Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted that President Donald Trump and the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would bring about more plane crashes, suggesting that the president was fine with putting lives at risk as long as he could secure more tax breaks for billionaires.
Schumer delivered remarks from the Senate floor on Wednesday, saying that because Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk were responsible for cutting positions within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), they were necessarily driving up the risk for more crashes — and he claimed they were doing it “so they can help their billionaire buddies with another tax break.”
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🚨NEW: Chuck Schumer continues attempts to link Trump and DOGE to plane crashes —
— says cuts to FAA endanger safety, so ‘billionaires’ can enrich themselves:
"At a time when incidents in the air and on the runways in and our airports seem to be increasing, why would we cut… pic.twitter.com/fzVLA9ul0q
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 19, 2025
“The more Donald Trump and DOGE indiscriminately hack away at public agencies, the greater harm to Americans’ well-being and even their safety,” Schumer claimed. “The FAA is a good example. Just weeks after the deadliest plane crash in a long time, and just as we see more incidents around the country, President Trump has fired hundreds of FAA workers including air safety personnel.”
“Firing people whose very job it is to keep air travel safe is nothing short of reckless,” Schumer continued.
“At a time when incidents in the air and on the runways in and our airports seem to be increasing, why would we cut the very people meant to prevent them?” Schumer asked before posing an answer to his own question. “Simple. Donald Trump and DOGE are doing it like they’re doing so much else, so they can help their billionaire buddies with another tax break.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was confirmed to his new post just 24 hours prior to the deadly crash near Reagan National Airport, stated early on that he was ready to work with DOGE to make transportation more efficient and safer — and also said that staffing cuts and federal worker buyout offers would not extend to air traffic controllers.
