mr. akerson. i know you're a busy man running a big company. we appreciate what you do and we appreciate you taking the time to be with us this morning. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> we will quickly move to our third witness. and if the staff can help us set that up because we have to get out of here in about 15 minutes. >> thank you. >>> yesterday house and senate republicans spoke to were roers about proposed changes to the federal budget process. that's next. and federal reserve chairman ben bernanke will be on capitol hill this morning to talk about the u.s. economy. that gets under way in about 30 minutes at 10:00 eastern. live coverage here on c-span3. republicans introduced bills to the house and senate revamping the budget process, the legislation would make it more difficult for congress to pass spending bills without first having passed the budget. some of the bills gop supporters spoke to were roers about the legislation. >> thank you all for coming. the american people are not happy with how congress and the administration manages t

mr. akerson, had no conversation with folks at the white house concerning this incident? correct. >> no conversation with people you or anyone in general motors had conversation with people at t.a.r.p., and who handled the now defunct task force? no conversation at treasury regarding the issue? >> i had a conversation with mr. massad earlier this week on another general matter and observed to him i was going to testify today, but other than that, no conversation. >> anyone else at general motors that you know of talk to someone in the administration? talk to mr. lahood about this issue? >> no, sir. >> okay. now yield to the chairman of full committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome. >> thank you. >> i'll be brief. the question here is not whether or not gm is making good cars and whether or not it's coming back. i think it is, and we take great pride this that, and i think the president did last night. is this, in your history, recognition and as far as you know a typical response to a typical catastrophic event? is this less aggressive or more aggressive in their re

mr. akerson, for being here. is the volt safe? >> it is safe. >> have you had communication with anyone in the obama administration to ask them to provide some kind of consideration to gm with respect to the testing that you became aware of, not to disclose it or to defer disclosure of it?