Senate Panel Keeps Up Attack on GM and CEO Mary Barra
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Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Senate lawmakers were unforgiving in their attacks Wednesday on General Motors and its top official for allegedly covering up problems with an ignition switch in vehicles linked to 13 deaths.
Basically a replay of what happened a day earlier, GM CEO Mary Barra faced intense grilling and accusations that she was either ignorant or deliberately stonewalling on what she knew about the defective ignition and the decision to only begin recalling cars in February when the problem was known as far back as 2001.
Among other things, members of the Senate Commerce subcommittee asked why heads haven’t rolled at GM because of the controversy.
Meanwhile, Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill pointed to a 2009 deposition given by GM engineer Ray DeGiorgio in which he claimed to have never signed off on changes to the ignition.
Yet, GM documents showed DeGiorgio had himself approved the change in April 2006, a fact that New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte called “criminal.”
While the Justice Department has begun an investigation into this allegation of possible criminality, Barra said she also wanted to know if there was a cover-up.
However, committee members were not about to let Barra off the hook since she claimed not to have known about the faulty ignition switch until late last year. Barra, who has been at GM since 1980, became CEO just two months ago.
California Democrat Barbara Boxer told Barra, “You’re a really important person to this company. Something is very strange that such a top employee would know nothing.”
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