last night a number of us from this Chamber and many of us from across the country gathered for a remarkable evening to support and honor an organization called Sandy Hook Promise. It is an organization that was created in the wake of the…

S. 901 is a bi-partisan bill that would establish in the Department of Veterans Affairs a national center for research on the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions of the descendants of veterans exposed to toxic substances.

I strongly support heightening and intensifying accountability within the VA.

We commend Ranking Member Blumenthal and Senator Moran for their leadership on this important legislation.

If you do not do the research, you will not have the evidence.

The legislation gives you that responsibility and obligation to take ownership, in effect, for addressing this problem.

We will work with Senator Murray to achieve enactment of this bill that will encompass qualified caregivers of veterans who served before 9/11.

I understand your willingness to work with other agencies, but why are you abrogating and refusing responsibility to protect veterans? That is your job.

I think there ought to be a center that can be held accountable.

The VFW strongly supports this legislation and would like to offer recommendations to strengthen it.

the connection of their service has a consequence--a dramatic consequence--to the health and well-being of their children and grandchildren.

I want to thank all of our witnesses and apologize that we have these votes.

Continuous improvement?

Your new inflators, have they shown evidence of moisture?

I will give you information that is available to all of us, which is that your company explained that moisture could seep into the inflator and might cause the propellant to become more unstable.

Why are you continuing to use ammonium nitrate, when it was very likely a contributing factor, if not the factor, in causing these exploding inflators?

People have talked about an accelerated remedy. This is more than just making it go faster.

Well, I think that is a very genteel and nice way of saying you want a safe propellant and so you are going with a company that does not use ammonium nitrate. Correct?

the unfortunate aspect of the fatalities that have been experienced in our vehicles are--these are older-model vehicles; they have tended to change hands, sometimes through used car dealers, independent used car dealers, and we have not…

there is a lot of evidence that ammonium nitrate is a root cause and that there may well need to be a recall of the recalls and continuing problems.

That number of eight may well grow. It may be only the tiny fractional tip of the iceberg of death that was caused by these exploding airbags.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to express my appreciation to you for having this hearing today, which I know reflects your own interest and caring about this subject.

The fault is really with this device, the inflator, because it contained a substance that caused this explosion.

My view is that Takata is every bit as responsible for the 8 deaths found so far as GM is for the 117 deaths and counting.

Would you commit to supporting a bill that I have offered, S. 900, that requires used car dealers to repair any outstanding safety recalls prior to selling or leasing them?