How Patty Murray Accidentally Helped Expose the Dangers of DEI Within the FAA Back in 2014

Whenever one thinks of Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the words "being ahead of the game and having the right priorities" don't often come to mind.

But in the context of the horrific mid-air collision that took place in Washington, DC Wednesday night and the ensuing Trump-led debate over what role if any DEI may have played in what happened, Murray was an early, perhaps unsuspecting participant in bringing the hammer down on its use in FAA hiring practices.

As RedState reported, President Donald Trump has triggered the mainstream media and Democrats with his focus on DEI in the aftermath of the crash that happened near Reagan National Airport between an American Airlines commercial plane and a Black Hawk helicopter where, tragically, all 67 people (64 on the plane, three from the helicopter) are presumed dead.

Though many "news" outlets have said Trump sounding alarms about staffing issues as well as the training and readiness of air traffic control teams and pilots is being done "without evidence," Vice President JD Vance hammered Trump's points home during the Thursday press conference at the White House, noting that there are big issues on that front that need to be looked into and addressed immediately:

And I think that is a core part of what President Trump is going to bring and has already brought to Washington DC - is we want to hire the best people because we want the best people at air traffic control and we want to make sure we have enough people at air traffic control who are actually competent to do the job.
If you go back to just some of the headlines over the past 10 years you have many hundreds of people suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers but they were turned away because of the color of their skin. That policy ends under Donald Trump's leadership because safety is the first priority of our aviation industry.

Where does Sen. Murray fit into all of this? With her pointed questioning in 2014 during the Obama-Biden administration of then-Transportation Sec. Anthony Foxx on a biographical questionnaire being used by the FAA at the time to screen ATC applicants (transcribed from video):

"I really want to talk about the CTI schools and the fact that just a few months ago the FAA made some very dramatic changes to the way they’re hiring our air traffic controllers. And among those changes, the FAA now no longer relies on a pool of graduates from its Collegiate Training Initiatives, our CTI schools.
The FAA has added a new test to screen candidates they call the 'biographical questionnaire.' What I’m hearing from our CTI schools in my state, Washington state, that they’re very worried about their graduates, and I’m hearing from the graduates as well.
One CTI graduate from Washington State graduated with high honors, passed an FAA test for initial qualification, has almost five years of service in the Air Force, and a commercial pilot certificate with an instrumental rating. That young man took this biographical questionnaire and failed it for reasons that are very unclear, and he’s not the only one in this situation. So I want you to explain to us how the FAA has improved this process if this kind of applicant that I just described and many others are failing this initial screening."

"Senator Murray noted that in 2014, of the 28,000 people who applied, only 2,200 passed the Biographical Questionnaire," TheUnion.com, a California-based newspaper, reported at the time. "Numerous qualified program graduates failed the Biographical Questionnaire, with no explanation as to why."

Watch their exchange below and how Murray does not let Foxx off the hook despite him trying to play coy.

The media immediately went to the “without evidence” card after @realDonaldTrump referenced hiring changes at the FAA. Well, here’s Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) in a 2014 hearing, relaying those same concerns to DoT Secretary Foxx, well before DEI was part of the lexicon. pic.twitter.com/lldy0uN6kO
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 31, 2025

As of July 2018, the FAA claimed that what they called the "biographical assessment" was scrapped, and since then incremental changes have been made via FAA and defense reauthorization bills in Congress. But the problems persist. Relatedly, the class action lawsuit Vance referenced (Brigida v. Buttigieg) that includes some 900 claimants has not gone away and reportedly will be heard in 2026.

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