FAA chief nomination cleared for takeoff as DeMint drops hold

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has dropped his hold on interim Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Michael Huerta's nomination to a full term.

DeMint had been blocking Huerta's nomination since the summer, saying he wanted to give Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney a chance to make his own choice to lead the aviation agency should he win the November election.

A Senate GOP aide confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday that DeMint was releasing the hold on Huerta now that President Obama has been reelected.

Huerta has been serving as interim FAA administrator since Randy Babbitt resigned in December 2011 followed a drunk-driving arrest. The charges against Babbitt were later dropped, but Huerta was nominated to a full five-year term at the helm of the FAA in March.

Prior to DeMint's hold blocking a vote of the full Senate, Huerta was approved by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Before he was appointed as deputy FAA administrator 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.

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