The House on Tuesday failed to pass bipartisan aviation safety legislation designed to prevent military-commercial aircraft collisions like January 2025 crash near Washington, D.C., after the measure fell just short of the two-thirds majority required under fast-track rules.
The Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act failed on a 264-133 vote, leaving supporters a couple votes shy of the threshold needed to suspend the rules and send the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk. Overall, 26 Democrats and 9 Republicans were absent for the vote.
The Senate-passed legislation would require civilian and military aircraft operating in congested airspace to use Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology, which allows pilots to broadcast and track aircraft positions in real time. The National Transportation Safety Board has said the technology could have prevented the crash between American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.
The bill would also narrow the definition of a “sensitive government mission,” a designation that currently allows military helicopters to operate without broadcasting their position in certain circumstances.
Despite broad bipartisan backing and emotional appeals from victims’ families, the legislation ran into late opposition from the Pentagon, which warned the Senate-passed version could create operational and budgetary challenges.
In a statement ahead of the vote, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the department supported the intent of the legislation but argued the bill failed to include several updates discussed with lawmakers.
“As currently drafted, enactment would create significant unresolved budgetary burdens and operational security risks affecting national defense activities,” Parnell said, adding that the Pentagon remained ready to work with Congress to ensure safety goals were met while protecting military operations.
The War Department’s relatively brief statement did not detail specific points of disagreement with the ROTOR Act.
Supporters of the bill said the legislation already includes language requested by the Pentagon and safeguards for classified flights.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), one of the House sponsors, said lawmakers were surprised by the last-minute opposition after months of collaboration.
“We’re very disappointed,” Beyer said during a Capitol Hill press conference on Tuesday. “There was no reason for the helicopter that night not to have ADS-B out and on. They were just practicing.”
Beyer dismissed arguments that broadcasting aircraft locations during training flights posed a meaningful security risk, saying exemptions already exist for truly sensitive missions.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) echoed that point in a joint statement. Cruz was on the House floor at the time of the vote.
“The ROTOR Act includes specific language at the Pentagon’s behest to best protect classified flights,” they said in a joint statement. “Proficiency flights, like the one that killed 67 people last January, should have to broadcast their position using ADS-B Out in busy airspace like every other military and civilian flight.”
Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), a retired Army helicopter pilot, said ahead of the vote that he supported the legislation despite ongoing debate over how the military should implement the technology.
“I flew helicopters in the Army. I flew night vision goggles in the Army,” Barrett said, noting he logged more than 1,000 hours flying similar aircraft. “The ROTOR Act is not a perfect solution, but it is a measurable step in the right direction.”
Barrett said one of the biggest hurdles has been persuading the Pentagon to accept procedural changes governing when military aircraft broadcast their positions.
“The military doesn’t want to use it when they’re conducting sensitive operations, and that makes sense,” he said. “But what they’ve come back with is a solution that would basically give them blanket authority not to use it at all. I don’t think that’s the right answer.”
He added that lawmakers have struggled to get cooperation from the Pentagon on alternative proposals.
“We’ve been completely stonewalled,” Barrett said. “At the end of the day, Congress has a responsibility to make laws that hold the military accountable.”
The strongest push for passage came from families of those killed in the crash, many traveled to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to approve the measure.
Rachel Feres, who lost her cousin Peter Livingston, his wife Donna, and their daughters Everly and Alydia, said the technology at the center of the bill has existed for years and could have given pilots enough warning to avoid the collision.
“Their lives were precious, and their deaths were 100% preventable,” Feres said. “It would have given both crews almost a full minute of warning, time enough to move, time enough to live.”
For Audrey Patel, who lost her husband, Vieksh Patel, and was six weeks pregnant at the time of the crash, the debate is deeply personal.
“My husband should have been here for his 34th and 35th birthdays,” Patel said. “He should have been here for our first wedding anniversary. He should have been here for the birth of our son.”
She said the collision exposed a fatal gap in situational awareness.
“The crews didn’t have a fighting chance,” Patel said. “We know why this happened and how to prevent it. The ROTOR Act is ready now.”
Douglas Lane, who lost his wife, Christine Lane, and son Spencer Lane, said lawmakers should not underestimate the timeline for implementation.
“Even if the ROTOR Act passes today, this ADS-B technology will not make its way through the entire airspace until 2031,” Lane said. “Just getting this passed today is a starting point.”
Delays, he warned, could push safety improvements even further into the future.
“If it doesn’t get written into law, it’s just going to go to a black hole,” Lane said.
Amy Hunter, a cousin of the Livingston family, said families feel urgency because the risk remains for the flying public.
“It is unconscionable that we are happy to be here right now,” Hunter said. “If we wait, everyone flying runs exactly the same risk.”
Ahead of the vote, Beyer said supporters were already considering a second path forward. If the bill cannot clear the two-thirds threshold, he said lawmakers will push to bring it back under a rule, which would allow the House to pass it with a simple majority.
“If it doesn’t get the two-thirds vote, I certainly think all of us will do our damnedest to make sure that the House puts it on the floor through the rule,” Beyer said, adding that a simple-majority vote could succeed if supporters remain close to the numbers they saw Tuesday.
That approach, however, would likely require overcoming objections from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership and could open the bill to amendments.
“We’re not going to give up,” Beyer said. “We will keep pushing until this happens.”
David Sivak contributed to this report.
