Sponsors Withdraw Support For Right To Repair Measure

INFORMATION ACCESSSponsors Withdraw Support For 
Right To Repair Measure WASHINGTON (June 14, 2006) - The Congress Daily has reported that five prominent Democrats formally removed themselves as co-sponsors of House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton's (R-TX) Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act (H.R. 2048). The group includes Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Hilda Solis (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA). The bill had enjoyed growing bipartisan support until a week before a markup last month by the House Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protections Subcommittee. At the meeting, a "manager's amendment" by Barton that weakened the bill was considered. After discussion by the subcommittee, the amended bill passed at the subcommittee level by a 14-13 registered vote, and now moves forward for consideration by the full House Energy and Commerce Committee.  In that narrow one-vote decision, all Democrats present as well as Michigan Republicans Fred Upton and Mike Rogers voted against the amended bill. Two other Democrats who sit on the subcommittee were absent at the markup meeting and missed the key vote. Schakowsky, DeGette, Baldwin and Markey each formally notified the House that they were withdrawing their sponsorship and support for the Right-to-Repair bill on June 7. Each asked the House for unanimous consent that their name be withdrawn as a co-sponsor of H.R. 2048; no objections were voiced. Solis formally withdrew her support June 13. Following their withdrawals as co-sponsors, several of them provided comment. Several other subcommittee Democrats still are listed as co-sponsors of the measure - including Representatives Bobby Rush of Illinois and Ted Strickland of Ohio, who both voted against it. Spokesmen for Rush and Strickland did not say by press time whether the lawmakers would continue to remain as co-sponsors. Their press spokespersons declined to provide comment until conferring with their representative. In addition, the other two subcommittee Democrats, absent at last month's markup, have not yet been reached for comment. Where's the beef?  In a letter to her committee colleagues, Schakowsky - the ranking member of the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protections Subcommittee - stated, "I do not believe we should legislate because of a few anecdotes, and I cannot support nor lend my name to a bill that undermines consumers' rights."  "There is no evidence there is a problem," she noted, adding that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reported that it has not received any complaints concerning problems with repairs because of manufacturers withholding information. She criticized the lack of quantitative evidence from the bill's proponents, despite the subcommittee's requests for substantiation: "After I actively searched myself and worked with the proponents of H.R. 2048, no data was found to demonstrate a systematic problem."  Schakowsky also expressed in her letter her concern that Barton's amendment to the bill rolls backs consumer protections. "As amended in the Subcommittee by Chairman Barton, H.R. 2048 rolls back current consumer protections by taking away consumers' and independent shops' rights to take their cases to court. Additionally, the bill would not give the FTC any new authority to pursue claims that manufacturers are not sharing information as they should, turning the enforcement section into mere window dressing." The other representatives provided comments through their communication assistants, as reported in the Congress Daily, who said advocates failed to demonstrate that automakers were denying repair shops access to information they need to make repairs. Like Schakowsky, they were upset after Barton offered a manager's amendment they say stripped the bill of its consumer protections, making the measure "toothless," in Schakowsky words. "The bill that was introduced by Chairman Barton [to the full committee] under the same name was drastically different, and we took the very rare step of actually removing her name as a co-sponsor because the bill was so different," said a spokesman for Representative DeGette.  A spokesperson for Representative Tammy Baldwin, (D-WI), said today that Barton's changes stripped the bill of consumer protections, and the bill is no longer necessary because automakers and bill advocates have made progress on a private agreement. Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts was the fourth subcommittee Democrat who withdrew as a co-sponsor last night. Barton has introduced a version of the bill in each of the past three sessions of Congress. He has said he hoped the measure would force automakers and consumer advocates to reach a voluntary accord, but has not seen enough progress to date.  A Barton spokesperson told the Congress Daily, "We leave the response to their constituents who want to have a choice where they want to have their car repaired," She added that Barton expects the amended bill to be marked up by the full Energy and Commerce Committee by the end of the year.(Source: Congress Daily)