The Senate Commerce Committee has rounded out its subcommittee chairs, naming Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) to lead the panel on aviation safety, operations, and innovation. Duckworth takes the reins from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), who remains on the committee.
A member of the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame, Duckworth has been active on a range of issues since first becoming a member of the House in 2013 and then the Senate in 2017. Duckworth is a former Black Hawk pilot who flew combat missions and lost both of her legs and partial use of one arm when a rocket-propelled grenade hit her helicopter during a mission north of Baghdad in 2004. She has since flown as a civilian pilot.
In Congress, she has introduced legislation to foster the aviation workforce and to ease access to general aviation airport funding, as well as pushed for increasing airliner evacuation standards, among other efforts. Duckworth steps in as the aviation subcommittee works to draft a comprehensive FAA reauthorization package.
The full committee will continue to be led by Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) taking over as the new ranking member from Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi). The Committee’s first aviation hearing will be held on Thursday on Strengthening Airline Operations and Consumer Protections. That comes in the wake of the Southwest Airlines meltdown.