(Bloomberg) -- Georgia’s Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock rejected safety concerns from local lawmakers about additional flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. 

“We respect them, and I have affection for my colleagues in Maryland and Virginia, but they are wrong on this issue. To put it bluntly, they are just wrong,” Warnock said in an interview with Bloomberg’s Kailey Leinz. 

Warnock, whose state includes the corporate headquarters of Delta Airlines, backs the effort to allow for five additional round-trip flights from the airport as part of a proposed five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration. He said he “remains hopeful” that Congress can get the bill over the finish line by May 10 when the agency’s current funding expires, although lawmakers recently put forward legislation to extend the deadline by a week. 

Fellow Democratic senators from the states neighboring Washington have long opposed any additional flights, arguing they would worsen delays, increase noise pollution and jeopardize safety. 

Last month, Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine cited an instance at the airport in which two planes narrowly avoided collision on a runway. They have advocated for an amendment to remove the additional flights and are prolonging consideration on the bill until the measure gets a vote. 

But Warnock countered their concerns. 

“This will not compromise safety in any way, and we have addressed this issue with the FAA,” Warnock said, adding that the proposal would only add 1% more to the daily operations of the airport, which is in Virginia and across the Potomac River from Washington.

(Updates with extension language, in third paragraph.)

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