VIDEO

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, delivered the following opening statement during today’s executive session. Several pieces of legislation Sen. Cantwell co-sponsored were approved, including the ROTOR Act (S. 2503), PIPELINE Safety Act of 2025 (S. 2975) and Integrated Ocean Observation System Reauthorization Act of 2025 (S. 2126): 

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for this markup today. I want to thank our members and their staffs for working so diligently on these important pieces of legislation. They include, as you mentioned, aviation safety, pipeline safety, STEM education, support for NOAA programs in our coastal communities [and] maritime industries, and promoting the next generation of fishermen, [increasing] direct foreign investment in the United States and protecting consumers from unlawful foreign robocalls.

“I too, want to thank the families who are here today, Sheri Lilley and the Lilley family. I also want to thank the Zhou family and all the families of Flight 5342, for their incredible work and input on this legislation. I too want to recognize Chairman Homendy, who just recently completed a series of hearings, and we look forward to your final report on …important recommendations beyond the ROTOR Act, and hope that we will, as soon as that report is made public, have hearings on them before this Committee.

“But we are here today, and I'm pleased to have come to a bipartisan agreement with Senator Cruz that identified those issues that NTSB had identified as critical to address in the Reagan National Airport collision that took 67 lives. Sixty-seven people died because the military helicopter flew invisible into another aircraft and pilots lacked the technology to see each other. The bipartisan agreement fixes both problems.

“First, it closes the ADS-B Out loophole immediately upon the enactment of this legislation. Previous attempts to try to close these loopholes have [had] rules that allowed for loopholes. Second, it requires aircraft operators to equip their fleet with ADS-B In technology by 2031 - the first ever mandate for these life-saving technologies, after 17 years when the NTSB first recommended it. So this Committee is accomplishing a great act this morning by saying we are finally mandating this and getting it into law.

“The agreement also strengthens the FAA-Department of Defense coordination, requires [a] comprehensive safety review of all aircraft operations in the D.C. airspace, as well as all major and mid-size airports across the country. And from the data that we hear from some of the hearings and input, this is something to be concerned about. We need to do more work more quickly. These are the reforms that the families sought, and we know that they will save lives.

“Next, we turn to the PIPELINE Safety Act of 2025 from Chairman Cruz and myself and Senators Peters and Young, and I thank them all for their work on this. The bill…reauthorizes the [Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)’s] pipeline safety program through September 2030. This bill includes important measures to ensure the safety of our energy infrastructure, including 46,000 miles of pipeline in my state, the state of Washington. Critically, the bill directs TSA to make its cyber security requirements permanent to prevent attacks like the 2021 Colonial Pipeline hack. It also requires operators to address aging plastic components known to fail, land movement caused by landslides and earthquakes, and closes loopholes for carbon dioxide and hydrogen pipelines.

“We also will consider National STEM Week Act from Senators Klobuchar and Ernst. This bill requires the National Science and Technology Council Committee on STEM to…designate a week each calendar year as STEM week. And given how much the administration has cut science funding across the board, I'm glad to see a bipartisan effort to focus on STEM and promoting these tools.

“The Chairman mentioned the Integrated Ocean Observation System Reauthorization Act by myself and Senator Wicker, Senators Sullivan, Blunt Rochester and Baldwin, and I want to thank Senator Wicker again for working on this -- [on] the original bill -- and for the five-year reauthorization. Important NOAA buoy system information gives us high quality ocean and coastal Great Lakes data that weather forecasters, fishermen, maritime transportation system users and other ocean users depend on for their safety and their economic success.

“The Digital Coast Act from Senators Baldwin and Sullivan, reauthorizes the Digital Coast Program. The digital coastal data set consists of contributions from hundreds of organizations, federal and state agencies, to assist communities in responding to emergencies. And when you have very remote parts of the of a coastline, like we do in the state of Washington, having those groups have access to that information…I literally…I know a story of an accident where a sailor fell off a boat in Puget Sound. He and his brother were coming back from B.C. and trying to get back to Olympia, and fell off, and the Coast Guard was trying to search for them, but because…this information was accessible, a guy on Bainbridge Island calculated and said, ‘This is where he is,’ and they literally were able to rescue the individual. So all this data really is important.

“Next we consider the Young Fisherman's Development Extension Act by Senators Sullivan, Wicker and Markey. The NOAA Young Fisherman Development Grant Program provides training and outreach to young fishermen by awarding competitive matching grants. The Global Investment in American Jobs Act by Senators Young [and] Peters requires the Department of Commerce and Government Accountability Office to conduct an interagency review of global competitiveness of the United States in [foreign] direct investment to our domestic economy.

“And finally, [we] consider the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act from Senators Budd and Welch and I thank them so much for their work on this very important issue, to direct the FCC to establish a public-private interagency task force on these unlawful foreign robocalls.

“I do not support the nominations that are before us this morning. I have concerns about the administration undermining the integrity of data, and about being transparent with us, as in the case of Mr. Kumar's work at the agency, and more transparency in safety technology overall.  So thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks for working collaboratively on these important bills.”

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