posters, you can start to see something of the impact. she was driving a 2,002 honda. this is what happened to her

the shredded air the shredded airbag, just like the one i showed you hear on the left posterior. posterior. this is what the car looked like. she had a passenger. the airbags still inflated in the car. unfortunately, and she has given us permission, when the lieut. was being lieutenant was being carried to the hospital, that is what she looked like so if you would share with us your story of what happened. >> good morning, everyone, ladies and gentlemen. i am honored to be here today to serve as the voice for the people who have been forever silenced. on behalf of his airbags, i

would like to thank the committee. i hope that no other family will have to go through the terrible ordeal that my family had to endure. september 1, 2,013, my life was changed forever. driving my 2,002 honda civic on highway eight near eight near the air force base where i was stationed, on my way to get groceries. as i was driving car to the left in front of me and our cars collided. shrapnel from the airbag shot through the airbag cloth and embedded into my right thigh and cheek. i chic. i was instantly blinded on my right side. when i got to the hospital they did a ct scan of my face. the image showed a metallic metallic foreign object which had punctured and fractured my right nasal bone, and the tip of the

shrapnel had embedded in my right sinus. since that since that day i have endured multiple surgeries and therapies. i have more to go. my vision will my vision will never be the same. i will never be the same. my my accident involved a moderate frontal impact. my passenger only had mild scrapes and bruises area i should not have been injured in the shocking and terrifying way that i was. what happened to me was gruesome. the photograph the emt took his scary to look at, but i believe it is necessary to grab the attention of those who have the ability to do something and keep this from happening to anyone else. it is easy to think i am the only one who has suffered,

but it has been exceptionally tough on my family. i can tell that whenever i talk about it, they are also hurting. i have physical scars. people who care about me have scars as well, the kind you cannot see. these companies should have done everything they could. they claimed they notified customers, extended recalls as they learned about additional potentially affected vehicles. i believe the facts show differently. it has been six years since the first recall starting at 3,940 vehicles now ballooned to over 7 million. the exact same vehicle in one state not recalled in the next date over. i do not understand i do not understand how crossing a

border simply means that vehicle is safe or why the dealt sell these vehicles and service them are not notifying customers. america honda motor companies claim they notified the honda certified about the recall in february 2010. i took my car into the for service three times after they supposedly received the information. information. i was never told about the recall. they never performed the repairs, and they repairs, and they never warmed me. they did nothing. i have learned honda claims they sent a recall notice to my house. they have records showing an envelope containing critical information returned to them as undeliverable. instead of instead of trying to notify me in another way they did nothing. it is an honor of my family and friends that i asked the committee to demand real answers.

it is an honor to the family and friends of all who have been injured that i ask the committee to insist that these companies explain why they waited so long to identify potentially deadly vehicles and in honor of those who cannot be here today because they have been hurt or killed that i asked the committee to get to the bottom of why these companies did not try harder to warn us. i am so honored to have the opportunity to tell my story, story, but understand i am just one of many people who have been affected. i am hopeful congress will look for a way to improve the recall notification process, no more mothers taken from children or fathers blinded by exploding airbags. i asked the committee to do everything in its power to make sure every vehicle with

a defective airbag is made safe. thank you. >> we will do that, lieut. >> thank you. >> you have our promise, and that is why we have this hearing today, and we want to thank you for your courage to step forward and tell your story. between what the lieutenant has said and the pictures, i think you i think you get the picture. so with the committee's permission, i would i would like to get right on into the next panel. thank you, lieut.. thank you, lieutenant. you are very kind. appreciate it. all right. if we could ask the next panel, please, to come up.

>> executive vice president of honda north america. senior vice president vehicle safety and regulatory can plants of the chrysler corporation group. thank you for coming. please be seated. we will start with you. you are very accommodating to speak in english, and

this committee appreciates that. you have with you a translator, if there is any difficulty. and for you making the effort to speak in english today, we want you to know that we appreciate it. please proceed. >> thank you. chairman nelson and ranking member soon and distinguished members of the committee, i am senior vice president for global international for takata corporation. i am honored to appear before this committee to operate the perspective of takata corporation on the important issues under examination at today's hearing.

