Ed Markey: “Mr. Speaker, I rise with significant concerns about the bill before us this afternoon. This legislation is opposed by…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise with significant concerns about the bill before us this afternoon. This legislation is opposed by the Center for Auto Safety, the Consumer Federation of America, the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, U.S. PIRG, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, Public Citizen and the Consumers Union. I believe the author of this legislation commenced with very noble intentions, but was forced into a rather elliptical legislative scheme to induce State actions for fear of triggering an unfunded mandates claim. As a result, this legislation ultimately does not require States to do much of anything to protect consumer safety. There are no mandatory safety inspections in the bill. Safety inspections are optional. Moreover, this bill may unwittingly lead to greater consumer confusion about the condition of used cars because States will undoubtedly have various requirements for consumer disclosure from coast to coast. In addition, the bill may force States to rewrite better consumer protection laws in which the terms 'rebuilt salvage vehicle' or 'salvage vehicle' now appear. It would prevent States from using a damage threshold of under 80 percent, which is higher than a number of States' laws, and higher than the recommendations from the Nation's attorneys general and a special task force that delved into these issues in depth.”