House Oversight says Transportation Department appears to 'not prioritizing Americans' safety'

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee raised concerns Tuesday that the Transportation Department's leadership appears to not be "prioritizing Americans' safety" as the agency has left dozens of safety recommendations unresolved.

More than 1,500 runway incursions have occurred in 2023 as of July 24, and if incidents continue at this rate, putting incursions on track will hit the highest numbers in more than two decades, the Republican-led committee said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Additionally, about 2,000 rail incidents have occurred since the beginning of 2021, when Buttigieg assumed his position, according to the committee.

Meanwhile, the Transportation Department's inspector general made numerous recommendations, some of which deal with safety, to the agency since President Joe Biden assumed office, but 86 of them remain "unresolved," per the lawmakers. This designation is given if a federal agency disagrees with an inspector general's recommendation or if the inspector general disagrees with proposed corrective actions.

The Office of Management and Budget requires inspector general recommendations to be resolved within six months.

"It appears from the OIG’s catalogue of long overdue and unresolved recommendations that DOT’s leadership is not prioritizing Americans’ safety on air, land, and sea," the lawmakers said, using the acronyms to refer to the inspector general and Transportation Department.

"These safety failures have eroded the public’s confidence in air and rail safety and necessitates thorough investigation," the lawmakers also wrote.

The committee is asking the Transportation Department to turn over information about aviation and rail events and all communications about any such event, among other things.

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