Senate rejection of Biden’s controversial nominees reveals ‘out of touch’ president, GOP says

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Kat Timpf: Biden's FAA nominee had 'no idea' what he was talking about

'The Big Sunday Show' panelists discuss Biden's FAA nominee Phil Washington withdrawing his name from consideration after he struggled to answer basic questions during a Senate Commerce Committee. 

President Biden's failure to win Senate confirmation of two nominees this month reveals Biden as an "out of touch" president who is nominating people to lead the government who are so radical, that they cannot be unanimously supported by senators who usually vote with Democrats, Republican lawmakers told Fox News Digital on Monday.

"Members of Biden’s own party torpedoing his picks to fill traditionally non-partisan positions underscores how out of touch this administration is with the priorities of the American people," said Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. "Missourians do not want climate alarmists, free speech censors, or defund the police apologists overseeing their everyday lives."

Over the weekend, the president’s pick to head the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Phillip Washington, withdrew himself from consideration following multiple reports that hesitation by Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s, I-Ariz., forced his committee vote to be delayed.

That came after Federal Communications Commission (FCC) nominee Gigi Sohn pulled herself out of the running for that long-empty seat, citing "unrelenting, dishonest and cruel attacks" from Republicans. However, she withdrew shortly after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced he would oppose her nomination – likely a decisive vote in the closely-divided Senate.

FAA HAS OPERATED WITHOUT A SENATE-CONFIRMED DIRECTOR FOR NEARLY A YEAR

Republicans say President Biden's failure to get two nominees through the Senate shows he's out of touch with members of his own party. ((Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))

Manchin and Sinema have previously made headlines for foiling some of the president’s more progressive agenda items, including scuttling the filibuster to pass the Voting Rights Act and the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better spending bill.

This month, they have done the same with Biden’s picks for the FAA and FEC – both of whom already faced intense Republican opposition. Sohn was heavily criticized for her partisan social media presence, while Washington was accused of not having enough experience to lead the safety and regulatory flight agency.

Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., whose panel vetted both candidates, told Fox News Digital on Monday that she was "glad" to see Sinema and Manchin agree with GOP arguments against the nominees.

"Gigi Sohn and Phil Washington were both unfit for the positions President Biden nominated them for, and I’m glad to see senators across the aisle agreed with the Republicans on the Commerce Committee that Gigi Sohn was entirely too partisan, and Phil Washington was grossly under-qualified to serve," Lummis said.

BIDEN FAA NOMINEE STALLS IN SENATE COMMITTEE AS REPUBLICANS CALL HIM UNQUALIFIED

Phil Washington, chief executive officer of Denver International Airport and administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration nominee for President Biden, during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee nomination hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 1, 2023.

On a new episode of his podcast that aired on Monday morning, Commerce Committee ranking member Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took credit for torpedoing both nominations.

"Both of them now, we've taken them down. And it was not by accident. Look – it is a good thing," the Texas senator said. Cruz said of Washington, whose only aviation experience is his current tenure as head of the Denver airport, "I had several Democrats say why, why are they nominating this guy?"

Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., a pilot and fellow member of the Senate Commerce Committee, told Fox News Digital on Monday that it was unsurprising that both Sohn and Washington faced "bipartisan pushback."

REPUBLICAN SENATOR SLAMS BIDEN'S FAA NOMINEE: A 'COMPLETE MISMATCH'

Gigi Sohn testifies during a Senate confirmation hearing examining her nomination to serve on the Federal Communications Commission on Feb. 9, 2022. (Pete Marovich/Pool/Getty Images)

"When the president continues to play politics with nominations for important positions in his administration instead of focusing on their actual qualifications for the job, it should not come as a surprise to anyone that these nominees are going to face bipartisan pushback," Budd said.

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"This was clearly the case with Mr. Washington, who demonstrated that he did not have the basic aviation knowledge necessary to serve as administrator of the FAA. Ms. Sohn was an activist partisan who would have injected her far-left views into the FCC, which is an agency that has tremendous power over free expression. They simply were the wrong choices for the important positions they were nominated to lead," the senator added.