Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency Act of 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARSON. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Graves, my friend Ranking Member Larsen, and the wonderful staff for their leadership and their partnership, which has allowed our committee to mark up our bill, the ALERT Act, and bring it to the floor today.

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee worked together in a bipartisan way with our Armed Services Committee colleagues to collaborate and produce a comprehensive bill that addresses and implements all of NTSB's 50 recommendations in the DCA collision report, not just a few.

The terrible midair collision at DCA on January 29 last year still haunts all of us. I also want to take a moment to recognize the family members who lost their loved ones. I continue to mourn the loss of the 67 people who died that day, including Asra Hussain from Carmel, Indiana.

Family members have turned their pain into great power and advocacy, and they have helped us to keep working on a bill that is comprehensive and will make long overdue changes to improve safety.

Today's bill will save lives, and it addresses all of NTSB's recommendations to fix problems that have been ignored for far too long. It requires ADS-B In and collision prevention technology with a hard deadline. It enhances air traffic control training and procedures, including time-on position limits. It modernizes ATC facilities and technology. It addresses deficiencies in the safety cultures at DOT, FAA, and DOD. It strengthens the traffic management and safety of the national airspace and the DCA area, including assessing volume, aircraft arrival rates, and regular review of helicopter routes in the area.

Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join us in passing this remarkable bill that we have all worked so hard to improve and to bring to a vote. I would also like to thank the Subcommittee on Aviation staff, both Democratic and Republican, for their hard work, late nights, and long weekends to help us bring this to the floor today. Let's pass this bill.

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