schakowsky: mr. wallace, you mentioned the breaking digital barriers program at michigan tech that could serve as a national model. what are some common themes you have observed in seniors that have taken the course and do you think these trends would be reflective of seniors nationwide? mr. wallace: certainly the anxiety and fear of adopting the technology is a profound one. we need to balance this concern about fraud which is absolutely legitimate, with a -- something that encourages them to explore in a safe way and so finding that balance is really a key issue for us. and we still struggle with it. we are looking for sort of metaphors, ways in which we can relate it to their life offline. what do you do to be sensible and safe and secure in your regular life? can you transfer those kinds of skills over to the digital world? so that's one of the things that i think is -- ms. schakowsky: i do want to say that, let's see. the pew research center said 35% of americans age 65 and older currently use s

schakowsky. is comprehensive approach that includes tougher penalties, imminent hazard authority, improved transparency, pedestrian safety measures, prohibitions on renting vehicles or selling used cars under recall, judicial review of final agency actions on recalls, revolving door protections and overdue direction to the agency to draft, address the tragedies of unattended children left behind in the vehicle in some 200 of them die a year. unless this committee acts to pass meaningful legislation that will prevent illegal and immoral behavior by the auto industry the string of scandals will continue. firestone tires, toyota sudden acceleration, gm faulty switches, takata exploding airbags and cheating vw diesels. there are no credible excuses for delaying any longer increasing penalties for corporate misbehavior, strengthening nhtsa authority and increasing standards that can save lives and reduce injuries and prevent industry fraud. thank you so much for the opportunity. >> the chair thanks th

chairman and ranking member schakowsky, and members of the subcommittee. i am the consumer chair, coach advocate for advocates for highway and auto safety and former administrator of nhtsa. i appreciate the opportunity to testify before you on such an important issue, the safety of our families and friends on our nation's roads and highways. let me show you with you some important statistics. 33,000 deaths and over 2 million horrible injuries annually in motor vehicle crashes. 801 manufacturer recalls and service campaigns of more than 63 main vehicles in 2014. 613 recalls offered in 2015 involving 40 million vehicles. for these recalls a lease 200 people innocently killed and hundreds injured as automakers sold cars they knew it safety defects. house and senate hearings, 10 over the last two years on faulty gene ignition switches and exploding airbags where i countless hours of testimony and indignation expressed by committee members. over 2 billion criminal justice, that is department of justice and civil fines against recalls since 2010 because of the n

chairman, ranking member schakowsky, i'm peter kawelch. i'm president of the national automobile dealers agency. a nationwide trade association that represents the new car and truck deal earls throughout the country. the draft bill before you today contains a number of provisions nada supports. dealers support 100% recall completion rate and, again, we commend the subcommittee for its efforts to help us achieve that goal. the recall system congress enacted depends on new car dealers to fix the millions of vehicles now under recall. last year alone, our members performed 59 million warranty and recall repairs and unfortunately set to break this record again today with the burgeoning number of recalls that are being issued. for the owners of recalled vehicles, it is the local dealer that remedies the defect or noncome form answer. with a notice and fail to act, many dealers contact their customers to schedule a service appointment. one of our texas dealer members found that sending bright pink postcards reminding the owners that the vehicles

schakowsky, mr. butterfield to close the loophole.the comments with six federal law to prohibit the car companies from renting or selling recalled cars. that was strongly supported by the rental car industry safety groups honda, gm and others. the bill passed the senate as a part of the act in the petitioned to pass the bill recently started by rachel and jackie's mother and has been signed by nearly 150,000 consumers across the country. yet the issue isn't even mentioned in the draft that we are considering today to administrator, i know that ntsa and the administration have been working to address this issue. does it support legislation to prohibit the rental of the recalled vehicles? opponents of the bill erroneously claim hr 2198 legislation would not improve the consumer safety. given the support for banning the rental of the recalled vehicles, i think it's clear that you perhaps disagree with this assessment; would you elaborate, thank you. >> new, used or rental vehicles of a known that have a known defect should be remedied be

