I know there's a serious pilot shortage, but putting less experienced pilots in the air seems like a really bad idea. Via The Intercept:

In a blistering attack on her Senate colleague last week, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., warned independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema that a proposal to reduce the number of required in-flight training hours for pilots would result in “blood on your hands.” The attack from Duckworth was prompted by an amendment supported by Sinema and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., that would allow pilots to meet training requirements by substituting hours spent in a flight simulator for actual flight time.

For Duckworth, who lost both of her legs to a rocket attack on the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting in 2004 during the Iraq War, the issue is personal. “Now is not the time to put corporate profits ahead of the lives of our constituents who may want to board a commercial flight in the future,” Duckworth said. “A vote to reduce a 1,500-hour rule for pilot training will mean blood on your hands when an inevitable accident occurs as a result of an inadequately trained flight crew.”

The eleventh-hour amendment in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation comes as the September 30 deadline to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Act looms.

Sinema’s campaign received an influx of cash over the last year from the airline industry. The donations would be crucial to the senator as she strikes out as a newly christened independent during a challenging reelection bid. Without her Democratic Party affiliation, Sinema heads into the 2024 race without the political or financial backing of her former party.

According to OpenSecrets, Sinema accepted over $150,000 from the airline industry, with the majority of that money received over the last two years. I'm sure there's no connection to her newfound passion for flight simulators!