by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:15 AM ET, Wed February 25, 2026
The United States House of Representatives rejected an
aviation safety bill, dubbed the ROTOR Act, on Tuesday after the Pentagon withdrew
its support for the bipartisan legislation.
According to NPR.org,
the bill was pitched in response to the deadly midair collision near
Washington, D.C. last year between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an
American Airlines passenger jet that killed 67 people.
As part of the ROTOR Act, a safety system known as ADS-B in
and ADS-B out would need to be implemented, which can transmit an aircraft's
location to other aircraft. The legislation would also limit exemptions for
military helicopters.
After being unanimously
approved by the Senate in December, the Pentagon pulled its support of the
bill, saying it would create “unresolved budgetary burdens and operational
security risks.”
In response, the House failed to secure a two-thirds
majority by a vote of 254-133 as many of the families of the crash victims
looked on at Capitol Hill. One of the Representatives that voted against it, Rep.
Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said the legislation would “undermine our national
security” by “requiring our fighters and bombers and highly classified assets
to regularly broadcast their location.”
The bill's co-author, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said advocates
would continue pushing for the legislation,
which still has the support of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
and aviation industry trade unions.
“Only the ROTOR Act ensures that all airplanes and
helicopters flying in U.S. airspace play by the same set of rules,” Cruz said
in a statement to NPR. “Today's result was just a temporary delay. We will
succeed, and [the] ROTOR Act will become the law of the land. The families and
the flying public deserve nothing less.”
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