i do just want to offer the observation, miss schakowsky said she drives a hybrid vehicle. your chairman drives a hybrid, also. i have no problem at all if you want to make future vehicles safer, if you want to warn me departing a lane that there is a car, motorvehicle, tricycle in the other lane, i would like to know that vfrgs and i'll give up a couple carbon credits to have that available in the next version of the car i buy. seeing that -- >> mr. chairman? i'm sorry. may i add an addendum? not a question. but i would like to enter into the record and i neglected to say -- >> does the gentle lady have a unanimous consent request? >> yes, please. >> you're recognized. >> i wanted to enter into the record, a letter of rachel and jackie's mother urging passage of h.r. 2198, two letters of general motors indicating the support of h.r. 2198 and on behalf of a colleague that needed to leave miss schakowsky. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you. >> seeing there are no further members wishing to ask questions, i would like to thank all of the witnesses for being here t

burgess, ranking member schakowsky. i'm delighted to appear before you to provide an overview of the fraud threats to older americans and the ftc's actions to address them. combatting fraud is a critical component of the ftc's consumer protection mission and virtually every law enforcement case that we bring affects older americans. we have adopted a multifaceted approach in our battle against fraud that targets older consumers or injures them more than others and that includes aggressive law enforcement, policy initiatives, and consumer education and outreach. to address such fraud effectively, the ftc monitors fraud trends by examining data gathered from consumer complaints and surveys and collaborating with others in law enforcement, industry, academia, and legal services. through our extensive law enforcement experience and efforts to track fraud trends we have identified practices affecting seniors in several discreet areas and our consumer complaint data shows that for 2015 older americans complained primarily abo

schakowsky: the american people, the epa, and their counterparts around the world have been defrauded by volkswagen. the company' s word is not worth a dime. bazi: 12 slug has not said how they will fix the recalled vehicles in the u.s. -- bazi: volkswagen has not said how they will fix the recalled vehicles in the u.s. michael: we will make sure this is not happen again. something done independently by a couple of software engineers. washington. and i' m not just talking about the weather. 20 years ago today, wmur.com launched. take a look at these epic throwback photos. the site certainly looks different than it does today. get started with a post from a station engineer. image. that is tom, jen, mike, and jamie on our site about 10 years ago. little has changed. in 1995, our dot com launch. also, starbucks frappuccino debuted and " toy story" premiered. kevin, was the weather this nice 20 years ago today? kevin: you get into october, and this is the kind of weather we get into. a couple of rain chances there or there, and we are seemingly in one of those very nice patterns right no

also, miss schakowsky asked me to submit another letter. i ask for consent. >> so ordered. >> i yield back. >> the chair wants to thank the panel for being here this morning and for your time and the expert testimony that you have provided to us. seeing no further members wishing to ask questions, i would like to take a moment to recognize the contributions of our clerk, kirby howard, who, after many years of service to the subcommittee on the staff, is leaving for new career opportunities. we obviously wish him well in his future endeavors. [ applause ] also before we conclude, i wanted to include the following document to be submitted for the record by unanimous consent. a letter on approving the recall tracting act. pursuant to committee rules i remind members they have ten business days to submit additional questions. i ask the witnesses to submit their responses to these questions within ten business days upon receipt of the question. without objection this subcommittee are adjourned. >>> coming up tonight on american history tv primet

representative dina titus, representative jan schakowsky, senator ron wyden all have proposals that would eliminate or minimize the impact on these vulnerable senior citizens. and bear in mind, it would also impact the states. 2.3 billion dollars in terms of medicaid programs, which inevitably will translate into service reductions, again, for some of our most vulnerable. it is time for congress to empower negotiators in both parties, in both chambers to act now. if we get involved with these potential solutions, the costs are going to be far less than if we wait on into the next year, and we will be shielding some of our most vulnerable citizens with -- from significant increases at a time when they can ill-afford it. this is one area where there's overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle. i would call upon my friends in the republican leadership to take a break from this strange process they're going through and debate and the acura moany and the churn, -- acramony and the churn, let's take a break and solve these problems now. our senior citizens deserve no less. the speaker pro