the mission of the mission of my company is to make products that save lives and prevent serious injuries. whenever one of our whenever one of our product does not perform as expected, it is our first priority to understand the cause of the issue. if we identify a problem in the product design, production, or installation, we do not hesitate to take the necessary steps to ensure that the problem is addressed properly and promptly. promptly. all of us at takata know that airbag inflator rupture have has been the subject of recent recalls invoking important issues of public safety. even though millions safety. even though millions of takata airbags have inflated properly saving lives and

avoiding serious injuries and hundreds of thousands of accidents, any failure of an airbag to perform as designed in an automobile accident is incompatible with the standards of takata we are deeply sorry about each of the instances in which a takata airbag has not performed as designed and the driver or passenger have suffered personal injury or death. our deepest condolences go out to all of those who have suffered in these accidents and to their families. takata is working closely with automakers to support the ongoing recalls, and we are devoting extraordinary resources to producing quality replacement kits on the schedule necessary to fill all automaker orders. we are also devoting

extensive efforts and addition to offering requests for information about investigations. we are committed to being fully transparent. takata firmly agrees that the current focus of the ongoing production and recalls should main the specific high priority. our best current information supports the view that this vision must be the priority for the replacement of suspect inflator's. it is imperative that all owners of the affected vehicles in these regions respond to legal notices at the earliest opportunity.

we are confident that the airbag takata is producing today,, including the replacement for recalled units are safe. we have confidence in the integrity of our engineering and our current manufacturing processes. we believe that properly manufactured and installed, the airbag we are producing today will work as designed to save lives for the expected life of automobiles while each instance of an airbag failure is terrible and unacceptable to takata, it is also important to remember that takata airbags continue to deploy properly, as they were designed. and our airbags are helping to save lives and prevent injuries on the road every day.

as we move forward, takata will continue to cooperate closely with automakers and with government regulators and will take whatever actions are determined to be in the public interest and best advance the goal of safety for the driving public. finally, as the committee is aware, english is not my native language. i will do my best to answer questions in english, but i may ask for qualification and need assistance from an interpreter here from time to time for help in understanding the committee's questions. thank thank you. >> of course. you will have that assistance. one one of the things we will want you to answer is about the change to ammonium nitrate and the problems that occurred thereafter. now, you are a representative of honda,

being the executive vice president of honda north america, also america, also talked to us about the recalls and the provision of loner and/or rental cars. >> thank you. thank you for the opportunity to be here today. i want to begin by expressing our deepest sympathies to those individuals and families who have been affected by these tragic incidents. we offer our sensor apologies to the families of those who have died, those who have been injured, including the lieutenant, and to those who have been in any way inconvenienced

due to the defects in takata airbags in our vehicles. airbags save thousands of lives each year, but we recognize even one customer who is injured or loses their life when an am back does not perform as intended is one too many and completely unacceptable. we understand the urgency of the situation and are taking proactive steps to get vehicles repaired, specifically to meet the needs of our customers related to these airbag recalls. we have posted messages prominently on our websites to reassure customers we have procedures in place to address their individual needs. customers with effective vehicles require alternate transportation have access to loaner cars and rental vehicles at no cost, and we are working in service and parts divisions with dealer

network to ensure replacement insulators are available where and when needed. like many automotive makers honda looks to takata for the supply of airbag components because takata was an internationally recognized safety system supplier. as the manufacturer of the complete vehicle, we relied on takata for its expertise in the specific area of technology. we supplied our performance requirements, and takata designed to those criteria. beginning with 2001 takata began to supply honda with a new generation of airbag components. by 2,004 we had sold several million vehicles with these airbags. it was then, in 2004, when we learned of an airbag inflator rupture in one of our vehicles, and we

reported that. this remained the only airbag inflator rupture we were aware of until three years later. since 2,007 we have been involved in the safety investigation of takata airbag inflator's. takata identified specific manufacturing issues as the primary factor, starting with the recall in november 2,008 and with every subsequent recall we gather component parts from the timeframe that corresponded to the manufacturing issues and provided those to takata for further investigation. additionally we recalled vehicles outside of the range takata identified for the purpose of additional analysis. as new evidence identified new risk, risk, honda acted to expand our recall population. the investigation process has, since 2007, has, since

