And there’s been some legal action involving Phil Washington that has also come into play here and kind of hit the pause button once or twice. But this nomination has been long stalled. There’s also been a question hanging over him about whether he needed a waiver, because of his military experience when FAA is supposed to be headed by a civilian, although, there seemed to be a memo coming out that maybe downplayed the need for that. Loren Duggan Yep, he’s run into trouble with Republicans who have questioned his experience to do this job. There’s been some opposition that came in late last week from Republicans. Tom Temin And Phil Washington looks like he’s not going to necessarily sail through his vote as administrator of FAA. So that’s already something they’re trying to work on, even if they don’t want to wait for the larger, longer FAA reauthorization to be finished, maybe they’ll peel off that one piece and do that quicker. And one of the things that the Commerce Committee, who will be considering Phil Washington’s nomination is also considering, is a bill that create a task force on that NOTAM system. Goodness, it hadn’t been updated in decades and they’re still a decade away from updating it. But that idea showed that a crucial piece of the safety apparatus, anyway, in FAA. ![]() At one time in the fifties, regrettably, it was horrible midair collisions that showed how primitive air traffic control was. Tom Temin Yeah, often there’s some sort of a crisis that shines light on a crucial need in air traffic control. ![]() ![]() There’s a lot going on with the FAA that Congress is going to want to weigh in on through this legislation. Whether it was the system that shut down and ground aviation to a halt for a short period of time or near collisions. So in addition to confirming leadership, one of the top things Congress wants to do this year is pass a new FAA authorization, probably a multi-year one, to ensure that all the taxes that help fund the programs are continued and use this as an opportunity to maybe change some FAA operations, because as we’ve known from recent hearings on this, there is a lot going on at the FAA. Loren Duggan That bill has to be taken up at some point this year. And I think we’ll see a number of these hearings start to kick into gear, both in the appropriations committees, but then also the authorizers, like the Haskins, the Armed Services Committees that are writing the defense authorization bill, they’re looking at programs that they want to get information about as well. So, he’ll make a case for the programs he wants to see increase. But in terms of more traditional review of the budget, will see Pete Buttigieg (D-Ind.) to judge go up and talk about the Transportation Department budget, which, asks for some key investments after things like the bipartisan infrastructure law that was signed back in 2021. So I think that her hearings will be closely watched, because something she says may move markets. But any time she’s there, she’s going to get asked about everything going on with the tax issues or even banking, which has become a big issue for Congress to weigh in on. Loren Duggan Well, I think the key hearings might again be with Janet Yellen (D-N.Y.), who was up on the Hill last week to talk about budget stuff. Tom Temin And this coming week, what will the budget agenda look like? Our new ebook offers tactics from 11 federal leaders and five industry experts to help improve CX right now. It makes sense given agencies provide services 24/7. Insight by Carahsoft: It’s hard to go a day without hearing someone in government bring up customer experience. So we’re definitely getting into a more normal rhythm with Congress as the weeks go on here. ![]() But we’re seeing more bills come to the floor, we’re seeing more bills come out of committee. The budget, obviously, every time that arrives on Capitol Hill that forces more budget hearings to start happening. And we’ve really seen an uptick in recent weeks of hearings in both the House and the Senate. I mean, they’ve had some fits and starts here, it took a while to get both chambers up and running, but they have done so now. Tom Temin It seems like this Congress, which had a funny start because of the speaker battle, etc., has kind of reached cruising altitude to stick with the DOT metaphor there. Tom Temin It seems like this Congress, which had a funny start because of the speaker. To get the rundown on all of this, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Loren Duggan, Bloomberg Government’s Deputy News Director Loren Duggan. The Department of Transportation (DOT) will be big, plus there is a vote on a nomination to a crucial DOT agency. Budget hearings will take up much of Congress’s time this week.
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