Lawmakers in each events say Congress is gearing as much as play an aggressive function within the federal response to this week’s lethal collision between a navy helicopter and a industrial passenger airplane over the Potomac River close to Washington.
The lawmakers are treading fastidiously within the early phases of that course of, cautious of getting forward of the Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) — the impartial physique that spearheads all federal investigations into aviation disasters — or creating appearances that they’re politicizing the tragedy whereas the our bodies of victims are nonetheless being recovered.
However members of key congressional committees — together with Transportation and Infrastructure, Armed Companies and Oversight — say Congress will in the end dive in with their very own rigorous investigations, that are more likely to look at pilot coaching applications beneath the Pentagon and flight site visitors quantity at Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport. Legislative reforms might observe.
“Congress has an important role in conducting oversight of federal agencies, including the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration], and ensuring the aviation industry is the gold standard of the world,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), chair of the Transportation Committee’s aviation subpanel, advised The Hill in a press release. “We want the NTSB to do their job and investigate the situation, and we will do ours.”
Prime lawmakers on each side of the aisle are urging a cautious path ahead because the NTSB continues its investigation. A supply near Nehls advised The Hill that the NTSB briefed the congressman together with Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the panel’s rating member, amongst others.
“It is important to let the NTSB complete its work before we consider any potential policy response,” Larsen echoed in a press release.
An NTSB board member mentioned a preliminary report ought to be accomplished inside 30 days.
Whereas lawmakers are urging a gentle strategy to congressional oversight, a wildcard shall be President Trump, who has jumped into the talk with early and unsubstantiated accusations that the collision was the results of hiring insurance policies that promoted variety on the FAA. He blamed the Obama and Biden administrations for adopting these practices — recognized broadly as variety, fairness and inclusion (DEI) — which he mentioned led to an erosion of brain-power amongst air site visitors controllers.
“The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities … under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the company’s website,” Trump mentioned Thursday throughout a press briefing.
A number of fact-checking organizations shortly identified that the identical language was the acknowledged coverage of the FAA beneath the primary Trump administration. However some Republicans on Capitol Hill, together with Nehls, are already vowing to make Trump’s DEI claims part of their investigation — a dynamic that may shortly threaten a bipartisan strategy to the congressional response.
“We’re dealing with lives each and every day, and so I think we do want the best and the brightest, and I don’t care if you’re pink, purple — I don’t care about any of that,” Nehls mentioned in an interview with Newsmax.
“So this is an issue I think that Congress can look at,” he continued. “President Trump is leaning forward in the saddle and saying we got to get rid of this DEI.”
Democrats have gone on offense in opposition to the thought, accusing Trump of exploiting the tragedy to attain political factors along with his conservative base.
“We don’t need misdirection, and we don’t need misinformation coming from the highest office in the land. We need integrity, we need decency, we need leadership,” Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) mentioned Friday.
“There is not a scintilla of evidence that exists to suggest that women and people of color are to blame for the tragedy that took place,” he added. “And it was shameful.”
“It never does any good to speculate on the causes of aviation accidents before we have the facts and the details. However, I know it’s not DEI because it never is,” echoed Larsen. “The NTSB will look at the causes and contributing factors of this accident. It is important to let the NTSB complete its work before we consider any potential policy response.”
It’s not solely Democrats who’re pushing again in opposition to Trump’s DEI focus. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a conservative member of the Transportation Committee, is urging policymakers of all stripes to withstand the temptation of assigning blame earlier than the reason for the tragedy is decided.
“People lost their lives,” he mentioned. “Let’s hold off on the finger-pointing.”
Lawmakers, in the meantime, are eyeing different investigative avenues apart from Trump’s DEI allegations. Nehls, for instance, pointed to experiences about shortages in air site visitors management personnel at Nationwide Airport. The tower at that hub had 19 totally licensed controllers as of September 2023 — in keeping with The New York Instances, which cited the latest Air Visitors Controller Workforce Plan — regardless of the controller union saying there ought to be 30.
The FAA mentioned in a report reviewed by a number of information organizations that staffing within the tower Wednesday night time was “not normal” and a single controller was speaking with each helicopters and airplanes.
“We have a staffing issue at the Reagan Airport, DCA, and it must be addressed,” Nehls mentioned on Newsmax.
“We need to make sure that if these airports are struggling with air traffic controllers, they bring it to our attention and we can try to encourage more younger people to get into that field,” he famous in a Fox Information interview. “Overall I believe our record, our safety record, is the gold standard. But when we have an issue like this, it needs to be addressed, and I believe the NTSB will conduct a very thorough investigation and they’ll come up with some recommendations to make sure that we can mitigate risk and something like this never takes place again.”
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) mentioned the Home Armed Companies Committee, which he sits on, must also be concerned in congressional oversight as a result of a navy plane was concerned within the crash. The Nebraska Republican — who was an plane mishap investigator within the Air Pressure — steered there be a overview into the congestion surrounding Nationwide Airport and a navy analysis of how helicopter patterns might be safer across the busy hub.
“It will be part of the investigation, is there a way to lower the threat around Reagan National with helicopters flying there. And I think they’re gonna analyze that,” Bacon mentioned. “It would behoove the [House Armed Services Committee] to ask what did that review find from the Pentagon.”
If Home lawmakers are treading frivolously into the talk, some senators have already stepped extra forcefully by proposing particular early reforms.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), as an illustration, says air site visitors at Nationwide Airport is far too excessive for a comparatively small airport so near Washington. He was among the many regional lawmakers who had voted final 12 months in opposition to an FAA reauthorization invoice to protest a provision that added 5 new long-distance flights to the airport every day. The language was championed by lawmakers in each events, however was staunchly opposed by members from Virginia and Maryland, who warned that the extra congestion would create security hazards.
Within the wake of Wednesday’s tragedy, Kaine and different native policymakers at the moment are reiterating their calls to disperse flights out and in of Washington to different regional airports, together with Dulles Worldwide Airport, which is roughly 25 miles west of the U.S. Capitol in Virginia.
“We need to spread the traffic among these airports, rather than have such congestion into Reagan National,” Kaine advised Fox Information on Thursday.
As lawmakers weigh their choices, the supply near Nehls famous that the congressman labored with the NTSB after the derailment of a freight practice in East Palestine, Ohio, in early 2023 — an incident that despatched hundreds of gallons of poisonous supplies into the air and surrounding waterways. The NTSB additionally took the lead on that probe, with Congress staging hearings and proposing reforms within the months that adopted. Some lawmakers count on the method surrounding the Nationwide Airport crash will play out in related style.
