DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Early this morning, the House passed an auto safety bill. The legislation is in response to the outcry over traffic deaths blamed on defective tires. CNN congressional correspondent Chris Black is joining us live now from Capitol Hill with the details. Chris, good morning.</s>CHRIS BLACK, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Daryn, in the very early hours of this morning, the House of Representatives passed the first piece of legislation responding to that massive recall of Firestone tires. The bill passed on a voice vote with no dissent. Both Democrats and Republicans on the House floor this morning noted that more than 100 Americans have lost their lives because of accidents involving defective tires. They all said it was time to act.</s>REP. BILL LUTHER (D), MINNESOTA: Today, there are still too many recalled tires in use, there are too many waiting lists at dealers in this country. That's an unacceptable situation and presents much too great of a risk to the consumers of America.</s>BLACK: This is a pretty comprehensive bill. It requires the auto manufacturers to conduct driving tests to determine the risk of rollovers. And it also requires the manufacturers to install new systems in automobiles and trucks that will measure tire pressure to let consumers know if tire pressure is too low. It also increases the civil and criminal penalties on auto executives who withhold safety standard information from the government. And it requires the auto manufacturers to provide a lot more information in a lot quicker way to the federal government. But time is running out in the Senate, where Sen. John McCain, the Senate chairman of the Commerce Committee, has filed a similar legislation. The priority, however, among House Republican -- Senate Republican leaders is spending bills. They're hoping to finish up work by the end of this week, by Saturday, and they say that there probably is not time to deal with this legislation -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Chris Black on Capitol Hill. Chris, thank you very much.
House Passes Auto Safety Bill in Response to Firestone Tire Recall