FAA administrator nomination headlines a respite week for senators

Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call on Jul 8, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Senators will have the Capitol to themselves when they return Tuesday for an abbreviated work period, with the House taking the week off after narrowly pushing through Republicans’ sweeping domestic policy package.

The confirmation of the next head of the Federal Aviation Administration will headline the Senate floor agenda this week.

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the FAA job is Bryan Bedford, who just retired as president of Republic Airways. He had been with the regional carrier since 1999.

Bedford’s nomination came out of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on a 15-13 party-line vote, with Democrats expressing concern about his position on the requirement for pilots to have 1,500 hours of in-flight training.

“It is deeply disturbing that at this critical moment in aviation safety Mr. Bedford refuses to commit to upholding the 1,500-hour pilot training requirement,” Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in a statement ahead of the committee vote. “Amid a surge in near-misses, an air traffic controller shortage, aging air traffic control equipment and facilities, and in the wake of the first major deadly commercial crash in more than a decade, now is not the time to weaken flight hour requirements for all aspiring airline pilots.”

But Bedford has found broad support among Republicans and is likely to be confirmed.

“Mr. Bedford doesn’t just have an exemplary safety record at Republic; he’s also a pilot himself and understands the challenges of the job,” Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas said last month when his committee considered the nomination. “He’s familiar with the stress, the endless medical requirements, and how various airspaces work. He’s just as familiar with aviation safety as previous nominees — if not more so.”

Before turning to the FAA nomination, senators will consider the nomination of Preston Griffith to be undersecretary of Energy. Griffith picked up some Democratic Caucus support at the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, including from the ranking member, New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich.

The remaining nominations already in the queue for the week are Trump’s choices to lead the Office of Personnel Management and to be the deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration.

The lighter floor schedule after the July Fourth holiday comes as a short respite between weeks with late nights on the agenda. Last week, it was the reconciliation bill that Trump signed into law on July Fourth. Next week, it will likely include a vote-a-rama in connection with the president’s proposed rescissions package.

Armed Services, Appropriations busy

But the sparse floor schedule for this week belies the reality that many senators will be busy behind the scenes.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has a full week of subcommittee and full committee markups of the fiscal 2026 defense authorization bill, which per tradition, is considered largely in closed session.

The full committee markup for the defense policy bill kicks off Wednesday, also behind closed doors. It will continue on Thursday if senators need the time to finish the process.

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, is among the senators who will be exceptionally busy, since he also sits on the Appropriations Committee. The same is true for New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

Senate appropriators get the ball rolling Thursday morning on their full committee markups for fiscal 2026 spending bills, taking up a trio of measures that include funding for the Agriculture, Commerce and Justice departments, as well as the Food and Drug Administration, federal science programs and the legislative branch.

There’s no sign of a broader agreement between Republicans and Democrats on spending levels for fiscal 2026, but the first bills out of the gate tend to be among the less controversial.

There are other hearings and markups on the Senate schedule, as well.

On Wednesday, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will be looking at cybersecurity and privacy issues related to health care. The Energy and Natural Resources panel has a Thursday hearing on the Forest Service budget.

Netanyahu visits

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, following a visit to the White House a day earlier.

The prime minister is expected to meet with key lawmakers. That includes a bipartisan Senate meeting featuring Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, as well as a separate meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

Netanyahu arrived in Washington overnight Sunday into Monday, and the president hosted him for dinner Monday evening. The visit comes amid a ceasefire between Israel and Iran that appeared to be holding, following Trump’s ordered strikes on key Iranian nuclear targets.