Vice President JD Vance backed up President Donald Trump’s claim that diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies led to Wednesday’s plane crash in Washington, D.C., telling Fox News that white people have been discouraged from applying to be air traffic controllers because of what he referred to as the “DEI regime.”
On “Sunday Morning Futures,” Vance argued that the “DEI policies” of the Biden and Obama administrations “contributed to where we are.”
“We have a massive shortage of air traffic controllers. And in fact, there have been a number of lawsuits from people who would like to become air traffic controllers against the Obama and Biden administrations, who basically said, ‘We were told not even to apply because of the color of our skin,’ because they were white people who wanted to be air traffic controllers,” Vance said. “And under the DEI regime of the Biden administration, they weren’t welcome.”
Vance then brought up his time with the Senate Commerce Committee, where he said, ”We knew for years that we had a shortage at air traffic control.”
“Well, part of the reason we had a shortage at air traffic control is because we were telling our air traffic controllers not to hire people because of the color of their skin,” he continued. “That is a scandal, and it is a scandal, thankfully, that has stopped under the leadership of President Trump.”
Trump has blamed diversity hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration for the passenger jet and military helicopter collision that occurred this week. He said the FAA, which has been involved in a class-action lawsuit over its hiring practices, is “actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.”