schakowsky for five minutes. >> i have in my hand a letter from volkswagen that was september sent to one of my senior staff because she is an owner of your car. i remember when she bought the car and how excited she was about the clean diesel. the letter says your vehicle remains both safe to drive and legal to drive. you do not need to take any action at this time. all we ask is for your patience. i have to tell you, if i were a driver of one of these vehicles that is contributing up to 40 times the amount of emissions, i would want that addressed right away. i have a son and a grandchild who regularly uses an inhaler. i'm not excited about contributing to or driving a car that has that kind of emissions. so how much patience is my staff supposed to have, what's the time line here? what's the best scenario and the worst scenario in terms of time line for fixing this? >> for the generation three cars, model 16 and 15, time line is beginning of next year complete fix. for the generation two cars, it's still in the development. this won't start from my judgment before middle of next ye

schakowsky for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have in my hand a letter from volkswagen to listen to one of my senior staff. because she is an owner under carpet i remember when she bought the car and how excited she was about the clean diesel. the letter says your vehicle remains of safety drive and legal to drive. you do not need to take any action at this time. all we ask is for your patients. i have to tell you if i were a driver of one of these vehicles that's been shipping up to 40 times the amount of emissions, i would want that addressed right away. i have a son and a grandchild who regularly uses an inhaler. i'm not excited about contributing to or driving a car that has that kind of emissions. so how much patience is my staff supposed to have? what's the timeline here? what's the best scenario and the worst scenario in terms of timeline for fixing this? >> for the generation three cars, models 15 and 16 the timeline is at the beginning of next year, complete fixed. for the generation two cars still in development, it w

schakowsky: i rise in strong opposition to this. this is just another political witch hunt this time targeting women, their trusted organizations and women's health. let's talk about republican vision for women of america. just look at their records. first, they passed a budget that completely eliminated title 10, that's contraception. the only federal grant program dedicated to family planning and slashed fund big 80% for the teen pregnancy initiative by over 80%. and then we find that last week, the republicans proved that this witch hunt is not just aimed at planned parenthood. they passed a bill that threatened funding for every doctor, clinic, hospital that dares to participate in abortion services. they also want to repeal the affordable care act which requires insurance companies to cover maternity care. they don't want to expand medicaid which currently covers one out of every three births and more than 43 million children. in fact they want to turn medicaid into a block grant program. and republicans have proposed huge cuts

schakowsky: i rise in strong opposition to this. this is just another political witch hunt this time targeting women, their trusted organizations and women's health. let's talk about republican vision for women of america. just look at their records. first, they passed a budget that completely eliminated title 10, that's contraception. the only federal grant program dedicated to family planning and slashed fund big 80% for the teen pregnancy initiative by over 80%. and then we find that last week, the republicans proved that this witch hunt is not just aimed at planned parenthood. they passed a bill that threatened funding for every doctor, clinic, hospital that dares to participate in abortion services. they also want to repeal the affordable care act which requires insurance companies to cover maternity care. they don't want to expand medicaid which currently covers one out of every three births and more than 43 million children. in fact they want to turn medicaid into a block grant program. and republicans have proposed huge cuts

schakowsky: i rise in strong opposition to this. this is just another political witch hunt this time targeting women, their trusted organizations and women's health. let's talk about republican vision for women of america. just look at their records. first, they passed a budget that completely eliminated title 10, that's contraception. the only federal grant program dedicated to family planning and slashed fund big 80% for the teen pregnancy initiative by over 80%. and then we find that last week, the republicans proved that this witch hunt is not just aimed at planned parenthood. they passed a bill that threatened funding for every doctor, clinic, hospital that dares to participate in abortion services. they also want to repeal the affordable care act which requires insurance companies to cover maternity care. they don't want to expand medicaid which currently covers one out of every three births and more than 43 million children. in fact they want to turn medicaid into a block grant program. and republicans have proposed huge cuts

