Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz criticized President Biden’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) nominee on Monday for his lack of aviation experience and the patronage behind his selection.
Cruz, who is a ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, called Biden FAA Administrator nominee Phil Washington a “patronage” pick who is part of a “spoils system” in the Democratic party. (RELATED: Ted Cruz Announces Sweeping Oversight Investigation Of Big Tech Firms’ Censorship Practices)
Pete Buttigieg is WILDLY UNQUALIFIED to be Secretary of Transportation.
And Biden’s FAA nominee knows nothing about aviation safety.
It’s stunning & dangerous. #Verdict https://t.co/333PIivTNb
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 6, 2023
“What the Biden administration is doing here is they’ve nominated him, because some Colorado Democrats care about putting him in this position. And they’re treating the FAA as a patronage position, they’re treating it as just a spoils system,” Cruz said on his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz.”
“Look what they [the Biden administration] need to do, they need to pull this nomination. And they need to nominate someone who’s qualified. And if they nominate someone who’s qualified, who has real experience in aviation safety, that person is going to get confirmed with a big bipartisan majority. We all want to see someone in the FAA who knows how to make air travel safe. And right now, the Biden White House is putting politics above the safety of you and your kids,” he continued.
Washington is the CEO of the Denver International Airport, a position he began in 2021. He served in the U.S. Army for 24 years and held multiple city level transportation jobs before he took over Denver’s airport, the New York Times reported. President Biden renominated Washington to run the FAA after he did not receive a hearing when he was nominated in July 2022.
Cruz questioned Washington in his March 1 nomination hearing about lack of aviation experience and his connections to a corruption scandal in Los Angeles, according to a press release from Cruz’s office. He also scrutinized Washington’s tenure running Denver’s airport for promoting “equity” initiatives in contracting and airport infrastructure.
The FAA received heightened attention on Jan. 11 when an agency outage temporarily halted air travel because of a glitch in its air traffic control system. It came shortly after thousands of Southwest Airlines flights were canceled during Christmas travel because the airline’s outdated scheduling system could not meet overwhelming demand.
The agency has lacked a permanent chief administrator since former President Donald Trump’s selection for the post, Stephen Dickson, stepped down in March 2022.