The deadly crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is triggering new aviation oversight efforts on Capitol Hill as potential contributing factors draw scrutiny, including whether congressional dysfunction has strained the safety of air travel.
Here’s the latest on how Congress is responding to the Wednesday night tragedy at an airport that hundreds of lawmakers use to commute:
Committees dig in: Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz, who has authority over the FAA and DOT, is pledging to monitor the federal investigation and continue speaking with relevant authorities. House Transportation is expected to schedule a hearing soon.
The FAA and the NTSB briefed lawmakers throughout the day Thursday.
What they’re focusing on: The incident follows years of alarms about air safety, including a shortage of air traffic controllers, government shutdowns that made it harder to train workers and replace equipment and an FAA that spent stretches without a permanent leader while warnings about near-collisions increased.
“We know we have a critical shortage of air traffic controllers, and many of them are forced to work overtime, they’ll often work fatigued — that’s mostly the fault of Congress,” former House Transportation Chair Peter DeFazio said.
Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, who lobbied American Airlines to run the Wichita to Washington route that the passenger plane that crashed into an Army helicopter was on, said he expects the Senate Commerce aviation panel to follow up on what the NTSB finds and “pursue whatever legislative changes may be necessary to further protect the traveling public.”
Another area of focus among some members will be to revisit contentious decisions by Congress to add more flights to Reagan National, though there’s no evidence that the added traffic played a role in the collision.
“I’ve flown in there over a hundred times, I’m always amazed at the amount of traffic,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican on House Transportation.
What Republicans aren’t entertaining: GOP lawmakers — including some of Donald Trump’s biggest congressional allies — are keeping their distance from the president’s unsupported claim that diversity, equity and inclusion efforts were to blame for the crash.
Here’s what else we’re watching:
- Tulsi Gabbard: Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence appears to be on thin ice after Thursday’s confirmation hearing. Her hearing left some Republican senators on edge, such as Sen. James Lankford, who two weeks ago previously said he planned to support her. Sens. John Curtis and Susan Collins also indicated they were undecided.
- Thune on tariffs: Majority Leader John Thune is about to get thrown into the crossfire of Trump’s tariff battles: Trump is threatening 25 percent tariffs against Canada and Mexico as soon as Saturday. Trump’s 2018 trade war with China bruised South Dakota’s agriculture-dependent economy, and a similar fight with Canada and Mexico could be devastating.
- Next week’s nominations: Doug Collins for VA Secretary and Chris Wright for Energy secretary are set to get confirmation votes next week. Wright should be confirmed on Monday, with procedural votes on Russell Vought for OMB director and Pam Bondi for attorney general. Thune also teed up Scott Turner’s nomination for HUD secretary.