schakowsky. ms. schakowsky: i want to thank you for organizing this evening. many members of the congressional progressive caucus i hope will be coming down and joining us this evening for a tribute to this working families' day of action and the agenda. you listed some of the bills that we have on that agenda. so the problems that working families are facing are not intract i believe. we know that many working men and women are struggling today, but these problems are not insurmountable. in fact, they could be solved easily if the republican majority would work with us to pass legislation that would bring u.s. labor policies in line with the rest of the industrialized world. we have the legislation, we have the public support, we just need action. one solution, which my colleague, mr. ellison mentioned, is to allow workers to join unions. we know that union members earn more and have better benefits. a study found that unionized women earn on average $2.50 more per hour and 36% more likely to ave a employer-sponsored benefit plan and likely to have paid sick

opening statement please. >> good morning chairman of the committee, ranking member, congresswoman schakowsky and members of the commerce manufacturing and trade subcommittee. my name is robert hare as in i am a lawyer and i am the cook county public guardian in chicago. i was appointed by the chief judge of the circuit court to act as the guardian for people with old timers and dementia. i'm here today i am here today to discuss the issue confronting hundreds of people under my guardianship to have severe forms of dementia and alzheimer's and have been financially exploited. my office was approximately 600 people right now. as the guardian of last resort for people without family or others to care for them. the average age is 72 and the oldest is 103 and around 70 of them are over 90-years-old. our goal is to maintain them in their own homes or in a community setting in for approximately one third of those people, we are able to do so with the assets. at this point many of them have bought homes, saved money for their golden years. unfortunately, there are people who view them as potential v

schakowsky with respect to the emissions testing testing. new york state is one of the states that requires emission te a vehicle fails the emissions test you can be fined so we know that because of this defeat device most like week those vehicles would not be detected. >> right. >> however that doesn't change the fact that under normal circumstances these vehicles would not be permitted on the road said to have your agencies say well because it's not your fault that they can't drive doesn't seem to undermine the state's requirement for certain emissions levels to be contained for you to then undermine bats with the ability for people notwithstanding the fact that most people when their vehicle has an emissions problem don't recognize it and don't typically think it's difficult it up however we have to remedy it before we put our people on the road otherwise we are fine. you see figures in those figures indicate whether our vehicles are in compliance. here we have the self driving vehicles running around in certain jurisdictions that would f

burgess, ranking member schakowsky and members of the subcommittee i am maneesha mithal from the federal trade commission to i appreciate the opportunity to present the commission's testimony on the privacy and security related provisions of the discussion draft to provide greater transparency, accountability and safety authority for nhtsa. the ftc has served as a primary federal agency charged with protecting consumer privacy and security for the past 45 years. we have brought hundreds of privacy in cases targeting violations of federal trade commission act and other laws. in addition to enforcing a wide range of privacy and security laws the ftc educate consumers and businesses. most recently the ftc launched its start with security business education initiative that includes new guidance for businesses as well as a series of conferences across the country designed to educate small businesses on security. the next conference will take place on november 5 in austin, texas. on the policy front we conducted a workshop on the internet of things where we hosted a panel on connected cars. we

schakowsky, mr. butterfield to close this loophole. our colleagues would fix the law. the bill is strongly supported by general motors, honda and others. it did pass the senate as part of the drive akt and change.org, the petition started by their mother has been signed by thousands of consumers across the country. it is not mentioned in the legislation we're proposing today. i know nhtsa has been working to address this issue. does nhtsa support legislation to prohibit the rental of recalled vehicles? >> yes. >> opponents of the bill erroneously claim that the legislation would not improve consumer safety. given nhtsa support for banning of recalled rental vehicles i think it's clear that you perhaps disagree with this assessment. would you briefly elaborate, thank you. >> new, used or rental vehicles should be remedied before they're on the road. >> thank you. despite the broad support behind hr 2198, the auto manufacturer and dealer groups are fighting against this common sense effort. under pressure, the alliance of ought/manufacturers has instead proposed a potent

