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President Joe Biden’s pick to run the Federal Aviation Administration finally got a hearing Wednesday on his nomination, with Democrats hailing him as a skilled leader of large transportation bureaucracies while Republicans called him was not qualified because of his relatively thin aviation experience.
If confirmed by the Senate, Phillip Washington will take over an agency facing safety concerns including some recent close call between planesstaff shortages contributing to flight delays, and the breakdown of a pilot-alert system which briefly stopped flights across the country in January.
Washington told the Senate Commerce Committee that safety is his top priority, and “he will leave the FAA better than I found it.”
Washington is a longtime Los Angeles and Denver transit official who has served as CEO of Denver International Airport – the third busiest in the world – since July 2021.
Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., called him “an experienced, mission-driven leader who has successfully led three of the nation’s largest and most complex transportation organizations.”
Another Democrat, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, introduced Washington as someone with experience turning around struggling bureaucracies.
“He takes on big, complex problems and gets results,” Hickenlooper said. “He is not an airline industry insider who is using this position as a revolving door for the industry to replace itself.”
Republicans, however, seized Washington’s short term in the field of aviation. They noted that he was not a pilot, unlike some of his recent predecessors and the current acting administrator, Billy Nolen.
“He doesn’t have any experience in aviation safety,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “It’s simply a position he’s not qualified for.”
Cruz discounted Washington’s job of running the Denver airport, telling the nominee, “You run the coffee shops, the clothing stores and the newsstands,” but not the pilots, plane mechanics or traffic controllers. in the air.
“He is the wrong choice to lead the FAA and restore America’s confidence in this struggling agency,” added Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
Some Republicans have peppered Washington with detailed questions about aviation — such as the number of special-purpose aircraft types, and what causes a plane to ground — that he often fails to answer.
Republicans also highlighted Washington’s involvement in a corruption investigation at the Los Angeles transit agency he ran for six years. Washington’s name appears on a search warrant, but he said no law enforcement agencies have contacted him about the matter.
Republicans also brought a new lawsuit accusing Washington and other Denver officials of pushing a Hispanic airport director from his job after he complained that white co-workers was hired more.
Hawaii Democrat Brian Schatz said the Republican attacks were baseless and irrelevant.
“It’s a hatchet job,” he said.
Biden was originally nominated in Washington in early July 2022, but he failed to get a hearing even though Democrats controlled the Senate. The president also nominated him in January — the man chosen to lead Biden’s transition team for the Transportation Department, the FAA’s parent agency, after the 2020 election.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer promised to “break this logjam” and clear the way for confirmation in Washington.
The FAA has been led by acting administrator Nolen since the election of former President Donald Trump, a former pilot and Delta Air Lines executive Stephen Dickson, resigned in March halfway through his five-year term.
Washington is the CEO of the Los Angeles County bus and rail transit authority, Metro, for six years before getting the Denver airport job. He’s also a longtime executive with Denver’s transportation district, including serving as CEO from 2009 to 2015. He served in the U.S. Army for 24 years, which Republicans say means he needs a waiver. from Congress to manage the civilian FAA.
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