During a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) questioned Sec. Sean Duffy about Air Traffic Controller shortages.
00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome back to Capitol Hill, Secretary Duffy. Good to see you.
00:06You too.
00:07Air traffic controllers perform a very high-stress job in a very high-stress environment, correct?
00:15Yes, they do.
00:16And even before Donald Trump took office, there was a shortage of air traffic controllers.
00:23They're having to work overtime. That adds to the stress, does it not?
00:30That's correct.
00:31And I'll recall a March cabinet meeting where we were aware of you standing up for the air traffic controllers from the chainsaw of Elon Musk.
00:49And I want to thank you for standing up, even though at that meeting you were having to account for how many people had been terminated under DOGE.
01:03And Secretary Duffy, on May 15th, this committee held a hearing discussing the Federal Aviation Administration.
01:11And during that hearing, I asked the FAA's deputy chief operating officer a very simple question.
01:19How many air traffic controllers have left the FAA since January 20th of 2025?
01:26He didn't have an answer.
01:28So I'll ask you now, can you tell this committee how many air traffic controllers have left the FAA since January 20th of 2025?
01:37I don't.
01:37Please don't tell me you don't know.
01:39Oh, I don't know. I don't. I don't know that.
01:41But what I can tell you is that we.
01:43It's such an important job. It's such.
01:45Well, Congressman, I would say that we have new controllers that come in every month and controllers are eligible for retirement.
01:53So they leave.
01:53But are you trying to tell us that you don't know how many air traffic controllers are in the building and how many have left the building?
02:00How many are getting ready to come into the building?
02:03They're not in the building. They're in towers.
02:05Well, I'm just speaking figuratively.
02:07I know. So what I can tell you is what I've done to keep those controllers from retiring.
02:12When they're at the age of retirement and they 50, 56 is the age of retirement.
02:17But a lot of them can retire at 50, 51.
02:19We're asking them to stay on and we're driving more controllers into into the academy and out to be trained.
02:26And so I can't force people to stay beyond their age of retirement.
02:29Let me move on. I appreciate it.
02:31I don't have to remind you of the immense responsibility that comes with leading the Department of Transportation.
02:38And now on top of that, you're also serving as an interim administrator of NASA, NASA, another role with serious demands and high stakes.
02:49And you're a family man. You got what, seven, eight children? How many?
02:53I'm nine, but close.
02:56Nine?
02:56Nine.
02:57You got nine children. You got full-time daddy, full-time job at the FAA, full-time NASA.
03:05How can you, Superman, how can you be doing all of this?
03:08Some people might ask how I can do nine kids and I do it.
03:11And again, I love our country and we need someone in the interim to make decisions and make sure we're leading forward with NASA.
03:19I'm honored that the president has given me this short-term capability.
03:24But that is not going to impact my ability to do the important work of the DOT.
03:28Well, I really would like to know how many air traffic controllers have left the FAA since January 20th of 2025.
03:37I'll follow Mr. Johnson.
03:39I think there's 14,000 total, so it would be kind of hard to know.