and then i would have to echo what representative schakowsky and dr. burgess had to say. when you buy a vehicle even if you bought it used and you are looking in the manual and it says under federal emissions control system defect warranty was designed built and equipped so as to inform at the time of sale with all applicable regulations in the united states environmental protection agency epa and is free from defects in materials etc.. i believe that i was sold something that was different than what was reported to be and it was the volkswagen company. i think you are you're much better off to come up with a program that buys these cars back because you know i understand your folks in chattanooga made this mistake in the folks in germany that you have got to restore trust in one of the ways to do that is to stand behind your vehicle. one of the reasons that i like the company is on my 1990s version something was wrong with the pain. no questions asked. when i took it and to roanoke they said not a problem. we will take care of it and it was done. never had another proble

a secure and comfortable retirement, a particular tribute to the vision of doris matsui and jan schakowskyirs of our senior task force. not that they're seniors, but they're co-chairs of the task force. their work is so important because you will see, as we have the battle of the budget so many of the issues that relate to seniors are at risk. but so many of the issues that pertain to women are out there, if the american people weigh in. president lincoln said public sentiment is everything. with it, you can accomplish everything, without it, nothing. the public sentiment is there for equal pay for equal work, for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, for paid sick leave, for quality, affordable child care, for honoring our seniors. it's out there for comprehensive immigration reform, it's out there for a sensible gun background checks to make america safer. in order to make all of these things happen, though, we must unleash the pow over women. women at the polls, women on the ball los, women in every walk of life, whether it's the security of our country, the strength of our economy,

congresswoman jan schakowsky, chief deputy whip joins me.>> thank you so much for having me. >> thanks. you know, last hour i spoke with representative marsha blackburn, and she was critical of president obama for taking a jab at congress for bringing the budget ban down to the wire again for a second year in a row. listen to what she had to say. >> there should be respect for the actions of the different branches. and the president needs to think about how that sounds to people. >> how does it sound to you, congresswoman, and what's your reaction to the way this process is playing out? >> look, 151 republicans voted yesterday that they were willing to shut down the government over planned parenthood. what we're looking at is a party in complete disarray. but worse than that, acting irresponsibly when it comes to the country itself. really? they want to shut down the government because they don't want funding of planned parenthood? the kinds of shenanigans that are going on right now, my hope is that john boehner, in addition to breaking wha

a secure and comfortable retirement, a particular tribute to the vision of doris matsui and jan schakowskyot that they're seniors, but they're cochairs of the task force. as you will see as we have the battle of the budge, so many of the issue that relate to seniors are at risk. but so many of the issues that pertain to women are out there if the american people weigh in. president lincoln said public sentiment is everything. with it you can accomplish everything, without it nothing. well, the public sentiment is there for equal pay for equal work, for raising minimum wage to $15 an hour, for paid sick leave, for quality, affordable childcare, for honoring our seniors. it's out there for comprehensive immigration reform. it's out there for sensible gun background checks to make america safer. [applause] in order to make all of these things happen though, we must unleash the power of women; women at the polls, women on the ballot, women in every walk of life whether it's the security of our country, the strength of our economy, the quality of our education system, the safety of our families

schakowsky. >> thank you for yielding, mr. ranking member. we'll hear a lot from volkswagen today, we'll hear apologies, i'm sure, for volkswagen's deliberate deception of the american people and federal and state public health agencies, we'll hear a pledge to get to the bottom of this issue without delay and to fully cooperate with investigators. we'll hear how the use of so-called defeat devices are incompatible with volkswagen's corporate culture. and i want to tell you, mr. horn, i don't buy it. the american people, the epa and their counterparts around the world have been defrauded by volkswagen. the company's word isn't worth a dime. the only thing i want to hear today is exactly how will volkswagen make this right by consumers. saying it will take time to design and implement a fix is insufficient, and i think unacceptable. people shouldn't have to wait to get the fuel economy, the lower missions and performance that they already paid for. if they want it, every clean vehicle owner should be able to get their money back, all of it. the