Toyota facing scrutiny in Congress over safety recalls
Toyota Motor Corp.’s strategy to avoid the worst repercussions of the massive safety recalls from Congress is to boost lobbying in Washington while awaiting hearings in the House of Representatives.
Toyota seeks to not let lawmakers forget the carmaker’s US presence and to do this, it has mobilized about two dozen workers from states where it has plants to be visible in Capitol Hill the past week. Amy Lindsey, who works at Toyota’s Princeton, Ind., assembly plant, said that Toyota wants to “put a local face on it,” as these workers meet with lawmakers and staff. It’s no wonder that Toyota has built a broad political base in Congress over the years when considering that it has established 10 manufacturing facilities and other operations that employ 33,400 people. However, the number of indirect employment, including dealers, accounts for another 160,700 jobs. Incidentally, Toyota’s operations are located in states with strong ties to both political parties. Two hearings are scheduled in the House of Representatives for the last week of February. A hearing in the Senate is scheduled for the first week in March.
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