At Washington’s nomination hearing, Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, said President Joe Biden’s choice must make a “clear commitment” to implement sweeping legislation passed in 2020 to reform how the FAA certifies new airplanes after two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people.
Democrats control the Senate by a 51-49 margin and none have publicly opposed Washington’s nomination. Cantwell said after the hearing she did not know if Washington had the votes for confirmation.
The FAA has been without a permanent administrator for 11 months, and Washington pledged to continue to implement certification reforms and would “look to accelerate the outstanding things that have not been completed.”
“We feel that industry and FAA got too cozy,” Cantwell said. She said Washington’s experience as a “manager of large organizations with thousands of employees gives you a very good sense of some of the challenges of moving…
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