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Issa asks automakers for details about meetings with Obama administration
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is pressing the country’s major automakers for information about a series of closed-door negotiations with Obama administration officials that yielded beefed-up vehicle fuel economy standards.
Issa sent letters Monday to the CEOs of 15 major automakers — including General Motors, Chrysler and Ford — requesting information on their role in the negotiations.
The automakers worked closely with the Obama administration for months in a series of high-stakes negotiations that resulted in tougher fuel economy standards for light-duty cars and trucks, as well as heavy-duty trucks. The administration ultimately won the support of many of the country’s major automakers.
“I am concerned about the agreements lack of transparency, the failure to conduct an open rulemaking process, as well as the potential for vehicle cost increases on consumers, and negative impact on American jobs,” Issa said in July letters to the country’s automakers that alerted them to the investigation.
In a separate series of September letters, Issa requested documents from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation on the fuel economy standards.
The EPA and the Transportation Department officially proposed rules this month requiring that newer cars and light-duty trucks achieve combined fuel-economy standards of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The regulations apply to model year 2017 to 2025 vehicles. President Obama first announced the standards in July.
The rules build on separate fuel economy standards for model year 2012 to 2016 light-duty vehicles. The standards were finalized last year. In August, the White House unveiled first-ever fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty trucks, including big rigs, semi-trucks, delivery trucks, buses, large vans and garbage trucks.
