Sam Graves

Mr. GRAVES

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I have to ask the question: Why are we here? With something this important, with something that has so much consequence, why hasn't the House been given any opportunity to be a part of this bill? You have to ask the question, Mr. Speaker: Why are we running this on suspension where it can't be amended or it can't be made better? It makes absolutely no sense that with something this important that the House doesn't have any input whatsoever. I can't stress enough just how wrong that is. As I noted before, I live and breathe aviation. I have seen what happens when aviation goes wrong. I have lost several very close friends to accidents over the years, most recently at the Wings Over Dallas midair collision that occurred in 2022. Throughout my congressional career, I have always believed in fostering sound policy with a carefully deliberative and consensus- driven approach. That approach is critical to getting the safety outcomes that we all desire. Aviation policy is enormously complex and deserves the full deliberation of Congress to ensure that we get it right. It certainly deserves some House input into the legislation. I am extremely disappointed that the House has been denied any opportunity to express its will on such a consequential piece of legislation. I am going to say it again: There has been no House input. I fear this will set a terrible precedent that the will of the House and the expertise of our committees will not be allowed an opportunity for meaningful input. For these reasons and the reasons I stated previously, I will, regretfully, be voting against this legislation. I cannot say this enough: This is not a vote against safety. I continue to pray for the victims and their families, and I understand that they are motivated to prevent anyone else from having to experience what they are going through. I simply want to get this right, and I believe that we can absolutely do that by allowing the House and Senate to work together to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte), who is also the Research and Technology Subcommittee chair.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, may I again inquire about how much time is remaining.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes).

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Onder).

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Nehls).

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers), the chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, aviation has been in my blood for my entire life, and it continues to be something that I love very much. In the middle of my family farm in Tarkio, Missouri, is the Gould Peterson Municipal Airport, which is named after my uncle. Growing up, when my brother and I weren't doing chores on the farm, we would do anything we could at the airport just to mooch a ride. That love of aviation and being a professional pilot has never left me. When I came to Congress in 2001, I joined the Transportation Committee to work on these issues, and it has been extremely rewarding. Being a pilot has provided me with an invaluable insight into these issues. Throughout the years, I have worked on several pieces of legislation that addressed safety gaps following unimaginable tragedies. Every aviation accident typically has multiple contributing factors. Too often, I have seen Congress act prematurely and in a way that fails to address multilayered causes of accidents in a comprehensive and consensus-driven manner, in some instances to the detriment of fostering sound safety policy that prevents unintended consequences. That is why I have long believed that the best way to honor victims of aviation accidents is for Congress to wait until the NTSB completes its investigation so that Congress first has all the facts. On January 29, 2025, an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight while on final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The fatal collision claimed the lives of all 67 passengers and crew in both aircraft. The NTSB, along with their Federal partners and law enforcement agencies, jumped into action that cold January night. Over the last year, the NTSB carried out one of the most impressive and comprehensive investigations that I have seen, and I thank the NTSB for their dedicated work over the past year. The NTSB officially concluded its investigation and issued its final report last week, including numerous findings, the probable cause, and 50 recommendations to ensure that this doesn't occur again. It is my deeply rooted respect for the NTSB's investigations and processes that has led me to believe that S. 2503 does not sufficiently or properly address the findings and recommendations of the Board. That is why, last Friday, I joined together with Transportation Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen, Armed Services Committee Chairman Rogers, and Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Smith to introduce the ALERT Act. The ALERT Act is a comprehensive package of improvements that addresses all 50 safety recommendations issued by the NTSB. Unlike the bill before us today, the ALERT Act tackles all the identified root causes that led to this deadly crash. Unfortunately, the ROTOR Act, or this piece of legislation, touches on only two of the NTSB's 50 recommendations and provides an overly prescriptive approach to mandating a specific technology, which is still largely under development, in a manner that can prove burdensome to some operators and create burdens to its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleagues that we have been down this road before. We have been in this position before. Congress mandated the exact technology prescribed in the ROTOR Act in 2012. Due to the lack of maturity of the technology and scalable applications that can benefit a broad range of operators, the mandate proved to be so unworkable that the body had to repeal that mandate in 2018. Sadly, many of the considerations that led Congress to repeal that mandate still exist today. Don't just take my word for it. Listen to the words of an NTSB Board member, who said in their final report: ``While we laud ADS-B systems as an emerging technology in commercial fixed-wing and rotorcraft aviation that could have prevented this accident, it is still exactly that, an emerging technology. There are still technological barriers to implementing ADS-B In into the 5,500 commercial aircraft that are in the skies at any given moment.'' Mr. Speaker, let me be extremely clear. As a pilot myself, I unequivocally support the adoption of safety enhancement technologies, and I want to get this right. Ultimately, any successful directive or mandate from Congress will be calculated, scalable, and future-proof, not a blanket mandate that limits the aviation community to one technology. We tried this before, and it failed, leading to no tangible safety benefit. Mr. Speaker, my greatest fear is that passage of this legislation today in its current form will unintentionally lead to an operational crisis in 2031 and force future Congresses to have the same debate on the need to repeal another unworkable government mandate. It is that concern that informed the approach that we took in the bipartisan ALERT Act. By implementing a performance-based and technology-agnostic approach, aircraft would be able to be equipped with the appropriate collision mitigation system, thereby enhancing awareness for all. Mr. Speaker, while I rise in opposition to this bill, I know that all Members of this body across the Capitol have a shared priority, and that is commitment to aviation safety. It was that shared priority that brought us together last Congress to pass the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, which was a landmark piece of legislation that is improving aviation safety and providing benefits to the flying public. Here in the House, we will continue our legislative effort around the bipartisan ALERT Act to ensure that all NTSB recommendations are addressed, and that is coming. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on S. 2503.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2503) to require all aircraft to be equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast In, to improve aviation safety, and for other purposes.

