Joe Biden’s nominee for Federal Aviation Administration head, Denver International Airport CEO Phillip Washington, has withdrawn his name from consideration when it became unclear whether he would have enough support in the Senate.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg confirmed Washington’s withdrawal late Saturday evening in a tweet. “The partisan attacks and procedural obstruction he has faced are undeserved, but I respect his decision to withdraw and am grateful for his service,” he wrote.
Washington, who was nominated to be FAA administrator in July, has faced unanimous opposition from Republicans, who cited his lack of qualifications and how he has been accused of professional retaliation and discrimination in multiple lawsuits.
Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema, a Democrat turned independent, reportedly slashed Democrats’ hopes of moving Washington’s nomination out of committee and on to the full Senate last week, according to multiple media reports.
It is also unclear whether Montana Democrat John Tester would have voted for Washington.
Buttigieg’s statement is absurd, especially since he isn’t qualified to be Transportation Secretary either.
Washington has zero qualifications for the job Biden tried to give him.
That’s a fact, not a ‘partisan attack’.
Phil Washington was under investigation for handing out contracts to his pals when he ran the LA Transit Authority and retaliating against whistleblowers.
He can’t answer any questions about the technical aspects of flight:
The best part was when Sen. Ted Budd, a pilot, launched basic aviation questions at Washington.
Budd: “What airspace requires an ADS-B transponder?”
Washington: “Not sure I can answer that question right now.
Budd: “What are the six types of special use airspace that…appear on FAA charts?”
Washington: “Sorry, senator, I cannot answer that question.”
Budd: “What are the operational limitations of a pilot flying under BasicMed?”
Washington: “Senator, I’m…not a pilot.”
Budd: “But, obviously you’d oversee the Federal Aviation Administration, so any idea what those restrictions are under BasicMed?”
Washington: “Well, some of the restrictions I think would be high blood pressure some of them would be…”
Budd: “It’s more like how many passengers per airplane, how many pounds, and different categories, and what altitude you can fly under, and amount of knots — it’s under 250 knots — so, it’s not having anything to do with blood pressure.”
Do you want more? There’s more:
Budd: “Can you tell me what causes an aircraft to spin or to stall?”
Washington: “Again, senator, I’m not a pilot.”
Budd: “What are the three aircraft certifications the FAA requires as part of the manufacturing process?”
Washington: “Again, what I would say to that is that one of my first priorities would be to fully implement that Certification Act and report…”
Budd: “You know the three types?”
Washington: “No.”
Budd: “That’s type certificate, production certificate, and airworthiness certificate. Let’s just keep going and see if we can get lucky here.”
Budd: “Can you tell me what the minimum separation distance is for landing and departing airliners during the daytime?”
Washington: “I don’t want to guess on that, senator.”
Budd: “Are you familiar with the difference between Part 107 and Part 44809 when it comes to unmanned aerial standards?”
Washington: “No, I cannot, uh, spell that out…”
Budd: “Ok…”
But he checked the right skin color box.
“Equity”.