WASHINGTON -- Signs of dimming prospects for major regulatory reform legislation have left some auto safety advocates wondering whether Congress has let a good safety crisis go to waste.
Last year's General Motors ignition switch fiasco and the ongoing Takata airbag case appeared to forge consensus for big reforms at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, with several bills introduced -- mostly by Democrats -- that would have given the agency more funding and sharper teeth.
Upton: Throws cold water on expansive bill
But with Republicans in control of Congress, NHTSA reforms have taken a back seat to other big-ticket legislative priorities.
Rep. Fred Upton, R.-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told Politico this month that tackling NHTSA reform bills isn't at the top of his agenda, and threw cold water on the chance for an expansive bill to reinvigorate the agency.
"I don't know if it was ever going to be big and comprehensive," Upton told Politico.
Thune: Casts doubts on more NHTSA funding
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., also cast doubts on NHTSA receiving a substantial funding increase as called for in President Obama's fiscal 2016 budget.
"It's going to be tough in this budgetary environment" for any agency to get significant funding increases, Thune told Politico.
Thune now is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which led several hearings into the GM and Takata recalls last year.
Joan Claybrook, an auto safety advocate who ran NHTSA under President Carter, called the dwindling appetite to address NHTSA reforms "very disappointing" given the challenges facing the agency.
She said the bureaucracy inside NHTSA's defect investigation arm needs to be streamlined, the Early Warning Reporting system is broken and the lack of funding is a "deterrent to enforcement."
"This is not a political issue and it shouldn't be treated as one," she said.
Claybrook: "This is not a political issue."
Lawmakers introduced several bills to strengthen NHTSA last year after the GM ignition switch recalls, though they have gained little traction since.
One such bill, introduced by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., sought to eliminate the $35 million cap on civil penalties for companies that violate auto safety laws and double NHTSA's funding over six years, among other things.
An updated version of the Obama administration's multiyear transportation bill, dubbed the Grow America Act, unveiled this month has similar provisions to boost funding for defect investigations and toughen penalties.
Jackie Gillan, president of the lobbying group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, says she is hopeful that those initiatives can get bipartisan support.
Meanwhile, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind has said the agency needs to undertake some reforms on its own to improve its effectiveness.
"It doesn't matter what you detect, because if you don't get the recalls taken care of, you've still got that risk," Rosekind said in January. "It's the whole system that has to be looked at."
Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies in Rehoboth, Mass., says Rosekind's comments suggest that the agency will tackle long-standing internal issues even absent action from Congress.
"The agency has more than a funding problem," Kane said. "They have some fundamental problems that need to be solved before throwing any more money at the agency."
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