2,007, been designed to replace defective takata insulators and to seek out data using the public recall process. the investigation continues to this day. with with regard to the 2,004 inflator rupture takata advised us their analysis demonstrated that it had distinctly different characteristics compared to the ruptures that led to the first recall. at honda the founding principle of our company places the highest priority on the quality of our products and satisfaction of our customers now, today we are operating with even greater energy and greater focus to quickly address our customers needs. with every action of our company we are dedicating ourselves to honor the relationship we have with

our customers. thank you. >> you did not say anything about loners or rental cars. >> mr. chairman, i believe i did. customers have them available at no cost. >> immediately? >> we have them in place now, now, sir. >> for all dealers across the country? >> we expanded our loaner program and have the option of rental cars. we will take care of our customers to muster. >> okay. let the record show that that has been said. we have had contrary information to this point. if that is the case i certainly want to congratulate you for obvious reasons. all right. senior vice president of vehicle safety and regulatory compliance of chrysler. >> thank you. chairman, ranking member, members of the committee, as

stated, i am the senior vice president and head of vehicle safety and regulatory compliance at chrysler group. i lead an group. i lead an organization with a mission of safeguarding customers, one we embrace wholeheartedly. i would like to thank the committee for the opportunity to appear today. today's automobiles are today's automobiles are among the most sophisticated and complex consumer goods on the market. market. manufacturers are more committed than ever to developing advanced safety technologies to reduce fatalities and injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes. on a daily basis, we work we work to design, engineer, and manufacture vehicles to withstand a myriad of conditions. this is a responsibility shared by automakers, suppliers, government, and consumers. we look forward to continuing this collective

engagement to help address the current situation. chrysler group has been actively engaged since the first, since takata first informed us in april 2013 that certain airbag inflator's may malfunction. these insulators described by takata as the alpha population have since been linked to at least four fatalities. this group has never been used in our vehicles. they they were equipped with the beta population. in april 2013 takata assured us the manufacturing nonconformance which led to the alpha population recall had been corrected. chrysler group engineers subsequently conducted a follow-up investigation and confirmed the beta and fighters benefited. in october 2013 we realized

one of our vehicles in florida was subject to a high-pressure deployment a high-pressure deployment involving a driver's airbag and causing personal injury. this remains the one incident of its kind in regard to our vehicles. in response to this incident we launched an investigation and conducted component testing. in may of 2014 takata again advised chrysler group of four incidents involving vehicles made by other automotive manufacturers equipped with takata insulators similar to those in our vehicles. in june chrysler group announced plans to replace inflator's in areas known for high humidity, a factor believed to have laid a role we will begin notifying

affected customers on or before december 19 when they may schedule service or replacement. our action covers 371,000 vehicles in florida, 1,000 vehicles in florida, hawaii, puerto rico, and the us virgin islands. it is important to understand the distinction. associated distinction. associated with the most severe events, a substantially higher incident rate and were found to contain a defined manufacturing defect. again, our vehicles were equipped with beta insulators. in our vehicles these are known to have inflated more than 10,000 times across the us and 830 times in the areas i just mentioned covered by our field action. as previously stated, there was one incident that took place in florida, a florida, a state covered by the announced regional action. chrysler group continues to

work as the situation evolves and will respond to the agency's most recent request for additional information, which the company received." the, i would received. "the, i would like to reiterate our belief that promoting and ensuring safety is a responsibility shared. chrysler group will continue to work collaboratively to address this matter. i extend my thanks to the committee for discussing this important issue. >> was that airbag deployment in south florida alpha or beta? >> it was from the beta population. >> and therefore, of those in your vehicles are you providing loners and rental cars until they can get it fixed? >> as we deploy our field action, we will have rental cars available to those who need them. i reiterate our number one

goal, as you suggested at the opening, is to have the parts available and quickly service the product. when that cannot be accomplished, we will make loaner cars available. >> you said that is not until the middle of december >> we launched that when the parts are available to initiate. >> do they get loners or rentals in the next three weeks. >> concerned customers can contact us through our hotline, and we will, on a case-by-case basis, address those needs. >> thank you for making that clear. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you written that you have confidence in your current engineering and manufacturing processes. my question is, what my question is, what changes have you made to your manufacturing processes that give you the confidence to testify that the replacement takata airbags are, in fact, safe? >> senator, let me explain about history of the recalls

every time since 2,007 or eight we have issues identified. we identified the root cause of the issue and addressed these issues to fix the problem. at the same time we did the recall. every time we identify a problem we address the issue and currently,, we believe, the products we are producing right now come from the well-controlled manufacturing processes, and we believe these products will work as designed and are safe. >> but what change have you

made in the process that leads you to believe that? >> yes. there are two there are two major causes of the problems one is, pressed from the powder. we controlled the compression force to get certain density. density. however, at that time, the beginning of production, the compaction force control is not what well and as we expected, according to investigation. we changed,, and now the new machines can control the compression force for each cylinder and at the same time also we a