GM CEO to be Grilled about Recalls; Victim Families Speak Out on GM Recall
COSTELLO: General Motors facing criticism for waiting more than a decade to recall cars that had a fatal design flaw, 13 deaths are linked to faulty ignition switches in 2.2 million vehicles. GM's CEO is testifying on Capitol Hill. Later this afternoon but just moments ago victim's families spoke to reporters to demand change. They want answers. CNN's Poppy Harlow live on Capitol Hill to tell us more. Good morning Poppy.</s>POPPY HARLOW, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning Carol. This press conference, it went for about 40 minutes, just wrapped up. It was kicked off by a number of lawmakers. You heard from Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut, also from Senator Ed Markey, calling frankly for a victim's fund to be set up. Also calling on GM to take all of these cars off the road, not allow people to drive them until they are fixed, frankly. That is something that GM has not done yet. But then we had a chance to hear from the family members. People that had lost loved ones, some of them wearing T-shirts saying, "protect our children" and also holding pictures of the loved ones they lost. We do know up to this point that this ignition switch failure caused at least 31 frontal accidents and 13 deaths. That number could go up. I want you to take a listen to some sound from Samantha Denty, this is a 20-year-old from Toms River, New Jersey, who just spoke at this presser about driving one of these cars that they believe had this ignition problem and just how traumatic going through this experience twice for them was. Listen.</s>SAMANTHA DENTY, OWNER OF RECALLED GM VEHICLE: When my mother and I decided that this car was surely a death trap in the game of what if and what again, we are not ones who are willing to play anymore. Driving this car was like playing a game of Russian roulette with my safety and that of my friends. I can't begin to explain the fear and confusion that runs through you that moment you have no control over your car. I cannot comprehend the loss that these families are going through. My hope is that the horror stops right now.</s>HARLOW: A few important things to know. First of all, Mary Barra, who is the CEO of General Motors. She has been in office there at the helm of the company for just about three months. She will testify at 2:00 p.m. today but she met with victims families last night. I'm told by General Motors, about 20 family members she met with in a room at General Motors office here in D.C. last night. They are not releasing details of that meeting but we do know that they met. I can also say that GM has come out and apologized numerous times for this saying that they will accept responsibility. In terms of the testimony, we are going to hear from the General Motors CEO today. We do have some of the prepared testimony. She will say, "I cannot tell you why it took years for a safety defect to be announced. But I can tell you that we will find out." The bottom line, lawmakers on this House committee want to know why General Motors knew about this problem as early as 2004 and did not come forward with that information until a decade later. Also, facing some tough questions from lawmakers today will be the acting director of NHTSA, basically the government agency that is tasked with protecting people on the road -- that hearing kicking off here in just about three hours' time.</s>COSTELLO: Yes, the National Transportation Safety Board is supposed to protect us from things like this, correct? Something went wrong there. Maybe we will find some answers later this afternoon. Poppy Harlow reporting live from capitol hill. The deadline for sign up of Obamacare has come and gain. Jim Acosta at the White House -- parses the numbers for us -- Jim.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. The President will be speaking later today on the latest enrollment numbers in Obamacare. I'll explain why coming up in just a few moments.