At today's Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) grilled Boeing President and CEO David Calhoun.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Calhoun, what is it that you get paid currently?
00:07Senator, that's well disclosed in our proxy documents in each of the years
00:13that I've been employed. Yeah, but what is it? It's a big number, sir. Well, let me
00:18help you out. It's $32.8 million this year. Does that sound right? Yes, it does.
00:22That's a 45% increase over last year. Does that sound right? Yes, it does. What is it
00:28you get paid to do exactly? I get paid to run the Boeing company. Yeah, so just
00:34help me understand that. I mean, do you get paid for transparency? Is that
00:38part of, is that one of the metrics for your income? I think the board counts on
00:43me for transparency. Really? Because you're under investigation for falsifying
00:47787 inspection records. The Boeing's under criminal investigation for the
00:52Alaska Airlines flight. You were investigated by DOJ for criminal
00:57conspiracy to defraud the FAA. This is all in your tenure. This doesn't sound
01:02like a lot of transparency to me. What about safety? Is that a component of your
01:09salary? It sure is, Senator. You know, have you seen the reports that the
01:16subcontractor that you use to make that door piece that fell out of the sky, that
01:22when the FAA went and toured the facility, they found one door seal being
01:27lubricated with Dawn liquid dish soap and cleaned with a wet cheesecloth, and
01:33another was being checked with a hotel room keycard. Does that sound like safety
01:39to you? Senator, I think our relationship with that particular supplier has been
01:46well documented, reviewed by the FAA, and most certainly us, and I'm very intent
01:51on acquiring that company so that none of that ever happens. You know, the FAA
01:55also says that Boeing still has not implemented the recommended steps back
02:01from 2019 and 2020 after the MAX crashes. You still have not taken the
02:06appropriate safety procedures or implemented what they recommended. I
02:11mean, how, if safety is a component of your 33 million dollar compensation
02:17package, I mean, how can you possibly qualify for any of this? What about
02:20quality? Is quality part of your compensation package? Senator, I meet with
02:28the FAA pretty regularly. They don't hold anything back, and I'm not aware of
02:34anything that has been cited with respect to those accidents that we
02:38haven't taken action on. Really? Because we've had whistleblowers, you said you'd
02:42listened to whistleblower testimony, we've had multiple whistleblowers come
02:45before this committee and allege that Boeing is cutting every possible corner
02:49on quality and safety, not just in the past, but now. They've alleged that you've
02:55eliminated safety inspections, that there are fewer in quality, and there are
02:59fewer inspectors doing quality inspections out there. They've alleged
03:02that when they raised quality issues and concerns, they were reassigned, they were
03:06retaliated against, they were physically threatened. That doesn't sound like
03:11attention to quality to me, and yet you're getting paid 33 million dollars a
03:17year. It's extraordinary. Senator, we have increased our quality inspectors
03:24significantly. How much has your stock price increased while you've been at
03:28Boeing? It hasn't, and I don't watch it much. Have you done any stock buybacks
03:34while you've been at Boeing? Not in my job, no. How about your profits? Have your
03:39profits increased at all? I haven't had any profits, sir. I'm sorry? I have not had
03:43any profits. Yeah. You know, I think the truth is, Mr. Calhoun, you're not focused
03:48on safety, you're not focused on quality, you're not focused on transparency. All
03:52of this is in the record, but I think actually you're focused on exactly what
03:56you were hired to do, which is that you're cutting corners, you are
04:00eliminating safety procedures, you are sticking it to your employees, you are
04:07cutting back jobs because you're trying to squeeze every piece of profit you
04:11can out of this country, this company. You're strip mining it. You're
04:13strip mining Boeing. It was one of the greatest American companies ever. It has
04:17employed thousands of people in my state, and you are strip mining it for profit,
04:23shareholder value, and you're being rewarded for it. You've got a huge raise,
04:27a huge increase. So it's working out great for you. For the American people,
04:32they're in danger. For your workers, they're in peril. For your whistleblowers,
04:37they literally fear for their lives, but you're getting compensated like never
04:41before. Don't you think maybe your priorities are misplaced here? I mean,
04:44don't you think maybe it's time to get back to focusing on making quality
04:47planes and paying your workers well and taking care of the little guys who got
04:52you to where you are? That's not a rhetorical question. Senator, I don't
04:58recognize any of the Boeing you described, and I want to assure... You
05:05don't recognize the Boeing that has airplanes falling out of the sky, that
05:08has had two Maxis crash, that has had pieces of doors fall out of the sky, that
05:13have had whistleblowers come before. They've sat right where you have sat and
05:17told us. These are your employees who have told us that when they... These are
05:21the engineers, by the way. Are you an engineer? I'm not. Yeah, they are, and they
05:25have said that they're not listened to, that they're retaliated against, that
05:29they're threatened. That's the reality of Boeing today. That's your company that
05:34you have created. Now, I don't recognize it either from the company it used to be
05:38decades ago, but under your leadership, that's what Boeing is, and you're being
05:41rewarded for it handsomely. Handsomely. Don't you think there's something wrong
05:45with that? Why haven't you resigned? Senator, I stand by what I said, and I
05:53want to assure the great employees in your state that that is not the way we
05:58operate. Why haven't you resigned? If you would like my chief engineer to talk about what he
06:03sees... No, I want to hear from you, because what I hear from you is a lot of this team
06:06does that, and that team does that, and I listen to the whistleblowers, but I don't
06:09meet with them, and I've heard about all this stuff that you, Congress, have
06:13meddlesomely asked for because the public wants to see it, gosh darn it, but
06:17you actually haven't supervised any of it. I've heard that. It's a lot of it's
06:20this, it's that, it's this, it's that, but meanwhile, you're getting paid a heck of a
06:24lot of money. It's unbelievable. If anybody's coming out of this deal, good.
06:27It's you. Why haven't you resigned? Senator, I'm sticking this through. I'm
06:33proud of having taken the job. I'm proud of our safety record, and I am very proud of our Boeing people.
06:40You're proud of this safety record? I am proud of every action we have taken.
06:44Every action you've taken? Yes, sir. Wow. Wow. There's some news for you. Well, behind you, you
06:51can't see it. Behind you, the folks are showing pictures of the people who are
06:56the victims of your safety record. I think we can all see them, and I think
07:01the American public, when they fear to get on their airplanes, they understand
07:04your safety record, and frankly, sir, I think it's a travesty that you're still
07:08on your job.