WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) -

President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as deputy

secretary of the U.S. Transportation Department said regulators

need to take a more aggressive approach to overseeing planemaker

Boeing ( BA ).

"We need to be tougher on Boeing ( BA ). We need to be tougher on

the industry," said Steve Bradbury at a U.S. Senate Commerce

Committee hearing Thursday.

Senators questioned Bradbury about whether during Trump's

first term he intentionally withheld documents from a Senate

probe into two fatal 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people in

2018 and 2019. At the time he was the Transportation

Department's general counsel and the Senate was seeking Federal

Aviation Administration documents.

Bradbury told senators that at the time, his department

was overwhelmed with requests for information and was attempting

to provide documents, not impede or block the investigation.

Last month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told

Congress that Boeing ( BA ) needed "tough love" and he would keep in

place a cap on production of Boeing 737 MAX planes put in place

after a mid-air panel blowout last year until he is satisfied it

can be safely raised.

In January 2024, former President Joe Biden's FAA chief

Mike Whitaker imposed the 38 planes per month production cap

after a door panel missing four key bolts flew off a new Alaska

Airlines 737 MAX 9. President Donald Trump has yet to nominate a

candidate for FAA administrator.

Duffy, who plans to travel to Seattle with acting FAA

Administrator Chris Rocheleau to meet with Boeing ( BA ) in March,

said last week he wants to "evaluate firsthand the measures

being implemented to ensure its planes meet the highest safety

standards."

In May 2022, the FAA approved a three-year renewal of a

Boeing ( BA ) program that delegates some aircraft certification tasks

to the planemaker rather than the five-year renewal Boeing ( BA ) had

requested. The approval will expire in a few months.