(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he would push to confirm President Joe Biden’s nomination for the head of the FAA, Phillip Washington, despite congressional hesitation over corruption and Biden’s history of appointing officials too comfortable with the big airlines.
Schumer, a Democrat, expressed impatience while discussing the nomination on Sunday, according to Axios.
“There is no doubt about it: it’s time to clear the runway for President Biden’s choice for FAA Administrator, Phil Washington,” Schumer said. “This agency needs a leader confirmed by the Senate immediately. I intend to break this logjam, work to hold a hearing for Mr. Washington, where he can detail his experience.”
Schumer’s lack of patience comes after the last Senate rejected Washington’s nomination.
The Commerce committee, charged with initially vetting FAA nominees, hesitated because Washington had been named in a criminal search warrant, according to Axios. The warrant was served in an investigation on corruption, and Washington was named in his capacity as the head of an airport.
Biden renominated Washington, even after he had been implicated in the LA scandal where “investigators are seeking information about possible favoritism in how the LA Metro awarded contracts,” Axios reported.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a Republican on the Commerce panel said Washington’s nomination “should be dead.”
Schumer did not comment on the concerns about corruption regarding Washington, only that he wished to have a nomination so that Washington “can answer questions and then work towards a speedy Senate confirmation.”
Schumer did mention the airline crisis, but he did not mention how Biden’s nominees dealt with the crisis nor their potentially corrupt relationships with the airlines.
Biden’s transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, habitually ignored requests to regulate airlines leading up to the current crisis. He was begged by Republicans and Democrats to look into the airline’s treatment of customers several times before he suddenly came out against his pet industry.
