By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is one of the most recent targets for the Trump administration’s federal downsizing efforts.
After multiple recent high-profile aviation accidents, there are intensifying calls to improve the nation’s air traffic control. But the calls come amid drastic cuts to the federal workforce.
“We’re trying to make our government smaller, but much stronger,” said President Trump Wednesday at the FII Priority Summit in Miami, Florida. “We have tremendous bureaucracy. But it’s happening, a lot of people are leaving.”
Some worry, it’s a recipe for more tragedies.
“They’re pouring fuel on a fire,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D- NY). “Just weeks after a horrific plane crash killing 67 people in Washington, D.C., the Trump administration fired hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees, jeopardizing public safety and threatening our national security,” she added.
The New York Democrat is concerned about the termination of roughly 400 FAA employees, who she calls “critical federal aviation administration employees, including safety inspectors and maintenance mechanics.” She also worries about the impact it can have in the busy airspace around New York City.
“These terminations occurred despite the fact that the FAA has faced enormous staffing shortages for many years,” said Gillibrand. “Today, over 90% of the U.S. airport terminal towers don’t have enough air traffic controllers.”
Gillibrand is seeking more answers about the terminations. She outlined a series of questions in a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday.
“We need those answers now,” said Gillibrand.
In a post on social media Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said “No air traffic controllers nor any professionals who perform safety critical functions were terminated.”
According to Secretary Duffy, “less than 400 were let go, and they were all probationary, meaning they had been hired less than a year ago. Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go,” he said in a recent post on X.
Duffy also said he is working to deliver “state of the art air travel” to the U.S. with a world-class air traffic control system.
“The need for immediate improvement to our safety infrastructure is long overdue,” Duffy said on X.
