Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise to speak about recent revelations that Volkswagen woefully deceived regulators and the general public to artificially lower emissions of its 2009 to 2015 Volkswagen and Audi diesel vehicles. These actions raise significant consumer, environmental, and public health concerns. According to the EPA's Notice of Violation of the Clean Air Act, Volkswagen used a sophisticated software algorithm on certain vehicles that detected when vehicles were undergoing emissions testing. This software--referred to as a ``defeat device''--allows vehicles to meet emissions standards during testing, but under normal driving situations, these same vehicles emit nitrogen oxides up to 40 times the allowable emissions standards. This is unbelievable. I think we can imagine that such technology exists, but I don't think we ever thought that one of our major international car companies would be alleged to have used it. So far approximately 482,000 diesel vehicles sold in the United States and 11 million cars worldwide have been affected. A deliberate attempt like this by a company to mislead regulators and the general public is completely unacceptable. This raises serious questions that need answers: Why did Volkswagen, for more than a year, claim that the discrepancies in the emissions tests and the levels on the road were a technical error? Who at Volkswagen signed off on the defeat device?…”