Three Democratic senators have formally asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to determine whether the head of the Federal Aviation Administration has completed the sale of his Republic Airways shares and whether any financial gains must be surrendered because he did not divest by an earlier commitment.
The letter, signed by Senators Maria Cantwell, Tammy Duckworth and Ed Markey, questioned the Department about FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford’s compliance with his ethics agreement. In December, Bedford said he had not yet divested his stake in Republic Airways and that he would continue to recuse himself from decisions that might affect the airline’s finances while he worked to sell his holdings.
Cantwell asserted that Bedford had breached his ethics agreement by failing to finalize the sale after previously agreeing to divest by Oct. 7. The senators asked the DOT in the letter to "initiate appropriate disciplinary or corrective actions to address Mr. Bedford’s noncompliance.... A lack of accountability in this case would send the message that senior DOT officials can disregard their ethical commitments without consequence."
The correspondence requests that the Department clarify whether Bedford has sold his Republic Airways shares and, if not, whether he will be required to forfeit any gains resulting from not meeting the stated divestment deadline.
The matter centers on the FAA administrator’s prior role at Republic - noted in the ethics context - and the timing of his promised divestiture. Bedford’s December statement emphasized continued recusal from matters that could influence the carrier’s finances while the sale process continued.
Alongside the reporting on the inquiry, the original article contained a promotional segment addressing investment opportunities in 2026 and a brief description of a product called InvestingPro+ that purports to combine institutional data with AI-powered insights to assist investors; that segment also referenced an AI tool named WarrenAI as a decision aid. The promotional material posed questions about the best investments of 2026 and suggested that better data can reduce costly errors and analysis paralysis.
Questions from the senators center on accountability and enforcement of ethics commitments by senior officials, and they seek DOT action or clarification on whether disciplinary or corrective steps will follow if noncompliance is confirmed.