Top House lawmakers and the Defense Department spoke out in opposition Monday to aviation safety legislation that Speaker Mike Johnson hopes to rush to passage on Tuesday, arguing it needs retooling and is too narrow.
In an unusual move, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves, Missouri Republican; the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington, and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, Alabama Republican, all spoke out against a Senate-passed bill that would require airplanes to come equipped with advanced anti-collision technology.
The Senate’s Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform (ROTOR) Act passed the Senate unanimously in December and is scheduled for a House vote Tuesday.
It was drafted in response to the Jan. 29, 2025, midair collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed all 67 people on both aircraft.
Mr. Graves and the other lawmakers want the House to pass instead the ALERT Act, a much broader safety aviation bill they introduced Friday that would address the 50 recommendations approved by the National Transportation Safety Board in response to its probe into the midair crash.
Mr. Graves said the House had no input into the ROTOR Act and it falls short of making the skies safer.
“It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, something this important, and the House doesn’t have any input whatsoever. I can’t stress enough of just how wrong that is,” Mr. Graves said during debate on the measure that offered an unusual rebuke of Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, who controls the floor schedule.
The ROTOR Act will be considered under special rules that prohibit amendments and require two-thirds support of all voting lawmakers in order to pass. Despite the opposition, most lawmakers are likely to vote for the measure.
The bill is backed by NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy and by the families of American Airlines flight 5342, whose 64 passengers were killed when the Army Black Hawk helicopter flew into the side of the jet as it was on final approach at Reagan. All three crew on the Black Hawk also died.
Other lawmakers who spoke out against the measure cited problems with the ROTOR Act’s requirement that all aircraft traveling in busy airspace come equipped with anti-collision technology, called ADS-B In, by the end of 2031.
Proponents of the ROTOR Act say requiring ADS-B In technology would have prevented the accident at Reagan by alerting the jet and the helicopter of an impending collision.
Rep. Jay Obernolte, California Republican, called the requirement “a costly mandate” that, for noncommercial aircraft, would duplicate collision avoidance technology that already exists in cockpits.
He called on the House to pass the ALERT Act and work out the differences in the two bills with the Senate.
Mr. Rogers called the ROTOR Act “a flawed response to last year’s tragic midair collision at Reagan National,” and said the bill would undermine national security.
Mr. Rogers took to the House floor to oppose the bill moments after the Pentagon released a statement arguing the measure “would create significant unresolved budgetary burdens and operations security risks affecting national defense activities.”
Mr. Rogers said the bill is written in a way that gives the Federal Aviation Administration the final say on which military aircraft must be equipped with ADS-B and when it must be turned on.
“ADS-B systems transmit information on the location, speed and direction of aircraft over unencrypted, open channels and websites….for all the world to see,” Mr. Rogers said.
Proponents of the ROTOR Act argued in Monday’s debate that the House should pass the bill and then take up the broader ALERT Act, which also calls for ADS-B In, but with carve-outs for some aircraft and different implementation requirements.
“The ROTOR Act addresses the glaring holes in aviation safety around DCA that allowed this completely preventable accident to happen, and it does so by requiring military and civilian aircraft in busy airspace to broadcast and receive real-time traffic information,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat who represents Northern Virginia. “More than a year since the collision, it is time for there to be real accountability and change, and we must ensure that nothing like this ever happens again, and people don’t fear flying.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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