Republicans say Biden FAA nominee is ‘not qualified’ for the job

Senate Republicans on Wednesday bashed President Biden’s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, accusing him of not being qualified to head the agency. 

In his first confirmation hearing since Biden, 80, nominated him for the post nearly eight months ago, Phil Washington was grilled by Republicans on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, who called out his lack of experience in the aviation industry. 

“He does not have any experience in aviation safety. This quite simply is a position he is not qualified for,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said. “I’m disappointed that the administration has chosen to treat a critical safety position as a patronage job.”

Washington, the current CEO of Denver International Airport, led the Biden-Harris transition team for the Department of Transportation. He has also held leadership roles at municipal transit organizations in Denver and Los Angeles and served in the military for 24 years. 

“As I look at your record, I see a record where you’ve got experience with buses. You’ve got experience with trains,” Cruz said, referencing Washington’s jobs in Denver and Los Angeles.

“Buses and trains are very different from planes,” Cruz added. 

The Texas Republican’s concerns were echoed by Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), who also concluded that Washington was not qualified for the job.

“Biden’s FAA nominee failed to answer each one of my questions about basic aviation issues,” Budd said in a tweet Wednesday. 

“If you want to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, [it] would help if you knew a little bit about aviation,” Budd added. “This nominee is simply not qualified for the job.”

Washington is hoping to replace acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen, who took over the agency in April 2022 after Stephen Dickson stepped down before the end of his five-year term. 

The FAA has come under fire since flights nationwide were grounded for hours in January, for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, because of an outage of a system that offers safety and other information to pilots.

Several recent near-collisions involving aircraft and staffing shortages leading to travel disruptions have also plagued the agency that professes a focus on safety.