Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency Act of 2026
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the ALERT Act. This is critically needed legislation that will go a long way to improve aviation safety.
Last year's midair collision between an Army helicopter and a passenger jet on approach to Reagan National should have never happened.
The NTSB completed their investigation earlier this year, and their report included 13 recommendations to the Army and the Pentagon to ensure another tragedy like this doesn't happen again. Title II of the ALERT Act carries out all 13 of those recommendations.
In fact, the NTSB states that this bill not only meets their recommendations but in most cases exceeds them. For instance, the NTSB made several recommendations to the Army to improve its training and safety management system. The ALERT Act requires all military services to make these safety modifications, not just the Army.
The ALERT Act also addresses concerns raised by the Department of War with the bill as it passed the Senate. The bill before us ensures our bombers, fighters, and other classified aircraft can continue to execute their critical national security missions without revealing their location to our enemies.
We ultimately got a product that improves aviation safety without undermining our national security. This is a strong bipartisan bill that passed the Armed Services Committee by a vote of 53-0.
I thank the NTSB and the Pentagon for working with us throughout this process. I also thank Chairman Graves and Ranking Members Larsen and Smith, as well as our staff on both committees for their hard work.
Finally, I express my deepest condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of those who lost their lives in this terrible accident. I thank the PAT 25 and the Flight 5342 families for their tireless efforts to ensure a tragedy like this never occurs again.
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