‘People Will Die’: Ben Ray Luján Erupts At Trump Nom Over Hesitancy Toward Key Safety Program

5 months ago

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) countered President Trump’s nominee for National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Jonathan Morrison’s accusation that a technology to detect impaired driving was covertly included in a bipartisan bill.

Transcript

00:00Senator Lujan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Here's a thought, Mr. Morrison. Why don't you just

00:04eliminate seat belts from cars, eliminate backup cameras from cars. Hell, stop making them out of

00:10metal. Make them out of plastic, and let's find the cheapest car that we can sell to the American

00:15people. We'll modernize the fleet, and more people will die. I don't know if my colleagues know this,

00:21but there was not a provision snuck into a piece of legislation that's going to save people's lives

00:27in America. You and I met. I asked the same questions to Secretary Duffy. I was surprised

00:33to learn from him that his wife also survived a horrible crash. I don't know if you know this,

00:39Senator Moreno, but I survived a head-on car collision in my early 20s when I was driving

00:44home from a basketball tournament because a guy was drunker than shit and drove right into me

00:50in front of my church, in front of the place where my grandfather is buried. I'm a person of faith like

00:54you. Somebody helped save my life that night. 10,000 people die a year in America because we

01:01want to talk about self-driving cars. Hell, I can go to states right now and jump in a cab and there's

01:06no driver. That's safe? And we can't install technology that nine auto manufacturers have

01:16already filed plans. This legislation worked. The markets are reacting. In Europe, you can already

01:22get in a car that has this technology available, not just to tell if you're drunk, but to tell

01:28if you're impaired. The technology exists. 14 tier one and tier two suppliers. Look, I'm not an auto

01:33person, but I understand that those are the folks that the major auto manufacturers work with

01:38to get technology in vehicles. They can tell if you're impaired. Hell, go to an auto show.

01:43If I sold cars, I'd go to several auto shows to see what the latest and greatest is and get in those

01:48cars. And you'd be surprised how much technology exists today. These are not the questions that I

01:54plan. But when someone is suggesting that legislation was snuck into a bipartisan bill,

02:00I don't think Rick Scott is a liberal member of this body. He was my partner. Senator Capito,

02:06who also sits on this committee, has been a driver of this legislation. I've been proud to earn the

02:12support of my colleagues from across the country to get this done. We've got to find a way to do it.

02:18So my question to you, Mr. Morrison, is this piece of legislation that is called the HALT Act,

02:25it's the honoring the Abbas family legacy to terminate drunk driving. Who lost a family member to a drunk

02:31driver? There's rules currently pending at the Department of Transportation. I'm very disappointed

02:39that under Secretary Pete Buttigieg, under President Biden, this was not finalized.

02:43It was bipartisan. We worked on it bicamerally, bipartisan in both chambers and got this done.

02:48We negotiated with the auto manufacturers. Everyone was at the table. Someone from Others

02:54Against Drunk Driving is actually in this room. I hope all of us take time to sit down with them and

02:58find out how many people are dying in our states so that we can all get behind this technology.

03:03Can I get your commitment, sir, that you will make progress on moving forward the existing rulemaking

03:10pursuant to the HALT Act?

03:13Absolutely. And as I said, when we met in your office, and I enjoyed our meeting, I thought it

03:18was a productive meeting. I'm not in the building now. It is a day one priority of mine to get in

03:23there and get a sense of the state of the technology. That's the technology that DOT has been working

03:27on for years, but not just the state of that technology, but the state of the technology that's

03:31being developed elsewhere. That is something that I appreciate. I mean, that's all we can

03:34ask for. There should be no question that existing technology works, and some people are actually

03:40driving cars that do this stuff already. It's working. Another issue that I care about deeply

03:46is ensuring that trucks have side underride guards to prevent cars, pedestrian, and bicyclists

03:51from being crushed underneath. As a result, according to NHTSA, the cost of installing side guards

03:58exceeds the benefits. Unfortunately, to reach this estimate, NHTSA makes assumptions in their

04:04cost-benefit analysis that excludes whole categories of preventable deaths of vulnerable

04:08road users, such as pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. I don't understand that.

04:13If it's going to be studied, it should be studied. And then an answer should result based on whatever

04:19the research is. Yes or no, will you commit to counting pedestrians and bicyclists as preventable

04:24deaths for vulnerable road users and the cost-benefit analysis and any future rulemakings on side

04:30underride guards? I will work with the economists with the NHTSA to make sure that everything

04:36appropriate is being considered. I'm not familiar with that particular study that was issued, but

04:40it's something. I appreciate that. Mr. Bars, in New Mexico, we see first time the dangers that come

04:44with heavy freight traffic on highways, especially along I-40 and I-25, the two major arterials in our

04:50state, where my constituents have raised real concerns about safety. Truck crash deaths are

04:55up more than 60 percent nationwide since 2009, including nearly 5,500 lives lost just last year.

05:02What steps will you take as the administrator to make sure the FMCSA is doing everything it can do

05:08to reduce crashes and protect drivers and families on our roadways? Senator, thank you very much for

05:12the question, roadway safety being top priority for me and my career. As I mentioned in my open

05:16statement, working closely in our mix-app grants, there are law enforcement officers in your state,

05:22making sure they're doing the aggressive traffic enforcement that needs to be done.

05:27Also going and doing the inspections that need to do and try to do preventative concerns,

05:33finding those violations well before they happen so we can prevent those crashes from happening during

05:38a regular routine inspection is critical. Appreciate that. Mr. Chairman, I have other questions.

05:43I'll submit them into the record. I thank you for the time. I just hope we can find some common

05:46ground on public safety. I heard my colleagues say that that's something Democrats and Republicans

05:51agree on. Do we or don't we? It's time to put up or shut up when we get these rules in place and

05:59we're to choose to save the American people or we're not. That's what it's going to come down to,

06:02and I hope that we can find common ground to get this done. It's not easy to talk about almost dying.

06:07Sometimes things happen for a reason.

06:16And I guess that I've learned from this president, if God gives you another chance,

06:18you better do something with it, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to do something about it.

06:22Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:23Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:24Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:25Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:26Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:27Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:28Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:29Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:30Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:31Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:32Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:33Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:34Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:35Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:36Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

06:37Thank you for the time, Mr. Chairman.

‘People Will Die’: Ben Ray Luján Erupts At Trump Nom Over Hesitancy Toward Key Safety Program

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