Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told "Fox News Live" Saturday that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Academy in Oklahoma has struggled to fill classrooms due to DEI quotas.
"Where the FAA air traffic controllers get trained is right here inside of Oklahoma, in Oklahoma City," Mullin said. "That's their training hub and I will tell you we were having a hard time filling the classes because of DEI."
Flight safety has become a topic of debate this week after an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter collided outside Reagan National Airport on Wednesday. Two days later on Friday, a medical jet crashed on a street near the Roosevelt Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Mullin argued that DEI may have played a role in the lack of safety preparedness, especially following the crash outside Reagan National Airport. He said that focusing on hiring "the best and brightest individuals" is a far more dependable strategy than focusing on "diversity, equity and inclusion" policies.
At the FAA academy in Oklahoma City, DEI policies resulted in classes not being used to capacity to fulfill DEI quotas, Mullin said.
"Instead of these classes being 100% full, we were at 80% or 70%, and it wasn't from the lack of individuals applying for it except for each class had a ratio that they had to have on it," the senator said.
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Mullin praised President Donald Trump for taking a strong stance against DEI upon taking office.
"President Trump is absolutely correct," Mullin said. "When you're not hiring people based on merit and expertise; you're hiring them based on diversity, equity and inclusion, then that has a huge problem moving forward for us."
The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
