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Aviation advocates to Senate: Let FAA chief nomination get off the ground
Aviation supporters are calling on Senate leaders to confirm President Obama's nominee to head the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before the end of the 112th Congress.
Interim FAA Administrator Michael Huerta's nomination has been held up in the Senate since August by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
DeMint has said he was blocking Huerta's nomination to a full term atop the FAA because he wanted to give unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney a chance to make his own choice for the aviation agency if he had won the November election.
AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department President Ed Wytkind said Tuesday that the Senate should "put politics aside" and confirm Huerta.
"Mr. Huerta has demonstrated exemplary leadership of the FAA over the past year, and his timely confirmation will provide the continuity and stability that the aviation industry, its employees and the agency need at this critical time," Wytkind wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
DeMint's office did not respond to a request for comment on the Huerta's nomination, but Airports Council International — North America President Greg Principato agreed strongly with Wytkind.
"Given the challenges facing our country and the aviation industry, we support quickly confirming Michael Huerta as FAA Administrator so he can work with all stakeholders and Congress to create a national aviation policy that ensures the air transportation system not only continues to operate safely and efficiently but remains a critical economic engine for the country, helping to ensure our global competitiveness,” Principato said in a statement provided to The Hill.
Huerta was nominated to a full five-year term at the helm of the FAA in March after he took over last year for former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt.
Huerta has been serving as interim FAA administrator since Babbitt resigned in December 2011 followed a drunken-driving arrest. The charges against Babbitt were later dropped.
Prior to being appointed to the FAA in 2010, Huerta worked at a technology company called Affiliated Computer Services. He served as commissioner of New York City's Department of Ports, International Trade and Commerce in the 1980s and was executive director of the Port of San Francisco from 1989 to 1993.
Huerta also served in the Transportation Department under former President Clinton and was managing director of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