Mr. GRAVES

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I missed a series of votes today. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 57 and YEA on Roll Call No. 58. personal explanation

Mr. GRAVES

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Mr. Clark D. Thomas, a special employee of the USDA Rural Development--Missouri State Office, who recently retired after many dedicated years of service. Mr. Thomas was a remarkable civil servant for nearly six decades and deserves recognition for such an exemplary career in federal service. Clark began his federal service with the former Farmer's Home Administration on June 5, 1967. His federal service spanned 58 years, 3 months, and 25 days until his retirement on September 30, 2025. During his federal career, Clark served two years active duty in the Army as a First Lieutenant and was deployed to Vietnam. Upon returning from Vietnam, Clark continued his federal service at Farmer's Home Administration and then USDA Rural Development. During his tenure as a Program Director, a role he served in until his retirement in September 2025, Clark was responsible for more than 3,700 obligations totaling more than $2.4 billion in assistance to rural Missouri communities and businesses. Over the course of Clark's 58 years of service to the state of Missouri, many changes have occurred, but his consistent dedication remained. From water programs to broadband deployment, Clark made sure rural communities had the infrastructure needed to thrive. The unwavering support Clark received from his wife, Donna, and his daughters, Tammy and Traci, was also instrumental in him achieving such a successful career. Mr. Speaker, I proudly ask you to join me in recognizing Clark Thomas for his long tenure of service to the citizens of the State of Missouri, and in thanking him for being an outstanding public servant. I wish him all the best in his retirement.

Mr. GRAVES

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I missed a series of votes today. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 13, YEA on Roll Call No. 14, and YEA on Roll Call No. 15. personal explanation

Mr. GRAVES

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chairman, in closing, H.R. 3898 is critical to achieving more efficient, predictable, and useful permitting for many important projects by streamlining and improving the Clean Water Act's permitting process. As has been stated, H.R. 3898 will support everyday Americans in every district across this Nation by making commonsense reforms to the Clean Water Act, unleashing America's ability to increase transparency in the development of water quality standards. It also directs the Corps to eliminate the backlog of outstanding section 404 permit applications and jurisdictional determinations, eliminates duplicative, unnecessary permitting processes for areas such as pesticide in aerial fire retardant use, and so much more. The bottom line is, we cannot effectively build roads, bridges, pipelines, ports, dams, levies, airports, homes, farms, and many, many other important infrastructure projects. This bill is a product of hard work by many members of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In particular, I thank Representatives Rick Crawford, David Rouzer, Doug LaMalfa, Pete Stauber, Dusty Johnson, Burgess Owens, Eric Burlison, Jeff Hurd, Jefferson Shreve, Dave Taylor, and Jimmy Patronis, who all contributed provisions to this bill. I especially thank the chairman of the subcommittee, Mike Collins, for working with me on this. He has shown extraordinary leadership in developing this very important issue. I do thank the gentlewoman from Michigan for her friendship in this process, and I would urge support for the bill. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Rouzer), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hurd).

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Patronis).

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber).

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Shreve).

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Taylor).

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa), who is the Western Caucus chairman.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Burlison).