Three Democratic senators have asked the Department of Transportation for information about whether Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford has sold his holdings in Republic Airways and whether he will be required to forfeit gains tied to those shares.
In a letter to the Transportation Department, Senators Maria Cantwell, Tammy Duckworth, and Ed Markey sought confirmation of Bedford’s compliance with ethics commitments, specifically asking whether he has completed the sale of his Republic Airways stock.
The inquiry follows Bedford’s December statement in which he acknowledged he had not yet divested his Republic Airways shares. At that time he said he would continue to recuse himself from issues that could affect the airline’s finances while he worked to dispose of the holdings.
Senator Cantwell has previously asserted that Bedford, who formerly served as CEO of Republic Airways, breached his ethics agreement by missing an October 7 deadline he had agreed to for completing the divestiture. The letter from the three senators reiterates concerns about that missed deadline and asks the department to provide clarity on Bedford’s current status.
In their communication, the senators urged the Transportation Department "to initiate appropriate disciplinary or corrective actions to address Mr. Bedford’s noncompliance." They added that "a lack of accountability in this case would send the message that senior DOT officials can disregard their ethical commitments without consequence."
The senators’ request frames the situation as an unresolved question of adherence to ethics agreements by a senior regulator. The letter asks the department to clarify whether the divestiture has been completed and whether any remedial steps - including the potential forfeiture of gains - will be applied if it has not.
Beyond requesting factual confirmation about the sale, the senators explicitly called for the department to consider disciplinary or corrective measures if Mr. Bedford remains out of compliance. The correspondence underscores congressional attention to whether established ethics processes are being enforced for senior officials within transportation oversight bodies.
The available information in the senators’ letter and Bedford’s prior public acknowledgement form the basis of the inquiry; additional details about any subsequent sale, forfeiture, or departmental action were not provided in the material reviewed by the senators in their request.