US safety board needs more funding for rail, safety probes, chair says
WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board will tell the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday at a hearing the agency needs more funding, and warn cuts could put aviation probes at risk.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy will tell the committee in written testimony seen by Reuters that funding levels in a Senate bill "would require us to reduce staffing levels and would degrade our mission readiness for critical safety investigations" including a February 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio and the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 probe.
"It is critical for the agency to have additional resources to respond to events," Homendy's testimony says. (Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Chris Reese)
