House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) tried to own Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) with a jab at President Joe Biden’s age, but it did not go well on Wednesday. (Watch the video below.)
Ocasio-Cortez mentioned Republican attempts to roll back the number of cockpit training hours required for commercial pilots to be licensed.
“I’m amused that the gentlelady is concerned about raising the age regulation that limits the age for pilots when there’s a shortage of pilots, but they’re OK with a president of the United States who’s more than 20 years older than the minimum age,” Comer said.
The progressive lawmaker quickly corrected him.
“Mr. Chairman, since you’re referring to me it’s not age. It’s training-hour time — the number of hours that an individual’s training, not the age.”
“Well, part of the regulation is the age as well,” Comer said in an attempted comeback.
Lawmakers have proposed fewer mandatory hours of cockpit training and more on simulators. Airlines have sought to modify the Federal Aviation Administration’s 1,500-hour training requirement for commercial pilots, enacted during the Obama administration after a 2009 crash that killed 50 people in western New York.
On Wednesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved an amendment to raise the mandatory pilot retirement age to 67 from 65. That stipulation would be added to a larger bill revisiting FAA safety guidelines.
