ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Morning News

New NHTSA Administrator Sue Bailey Already in Hot Seat Over Firestone Tire Problems

Aired September 12, 2000 - 9:32 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hearings into the Firestone tire problem has landed several people in the hot seat. Among them is Sue Bailey, the new administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

CNN's Carl Rochelle has more on her.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARL ROCHELLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): NHTSA administrator Sue Bailey, on the job less than a month, walked into a firestorm of criticism on Capitol Hill over the problem with Firestone tires on Ford vehicles.

REP. FRED UPTON (R), MICHIGAN: We need to know why NHTSA, which has officials who are paid to do nothing else but monitor accidents, have been asleep at the wheel when it had information served up to it on a silver platter.

ROCHELLE: But some acknowledged she had little time to dig up answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I realize you've only been there for three weeks, but I...

SUE BAILEY, NHTSA ADMINISTRATOR: It seems longer.

ROCHELLE: This is not her first brush with tough issues. In her previous position as deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, Bailey was called on to defend the Pentagon's controversial plan to vaccinate troops against anthrax. She says working with the military, that included trips to the Persian Gulf, helped prepare her for this job.

BAILEY: I never thought I would find a job that I could feel as good about as taking care of the men and women in uniform, but taking care of American lives here certainly fills the bill.

ROCHELLE: Bailey, who is a doctor, brings several skills to the post.

BAILEY: It's helpful, I think, as well to have a science background. Mine is in medicine, but when we're dealing with the biomechanics of injuries and fatalities, that's very helpful.

ROCHELLE: The Consumers Union has high expectations for the new administrator.

SALLY GREENBERG, CONSUMERS UNION: She has the potential to be a zealous protector of the interests of consumers.

ROCHELLE: Sue Bailey's concern with safety predates this job. She says her 31-year-old son, now an emergency room physician, hasn't forgotten the time mom had seat belts installed on his school bus.

BAILEY: My son still remembers going out practically at dark with a mechanic to bolt these seat belts in so that he could have a seat belt. Fortunately, he was only 4 so it wasn't that embarrassing for him.

ROCHELLE: Dr. Sue Bailey will face Congress again as the Senate Commerce Committee grills her about the Ford/Firestone problem. She doesn't take the criticism personally. She says they're just doing their job.

Carl Rochelle, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.