Biden’s FAA Pick Withdraws After Lack of Senate Support

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There was bad news for President Joe Biden over the weekend – his choice to run the Federal Aviation Administration, Denver International Airport CEO Phillip Washington, had to take back his nomination. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Twitter that unfair and partisan attacks were behind this situation happening.

The Republicans didn’t like Washington becoming Biden’s pick because they said he didn’t have enough experience with airplanes. Even though the Democrats and independents wanted to make this choice, some important senators refused to let it happen.

Last Wednesday, Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington State cancelled the scheduled vote about Washington’s fate. This showed that there weren’t enough votes to move it forward. Cantwell said some senators wanted more information about Washington before they decided what to do.

Arizona’s Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who recently changed from being a Democrat to an Independent, and moderate Democrat Jon Tester of Montana did not say how they would have voted. Someone with knowledge of the situation told Big Big News that Sinema was stopping the nomination and indicated she was against it. The source had no permission to tell anyone else about this details publicly and asked to remain anonymous.

Before the President decides on a new choice, he wants to make sure Sinema and Tester will back him up.

The FAA hasn’t had a leader since March 2022, so it’s trying to show everyone that flying is safe even though there have been more near-misses this year. Also, the bad technology got all planes grounded in January, and it still has to repair its image after some of Boeing’s planes crashed in 2018 and 2019.

Pete Buttigieg said on Saturday night, “Phil Washington was a great choice to be the FAA Administrator due to his transportation and military background. But he’s now facing unfair criticisms and troubles, so he has decided to take his name out of consideration. We thank Phil for all of his hard work.”

Washington used to head transit programs in Denver and Los Angeles, but his only experience with airplanes so far is being the CEO of the Denver airport for a little over one year. Still, he’s close with President Biden – he led the team that planned out what changes need to be made at the Transportation Department, which also looks over airlines and airports.

Last July, President Biden chose Washington for a new job but it took eight months before he could have his committee hearing. The Republicans were not happy with his experience and found out that his name showed up in some corruption investigation papers in Los Angeles.

Washington said he did nothing bad and nobody from the police had reached out to him. Someone called Billy Nolen is now in charge of this agency. He works as a pilot for 3 different airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Ted Cruz, US Senator from Texas, does not agree with Washington but thinks that Nolen will have backing from people from both sides.