[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 175 (Tuesday, October 24, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5130-S5131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Michael G. Whitaker

  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the 
nomination of Michael Whitaker to be the Administrator of the Federal 
Aviation Administration. Last week, the Commerce Committee unanimously 
advanced Mr. Whitaker to the Senate floor, and this resounding 
bipartisan approval is in addition to the broad support that Mr. 
Whitaker has received from the private sector. He has the support of 
the aviation workforce, pilots, flight attendants, machinists, air 
traffic controllers, and safety specialists at the FAA.
  Aviation safety advocates like the 737 MAX crash families have called 
Mr. Whitaker a ``strong leader'' for the FAA with the ``ability [to] 
restore public trust and confidence in its oversight and safety 
standards.''
  The conclusion is clear, Mr. Whitaker is the right person to lead the 
FAA. And America's chief aviation regulator has a critical mission: 
protect the safety of the flying public.

[[Page S5131]]

  Each day, 44,000 FAA employees oversee the safety of 25,000 daily 
commercial flights, 2.5 million travelers, and over 5,500 airports.
  These Agencies set the safety standards for aerospace manufacturing, 
and safety starts at the top with the Administrator. America's safety 
system is under stress, given the changes to FAA and the innovation 
that we are seeing in new technology. We have challenges in the post-
pandemic rebound of air travel and making sure that we have a 
workforce.
  And the FAA's workforce, I know that Mr. Whitaker, in his 
confirmation hearing, committed to making this a No. 1 priority: build 
a strong safety culture, attract new talent, and keep pace with 
technology transformation.
  Mr. Whitaker must build an organization that meets the challenges of 
incorporating new users and technologies like drones and advanced air 
mobility, electric propulsion, commercial space, and just the continued 
growth of the busy aviation aerospace around the globe.
  Among the most pressing problems is addressing air traffic controller 
hiring and training, and Mr. Whitaker has stated this will also be a 
top priority.
  Finally, the FAA must be among the global leaders in aviation safety. 
Mr. Whitaker must work internationally at the International Civil 
Aviation Organization, ICAO, and through bilateral partnerships to lift 
the baseline for aviation safety regulation throughout the world.
  This work of rebuilding leadership starts here at the FAA, and he is 
committed to implementing the critical safety reforms that were part of 
the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act. These are 
strong challenges, but no doubt this Administrator can meet those 
challenges and live up to these commitments.
  I am confident that Mr. Whitaker's abilities will make sure that this 
legislation is fully implemented.
  In addition, yesterday, the President of the United States and the 
Secretary of Commerce announced a series of tech hubs in response to 
the legislation that we passed, the CHIPS and Science Act. I know the 
Presiding Officer, I think, is pretty happy about that because I think 
one of those tech hubs was in his State. And certainly there was one in 
Washington that is really about the next generation of advanced 
materials in aviation.
  The designation made possible by CHIPS and Science is to think about 
lab-to-market testbeds on thermoplastic composite fabrication equipment 
and help the United States stay in a leadership position in the next 
generation of aerospace workforce.
  The United States leads in ideas, but we don't always lead in the 
implementation of the innovation, particularly at a time where now 
everyone, in an internet age, is reading about our innovations and 
trying to implement the same things.
  The tech hub idea can leverage a lot of ideas across the United 
States and help translate the science faster into real application and 
real competitiveness for our Nation and grow jobs and help grow 
actually rising incomes in various parts of our country as well.
  The tech hub, in this instance, in the aerospace ecosystem where we 
have millions of people employed nationally and we have leading 
institutions that are doing aviation research--we need to show that 
innovation can move beyond just where we are today on composites but on 
next-generation research that then gets translated to the workforce and 
the skilling of the workforce.
  This means creating more patents, translating discoveries, and 
keeping U.S. manufacturing competitive. I know that many of my 
colleagues here in the Senate were very pleased to hear this 
announcement by the President and the Secretary of Commerce.
  With over 30 years of diverse experience in these issues, like 
aviation, Mr. Whitaker will be able to help, I think, in this next-
generation aviation technology: thermoplastics.
  This is also important for our space companies that want to get into 
a more rapid production of thermoplastic piece part production, and I 
think this kind of R&D alliance will help for the future.
  So I thank our colleagues for the time today. I hope they will 
support Mr. Whitaker. I hope that we will move quickly on this 
nomination, and I hope that it will give us a chance to have an FAA 
Administrator who will also help us move quickly to resolve the FAA 
authorization issues and get that authorization before both bodies 
before the end of the year.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.