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Senators Want to Know if DOGE’s FAA Layoffs Will Make the Skies Less Safe

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oklahomawatch.org – Em Luetkemeyer and Torrence Banks – 2025-02-24 17:55:00

Senators Want to Know if DOGE’s FAA Layoffs Will Make the Skies Less Safe

by Em Luetkemeyer and Torrence Banks, Oklahoma Watch
February 24, 2025

Everyone wants answers on whether it’s safe to fly — including senators.

The public is on edge over recent high-profile accidents, including the crash between a helicopter and a passenger flight near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The cause of the deadly crash is still unknown, but lawmakers say it’s made clear that this is an area where safety needs to tighten up.

Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, which has one of the largest Federal Aviation Administration field facilities in the country, said the FAA still needs more air traffic controllers because “as was highlighted three weeks ago in the crash, it’s incredibly important that people are there.”

But there’s plenty of concern about how the Trump administration’s broader goal of scaling back the federal workforce could translate to the FAA.

The FAA laid off several hundred of the workforce’s 45,000 employees at the Trump administration’s direction, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy arguing that the staff released were all probationary and not “critical safety personnel,” like air traffic controllers.

But on Friday, Politico reported that those cuts did include workers critical to ensuring safe air travel, often by directly supporting air traffic controllers’ work.

Lankford said he was still waiting for the FAA to articulate where the layoffs happened and said it’s too early to see if these layoffs will deter new applicants to the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City.

Other senators showed concern about the layoffs.

“The FAA is going to have to become way more accountable,” Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a Republican, said. “I fly in Florida all the time, and unfortunately, the FAA often is understaffed and not able to handle all the traffic.”

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia said he was closely monitoring the cuts.

“We’re all concerned about safety,” Warnock said. “And I’ve talked to people, and people are nervous.”

A spokesperson for the FAA said in a written statement it is not concerned about the layoffs causing safety issues or dissuading people from joining the profession, adding that it will remain “proactive, consistent and deliberative” in advancing “the safety of the nation’s aviation system.”

“The FAA continues to hire and onboard air traffic controllers and safety professionals, including mechanics and others who support them,” the FAA said in a written statement. “The agency has retained employees who perform safety critical functions.”

There’s plenty of pressure on the FAA to ensure safe flight travel, and there’s even some rare bipartisan consensus on what needs to be addressed. Both parties, for example, agree that air traffic controllers are crucial, and that something must be done to stop the years-long exodus from the profession. Duffy has even expressed support for letting them work past the mandatory retirement age.

The Professional Aviation Safety Specialist union, which represents more than 11,000 (mostly FAA) employees from both the FAA workforce and the Department of Defense, said last week it is still trying to get a list of all the employees who were laid off from the administration.

“Air traffic controllers are overworked and stressed, and cutting their budget and reducing their workforce is going to make that much worse.”

Sen. Adam Schiff

But the union did have its own list of members who had been laid off, which included 59 people who worked in technical operations, 39 in flight standard service, 19 from mission support services and 15 in air traffic services.

Philip Mann, who used to train probationary employees as an FAA Training Program Manager in Oklahoma City, said the layoffs could mean longer tenured mechanics will have to make up the work of the laid off probationary employees, adding to the burnout and stress that already exists in the industry.

“What we’re going to see is, as those people kind of start retiring out or as those people kind of start just aging out of the system, basically, we’ll start seeing the maintenance capacity of the maintenance and supervision capacity of the agency start to be stretched,” Mann said.

Some lawmakers shared Mann’s concerns about what the layoffs could mean for future recruiting into the industry, which the Wall Street Journal reported is considered the largest civilian operating agency in the federal government.

“It’s certainly going to discourage people from joining that important workforce, or really any other,” Sen. Adam Schiff said. “Air traffic controllers are overworked and stressed, and cutting their budget and reducing their workforce is going to make that much worse.”

Some Republican senators were confident that no problems would come of the layoffs.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said his state — which heavily relies on its aerospace industry to drive its economy — has had no problems.

“Everything’s good,” Tuberville said. “A good evaluation never hurt anybody.”

Sen. Ted Cruz agreed that the cuts aren’t substantial enough to have an effect on his state.

“I don’t anticipate any impacts,” he said regarding travel to and from his home state of Texas. “The secretary of transportation has made clear that the cuts were less than 1% of the entire workforce, and they did not include any air traffic controllers or any safety critical position.”

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The post Senators Want to Know if DOGE’s FAA Layoffs Will Make the Skies Less Safe appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

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Car washes expected to be busy after winter storm

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February 24, 2025

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www.youtube.com – KFOR Oklahoma’s News 4 – 2025-02-24 18:36:30


SUMMARY: Following a recent winter storm, car washes are anticipating a surge in business due to vehicles covered in salt and grime. Experts from Zip Car Wash note a significant increase in customer volume, with expectations of up to 400 cars per day per location, double the usual amount. Cleaning is crucial not only for aesthetics but also for preventing long-term damage from corrosion caused by salt. Body shop owner Gary emphasizes the importance of addressing salt buildup to avoid costly repairs. For best results, they recommend frequent washes, especially targeting the undercarriage, to protect vehicles from corrosion.

