Fresh off admitting that it cheated on Environmental Protection Agency tests of its diesels, Volkswagen will now be the target of Congressional hearings into its misdeeds.
That’s in addition to the United States Department of Justice criminal probe into the company’s deceit of the U.S. government and consumers.
The hearings will be held by the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, though it’s not a stretch of the imagination to think that the Senate will want hearings of its own. For nothing else than the joy of watching Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) make this face again, probably.
The full statement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA) is below:
Upton, Murphy Announce Hearing on Volkswagen Emissions Issues
September 21, 2015WASHINGTON, DC – House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R-PA) today announced that the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a hearing in the coming weeks on recently discovered issues with Volkswagen diesel engines (sold from 2008-2015) that resulted in emissions levels exceeding state and federal limits throughout the United States.
“Strong emissions standards are in place for the benefit of public health. Manufacturers throughout the United States, and across the world, have developed leading technologies to reduce airborne emissions within the limits set by EPA and state environmental agencies. However, reported EPA allegations that certain Volkswagen models contained software to defeat auto emissions tests raise serious questions,” said Upton and Murphy. “We will follow the facts. We are also concerned that auto consumers may have been deceived – that what they were purchasing did not come as advertised. The American people deserve answers and assurances that this will not happen again. We intend to get those answers.”
More information about the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee’s hearing, including date, time, a background memo, and witness list and testimony, will be posted here as they are available.
Who will feign the most outrage? Who will be utterly confused by what’s going on? And who will defend Volkswagen to the death because the company maintains a factory in their district?
Can’t wait to find out.
Photo credit: AP
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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