Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, Space and Innovation—today excoriated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford for failing to implement urgently needed recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) final report on the DCA midair collision that would strengthen the safety of our aviation system and prevent future tragedies. During today’s U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation (CST) Committee hearing, Duckworth reamed the FAA for inexplicably continuing its culture of complacency, even after the NTSB unequivocally identified that FAA’s past failures to implement previous safety recommendations directly contributed to the tragedy at DCA. Video of Duckworth’s remarks are available on the Senator’s YouTube.
“You are not committing to concurring with any of the NTSB recommendations—you’re trying to talk circles around us and find ways to get around concurring with most of these, and it’s not going to work,” fumed Duckworth during her exchange with FAA Administrator Bedford. “It should not have taken a tragic accident to tell us that action was needed. The alarm bells were ringing, and the urgent message—devastatingly for the dozens of families who lost loved ones—went unanswered. Administrator Bedford, the FAA must act. There is no other option.”
Duckworth pressed Bedford to commit that the FAA would swiftly, thoroughly implement each one of the NTSB’s 33 safety recommendations. Shamefully, Bedford refused to commit. The Senator lambasted Administrator Bedford for only just meeting in official capacity with the lead investigator of the DCA midair collision one month ago—10 months after he took the helm of the FAA.
Duckworth also slammed the FAA for its plans to slash (ATC) staffing targets by more than 2,000 positions, despite the ongoing ATC shortage that is straining our aviation workforce.
“The FAA’s actions since the crash have given me no confidence that you will focus on the most important aspect of the air traffic control system: its people,” Duckworth fired at Bedford. “I will continue to advocate for the workforce because I know that enough, well-rested and qualified air traffic controllers are what we need to keep the national airspace system safe.”
Duckworth is a leading voice in the push to make our skies safer. For years, she has been soundingthe alarm that we must make critical aviation safety investments immediately to prevent all-too-often near-misses from becoming catastrophic tragedies. In February, she lambasted the FAA for failing to carry out critical safety measures before the DCA collision and urged the Trump Administration to heed her calls to invest in our ATC workforce and equipment and improve inter-agency communication to protect the flying public. Last December, Duckworth pushed for long-term funding certainty for ATC modernization and impressed upon FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford to invest in both training and equipment upgrades in the modernization project.
Last Congress, Duckworth chaired two CST Aviation Subcommittee hearings—one in December 2024 and the other a year prior—to address our aviation industry’s chilling surge in near-deadly close calls and underscore the urgent need to improve air traffic control systems to protect the flying public. Duckworth helped author the bipartisan FAA reauthorization that was signed into law in 2024 to extend the FAA’s funding and authorities through Fiscal Year 2028. The reauthorization included several of her provisions to safeguard the 1,500-hour rule, improve consumer safety, expand the aviation workforce and enhance protections for travelers with disabilities.