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Top evening headlines from Feb. 24

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February 24, 2025

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www.youtube.com – KOCO 5 News – 2025-02-24 18:30:02


SUMMARY: Federal employees, including those at Tinker Air Force Base, are worried about potential layoffs amid a Pentagon restructuring that could lead to thousands of job cuts nationwide. While no layoffs have occurred yet, employees are anxious as the process unfolds. The situation is affecting the local economy, with concerns about rising unemployment. Meanwhile, a judge ruled that a petition to force a vote on Norman’s billion-dollar entertainment complex is invalid, but the petitioners plan to appeal. Other local news includes a new school search tool from the Oklahoma Department of Education and prescribed burns in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.

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Top evening headlines from Feb. 24 Subscribe to KOCO on YouTube now for more: http://bit.ly/1lGfjIl Get more Oklahoma City …

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Oklahoma Lawmaker Sues Governor Over State Employee Return-To-Work Policy

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February 24, 2025

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oklahomawatch.org – Paul Monies – 2025-02-24 06:00:00

Oklahoma Lawmaker Sues Governor Over State Employee Return-To-Work Policy

by Paul Monies, Oklahoma Watch
February 24, 2025

A Democratic lawmaker is challenging Gov. Kevin Stitt’s return-to-work order for state employees, claiming the governor overstepped his authority into policies that should be decided by the legislative branch. 

Rep. Andy Fugate, of Del City, filed the lawsuit on Friday in Oklahoma County district court. He’s asking for a temporary injunction against Stitt’s executive order issued on Dec. 18. 

Fugate said state employees work for the people, not the governor, and the order has caused chaos for state employees. He said work-from-home flexibility has provided significant benefits for state employees, including more time with family, reduced expenses and an improved work-life balance. 

“Today’s workers are knowledge workers, not factory workers, and we measure workers by their productivity, not by their presence,” Fugate said. “Ultimately, this lawsuit is not about whether it’s more productive to have butts in seats. It’s about the office of the governor overstepping its authority.” 

Stitt’s executive order called for all state employees to return to the office, with limited exceptions, by Feb. 1. Agencies that eliminated office space in the last few years and would have problems accommodating a full return to office could get an exception from the policy. Agency executives can also approve teleworking for employees with non-standard work hours. 

Attorney Richard Labarthe, who is working on Fugate’s case on a pro bono basis, said Stitt’s original work-from-home policy came during the emergency powers granted to him during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said if the Legislature wanted to debate and pass wholesale changes to state employment terms, they are free to do so. 

“We do not have laws made by executive or gubernatorial fiat,” Labarthe said. “That is not provided for in our governing document, the state constitution. So this is very much something that’s outside Gov. Stitt’s purview.” 

In his state of the state address, Stitt touted his approach to cutting government spending and his return-to-work policy. 

“For years, I’ve instructed my cabinet secretaries and agency directors to shrink employee count and cut unnecessary contracts,” Stitt said in the Feb. 3 speech. “I am committed to having fewer state employees at the end of my term than when I took office in 2019. I also mandated an end to work from home policies for state employees to better serve the people of our state.”

In a written statement, Stitt said Fugate’s lawsuit was typical big government, Democrat behavior.

“State employees work for the taxpayer,” Stitt said in the prepared statement. “The data is clear, employees are more productive and accountable when they are working in the office. For the good of the taxpayer, work from home is over.”  

Some lawmakers, including Republicans, have expressed reservations about Stitt’s return-to-work policy. In a budget subcommittee hearing last month, Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, wondered if it could contribute to a loss of talent to the private sector, especially among younger state employees. Pugh worried that agencies would have to come back to the Legislature to request more money for higher salaries since work-from-home wasn’t an option or benefit anymore for state employees. 

“I can tell you younger generations are actually looking for things like remote work and virtual work and flexible time instead of pay,” Pugh said in a Jan. 15 hearing for the Commissioners of the Land Office. “Now I think any employee will always ask for more money, but I think quality of life decisions, how they’re able to raise a family, how they’re able to not have to go ask their boss for an hour off so they can go to the doctor. I think those things are very important to a modern workforce.” 

The state’s largest agency, the Department of Human Services, has more than 6,300 employees. Just 9%, or about 600 employees, were working fully on-site, the agency disclosed in budget documents in January. The rest were split almost evenly between fully remote or hybrid work arrangements. 

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services is collecting responses from agencies about their progress or exceptions requested under the executive order. A report is supposed to be issued by the end of March. Oklahoma Watch has a pending open records request, filed Feb. 4, for agency responses so far. 

Lawmakers have sued Stitt several times since he became governor over separation of power issues. The lawsuits largely dealt with disputes over how much authority the governor had to sign or change compacts with various tribal governments. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled for the Legislature in separate lawsuits brought in 2020, 2021 and 2024. 
But the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 in January that the governor had the right to hire his own counsel in disputes with tribal governments, rejecting an argument from Attorney General Gentner Drummond that the AG had the sole authority to litigate those matters on behalf of the state.

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The post Oklahoma Lawmaker Sues Governor Over State Employee Return-To-Work Policy appeared first on oklahomawatch.org

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