California Democrat blames hiring freeze for deadly D.C. aircraft collision

Rep. Norma Torres blamed the Trump administration’s hiring freeze for Wednesday night’s deadly collision of a regional commuter jet and military helicopter above the Potomac River.

The hiring freeze ordered by President Trump does not include federal safety positions, such as air traffic control jobs. But Ms. Torres, California Democrat, posted late Wednesday on X the Jan. 22 statements from senior Democratic members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who criticized the freeze.

Above the statements she wrote, “praying for families and demanding answers.”

“The bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 directs the Administration to hire the maximum number of air traffic controllers. That’s what the law says, so the Administration must rescind this ridiculous executive order,” said Rep. John Larsen of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the committee.

“Our top priority must be the safety of the flying public so an order freezing the hiring of air traffic controllers is a misguided decision and goes against the directives of our FAA Reauthorization bill,” said Rep Steve Cohen, Tennessee Democrat.

The Washington Times reached out to Ms. Torres for comment.

On Jan. 20, Mr. Trump ordered a freeze on the hiring of federal civilian employees throughout the executive branch. The order stated that it did not apply to “military personnel of the armed forces or to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety.”

Additionally, the order states: “Accordingly, this memorandum does not prohibit making reallocations to meet the highest priority needs, maintain essential services, and protect national security, homeland security, and public safety.”

Mr. Trump also signed last Tuesday an executive order called Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation that highlights the need to hire more Federal Aviation Administration employees.

It also calls for the FAA to end all diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices to do that. The FAA has previously asked for more air traffic controllers, and the agency said in September that it had hit hiring numbers for the fiscal year by employing 1,800 air traffic controllers.

The FAA says it is the largest number of hires the organization has made in nearly a decade, according to reports.

Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Wednesday night’s accident could have been prevented.

“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time,” he posted. “It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!.”

Officials said Thursday morning they don’t anticipate finding any survivors from the collision involving a commercial jet carrying more than 60 people and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said the operation pivoted from a “rescue” to a “recovery” mission as emergency crews try to find the victims’ bodies in the aircraft wreckage scattered around the Potomac River.

“At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident,” the chief said at a 7:30 a.m. briefing on Thursday. “We have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter.