By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate voted 77 to 18 on Thursday to confirm David Pekoske to serve another term as head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), while the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) nominee is still awaiting a hearing.
Pekoske was nominated by former President Donald Trump in 2017 to a five-year term and nominated by President Joe Biden in May to serve a new term.
The TSA, created by Congress in November 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks, is responsible for security operations at 430 U.S. airports and is the lead federal agency for security of highways, railroads, mass transit systems and pipelines.
In July, Biden nominated Denver International Airport Chief Executive Phil Washington, a former Biden Transportation Department transition official to head the FAA. Washington is beginning to hold meetings with members of the Senate Commerce Committee.
The job has been vacant since March 31 when Steve Dickson, who was nominated to the position by Trump in 2019, stepped down about halfway through his five-year term. The FAA’s top aviation safety official, Billy Nolen, is running the agency on an interim basis.
The next FAA administrator will face questions about the agency’s oversight of planemaker Boeing.
Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, had earlier expressed “skepticism” about Washington due to his “lack of experience in aviation.”
“Now I am deeply troubled to learn the nominee was named in a search warrant that ties him to allegations of corruption at LA Metro,” he said on Wednesday.
Washington, a former CEO of the Los Angeles public transport system, told Bloomberg News on Thursday “all the allegations are false.”
Senator Maria Cantwell, the Commerce Committee chair said on Thursday in a statement all nominees were subject to the confirmation process that includes “a careful and thorough review of the individual’s qualifications. Mr. Washington’s nomination and all of his background is undergoing that process now.”
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Richard Pullin)