President Joe Biden’s embattled pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration is scheduled for his confirmation hearing before Congress on Wednesday morning amid a series of challenges for the agency.
Phil Washington is expected to get grilled by senators on issues that have emerged since he was nominated last summer and explain why he’s qualified to lead an agency that urgently needs to address a slew of complex challenges.
The hearing for Washington, whose lack of aviation experience and legal entanglements have raised concerns on Capitol Hill, comes after a year of the FAA operating without a permanent administrator. In that time, the agency has contended with several problems that have plagued travelers and the airline industry, such as recent near-collisions involving airliners, crucial staffing shortages and malfunctions of aging technology that have cause major air travel disruption.
Washington, whose nomination was first announced by Biden nearly eight months ago, will appear before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET.
Washington, the current CEO of the Denver International Airport, has held leadership roles at municipal transit organizations, including in Denver and Los Angeles, focused on bus and rail lines. He also led the Biden-Harris transition team for the Department of Transportation. Prior to his work in transportation, Washington served in the military for 24 years.
While Washington has worked in transportation-related positions since 2000, he had no experience in the aviation industry prior to joining the Denver airport in 2021. Since his nomination last summer, Washington has faced questions about his limited experience and, in September, was named in a search warrant issued as part of a political corruption investigation in Los Angeles.
According to a questionnaire…
Read the full article here