Senators push for inclusion of bipartisan ROTOR Act 

“We owe it to the families to put into law actual safety improvements, not give the Department of Defense bigger loopholes to exploit.” 

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) filed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) striking section 373 which rolls back safety measures put in place after last January’s devastating mid-air collision and codifies loopholes that allowed military aircraft to operate in DC airspace without ADS-B Out transmitting their location. The Senators also filed an amendment to replace section 373 with their bipartisan ROTOR Act.

“Our colleagues on the Armed Services Committees are just plain wrong that their last-minute language will make things safer. It does the exact opposite, as the NTSB made clear yesterday,” the Senators said in a joint statement. “The NDAA weakens current law by letting military aircraft use less effective technology than ADSB-Out when the military is already required by law to have ADSB on its aircraft. It also puts into federal statute authority for the military to waive transmission of ADSB-Out, which the military already has the authority to do—and it abused—leading to a key factor in the January 29^th DCA crash.

“We owe it to the families to put into law actual safety improvements, not give the Department of Defense bigger loopholes to exploit,” their statement continued. “We have filed an amendment to do just that.”  

Yesterday, Sen. Cantwell and Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas), along with aviation subcommittee leaders Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kans.) and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), released a joint statement which said:  “Almost a year after 67 lives were lost when a military helicopter hit American Airlines flight 5342 over the Potomac River, the NDAA fails to make the skies safer. As drafted, the NDAA protects the status quo, allowing military aircraft to keep flying in DC airspace under different rules and with outdated transmission requirements. This comes as Pentagon data shows a spike in military aircraft accidents since 2020. The families of the victims deserve accountability. The NDAA should be stripped of this new loophole and instead include the ROTOR Act -- a bipartisan bill that closes the dangerous exemption that allows military aircraft to operate in domestic skies without communicating their position. We must act decisively to prevent future tragedies.”

Sens. Cantwell and Cruz advanced the bipartisan ROTOR Act out of committee on October 21, 2025 which closes ADS-B Out loopholes and ensures accountability for military flights by ending Department of Defense (DoD) "sensitive government mission" ADS-B Out transmission exemptions that have allowed military and other government aircraft to fly near DCA and other busy airports without transmitting their location. Training flights, proficiency flights and flights of Federal officials below Cabinet rank will no longer qualify for the exemption. 

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