Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill.

The bill before us today is a flawed response to last year's tragic midair collision at Reagan National. First and foremost, this bill will undermine our national security.

The Department of War just released the following statement regarding the bill: ``As currently drafted, enactment [of this bil] would create significant unresolved budgetary burdens and operational security risks affecting national defense activities.''

Let's talk about those operational security risks. The ROTOR Act requires ADS-B, which is a beacon signal, In and Out to be transmitted on all aircraft in the national airspace, including Department of War aircraft performing sensitive missions.

ADS-B systems transmit information on the location, speed, and direction of aircraft over unencrypted, open channels. Websites like FlightAware then post that information for all the world to see.

Since 2018, certain military aircraft have been exempt from broadcasting that information pursuant to a memorandum of agreement between the FAA and the Pentagon. The ROTOR Act overrides that MOA with the FAA rulemaking. The FAA, not the Pentagon or our military commanders, will have the final say on which military aircraft must be equipped with ADS-B and when it must be turned on. That is unacceptable.

Requiring our fighters, bombers, and highly classified assets to regularly broadcast their location puts our men and women in uniform at risk by exposing operational planning, aircraft details, and patterns of life to our adversaries.

Now, we can all agree that certain military aircraft should be equipped with and transmit the ADS-B signal, especially in congested civilian airspace. Fortunately, the current MOU already provides for that. At this time, nearly all Army helicopters flying in congested airspace are equipped with ADS-B Out and have been instructed to transmit.

The problem is the ROTOR Act goes much further than these aircraft, undermining the operational security of our fighters, bombers, and aircraft on classified missions. For obvious reasons, we do not want our enemies to know where our bombers or fighters are or where they are headed.

Beyond the serious national security impacts of the ROTOR Act, the bill fails to address nearly 90 percent of the recommendations made by the NTSB.

Over 40 critical air safety recommendations are left out of this bill. This includes important recommendations for the Department of War, such as increased coordination between the military and the FAA on aircraft safety matters, better safety management systems and reporting for military aircraft, and enhanced training for military pilots operating in congested airspace.

All of these flaws can be easily fixed if the committees of jurisdiction in the House are afforded the opportunity to follow regular order and consider an alternative bill.

I have joined Chairman Graves and Ranking Members Larsen and Smith to introduce the bipartisan ALERT Act that will fix the flaws of the ROTOR Act, but our legislation goes much farther than the ROTOR Act to improve aviation safety by addressing all 50 of the NTSB recommendations. It will also ensure our military can continue to carry out sensitive operations that are crucial to our defense and to our Nation.

The Department of War is requesting these changes be made before the ROTOR Act is signed into law. If we defeat this bill, we can have the ALERT Act on the floor the very next day. We can reconcile the differences with the Senate and get the bill to the President the next week.

The House of Representatives should not send a bill to the President that has no input from the House, especially a bill this impactful to our national security.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to oppose the bill.

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