[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 20 (Thursday, January 30, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S513-S514]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                Reagan National Airport Flight Accident

  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, a lot of Americans turned on the TV today 
hoping that the President of the United States was going to make a 
nonpolitical, nonpartisan statement grieving the loss of those who died 
in the awful plane crash last night. Instead, he almost immediately 
launched into a political tirade, blaming what he called DEI. That 
accusation was echoed by the new Secretary of Transportation and the 
new Secretary of Defense.
  Apparently, the allegation is that by hiring non-White men at the 
FAA, this plane crash occurred. That is not true. That is offensive. It 
is not grounded in

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fact. It is just not accurate that by hiring women or Black people or 
Hispanics that the safety of this Nation is compromised. That is 
offensive.
  What we have just learned, though, is that the initial FAA report 
suggests that the tower staffing was not normal during the crash, that 
the controller on duty last night was doing a job traditionally handled 
by two people. There is supposed to be someone handling helicopter 
traffic and someone guiding planes into the airport. There was one 
person doing that job last night.
  We will learn more about what caused this crash. But it is not lost 
on us that the President of the United States made a choice when he 
came into office. He threw the FAA into immediate crisis. He ousted the 
Administrator, replaced the Administrator with no one, and spent the 
first week trying to bully and intimidate Federal employees. He fired 
the entire FAA Safety Advisory Board.
  So we will take the time to find out what actually happened, but this 
happened under President Trump's watch. Clearly, something was not 
right in that tower last night, and it is important for us to follow 
the facts instead of making quick accusations.