03.11.25

Cantwell Leads Dems in Voting Unanimously Against Confirming DOT Dep. Sec. Bradbury, Citing Abysmal Safety Record Under First Trump Admin

As DOT General Counsel from 2017-2021, Steven Bradbury helped sideline crucial safety regulations, including for plane manufacturers in immediate aftermath of fatal crashes; Cantwell delivers speech on Senate floor: “What do you need to know? He didn't fight for strong safety rules at the DOT before. He's not going to fight for them now.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, spoke on the Senate floor in opposition to the confirmation of Steven Bradbury – President Trump’s pick to serve as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“When it comes to transportation safety, we don't measure success in dollars saved. We measure success in lives protected and tragedies prevented,” Sen. Cantwell said. “It simply does not matter if you're saving dollars if you're not saving lives. Unfortunately, I believe the president's nominee to be Deputy Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Steven Bradbury, has shown more interest in a light-touch approach that benefits industry than being a champion for safety.”

In her speech, Sen. Cantwell pointed to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) decision to allow military aircraft to operate flights without their Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) systems turned on, which helps transmit their precise location and altitude. The U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a commercial flight near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29 did not have its ADS-B transmitting.

“Last week I met with the parents of Sam Lilley, the first officer of the American Airlines plane that fatally collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter at DCA Airport. Sam's father happens to be a commercial pilot now, and before that he flew Black Hawk helicopters in the military. He expressed his concern about reports that the Black Hawks are regularly being operated in this busy airspace without the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, commonly known as ADS-B, turned on,” Sen. Cantwell said. “My heart goes out to the Lilley family and to all the families of the victims of this tragic accident. It didn't need to happen.” 

In her speech, Sen. Cantwell also pointed to Bradbury’s decision under the first Trump administration to sideline a crucial aviation safety regulation, as well as his time under the Bush administration’s Department of Justice, when he justified the use of waterboarding and other torture techniques.

Sen. Cantwell asked her colleagues: “What do you need to know? He didn't fight for strong safety rules at the Department of Transportation before. He's not going to fight for them now.”

On Feb. 27, Sen. Cantwell led Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Democrats in voting against advancing Bradbury to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. The committee ultimately voted 15-13 to advance Bradbury’s nomination to the full Senate. In spite of Bradbury’s record of rolling back and blocking safety regulations during the first Trump administration, all Republicans voted to advance his nomination.

On Feb. 20, during Bradbury’s hearing before the committee, Sen. Cantwell pressed him on his decision to sideline a proposed requirement that plane manufacturers must adopt a mandatory Safety Management System (SMS), which an expert panel determined would decrease the likelihood of another fatal accident. Bradbury’s decision came just nine days after the fatal Lion Air flight 610 crash in 2018 on a Boeing 737 MAX, which killed 189 people, and halted the introduction of a critical aviation safety rule advocated for by crash victim family members.

Sen. Cantwell asked him at the hearing: “We know that the rule was halted nine days after the MAX crash. Why did you stop the rulemaking from happening?”

Bradbury: “Well, I don't know that I stopped it.”

Sen. Cantwell: “That's what's reported in the paper, and I mentioned the FAA person, who was in charge of the process, who said the industry and everybody wanted to move forward, and it was submitted, and then next thing you know, it's pulled, so…”

Bradbury: “Well, certainly we go through a review of every regulation, and as I recall, in that regulation, there were questions on the merits about which entities it should apply to and how it might apply to small businesses or small entities. Those are the kinds of questions that need to be addressed whenever you're –“

Sen. Cantwell: “So you’re saying you might have killed the SMS rule because you didn't want it to apply to all manufacturers.”

Bradbury: “I wouldn't say I killed the SMS rule. And let me say –"

Sen Cantwell: “We still don't have one. Our committee has worked hard to get one, and now it's going to be in law. But I have more questions about this. But yes, you did stop it from happening. There was a recommendation to move forward on it, and your office stopped it.”

Earlier this month, Sen. Cantwell also sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy calling on him to ensure that Elon Musk stays out of the FAA, citing Musk’s clear conflicts of interest.

In August, Sen. Cantwell introduced the FAA SMS Compliance Review Act. The bill directs the FAA to:

  • Convene an independent review panel that will make recommendations to help the FAA implement a robust, comprehensive Safety Management System across all lines of business at the agency, which includes Aviation Safety, Air Traffic Organization, Airports, Security & Hazardous Materials Safety, and the Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
  • Develop and implement effective processes for performing root cause analyses to identify opportunities for improvement in the FAA’s execution of its regulatory oversight responsibilities.
  • Revise its procedures to shorten the time that manufacturers have to prepare for audits from 50 days to one week. 

In January 2023 and January 2024, Sen. Cantwell requested that FAA perform a special technical audit of Boeing’s production line. The FAA later said the audit found multiple instances where Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements.

Following the Alaska Airlines flight 1282 incident in January 2024, Sen. Cantwell held a series of aviation safety hearings, along with leading legislation and letters calling for stronger safety oversight at the FAA.  Last year, Sen. Cantwell held an April hearing to review the independent Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) Expert Review Panel’s final report, a March hearing with National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy on its investigation of the January incident and a June hearing with FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker on the agency’s oversight.

In May, Sen. Cantwell and Sen. Duckworth led the passage of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which includes new measures to improve aviation safety, such as putting more safety inspectors on factory floors, addressing the nation’s shortage of air traffic controllers, deploying new runway technology to prevent close calls, mandating new 25-hour cockpit recording systems to assist in investigations, and enhancing aircraft certification reforms.

The FAA Reauthorization Act builds upon the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act of 2020, spearheaded by Sen. Cantwell in the aftermath of the Boeing 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks today is HERE; a transcript is HERE.

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