House Rejects Rotor Act After GOP Opposition, Pentagon Reversal
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives dealt a setback to a bipartisan aviation safety proposal this week, rejecting the ROTOR Act and throwing the bill’s future into doubt despite significant support across party lines.
Lawmakers voted 264 to 133 in favor of the measure—short of the two-thirds majority required under the fast-track procedure used to bring the legislation to the floor. More than 130 Republicans voted against the bill, preventing it from advancing even though a majority supported it.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz said the vote was close and expressed confidence the legislation would ultimately prevail.
“We came within a couple of votes,” Cruz told reporters. An overwhelming majority of the House voted for ROTOR, and I believe we’re going to pass it,” Cruz said, calling the outcome a “temporary delay.”
The Senate had previously unanimously approved the bill (S. 2503) in December, but it faced resistance in the House from Transportation Committee Chairman Sam Graves.
Graves recently introduced a competing bipartisan proposal following the January 2025 crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a tragedy that claimed 67 lives and renewed calls for improved aviation safety technology.
Families of the victims reacted emotionally to the vote, saying they were “devastated” and urging House leaders to allow the ROTOR Act to return to the floor for another vote.
Graves, however, suggested the vote was not the end of the road for aviation safety reforms.
“Still got work to do,” Graves said.
“I don’t look at it as tanking the bill, I just look at it as now we’ll get some House input,” he added.
Graves confirmed he intends to move forward quickly with his own legislation, known as the ALERT Act, through the committee process.
Debate Over Aviation Safety Technology
At the center of the dispute is whether the federal government should mandate new aircraft tracking technology.
The ROTOR Act would require aircraft operating in congested airspace across the country to install Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast In (ADS-B In) systems. The technology improves pilots’ real-time awareness of nearby aircraft, a capability safety advocates argue could prevent mid-air collisions and other incidents.
Graves, himself a pilot, has warned that imposing such a requirement could create unnecessary burdens for general aviation operators, including smaller aircraft owners and private pilots.
Despite those concerns, the legislation has been supported by victims’ families, labor organizations, and Jennifer Homendy, who has advocated for broader adoption of the technology.
Complicating the debate further, the United States Department of Defense reversed its earlier support for the measure earlier this week. Pentagon officials warned the bill could create “significant unresolved budgetary burdens and operational security risks affecting national defense activities.”
Behind the scenes, House GOP leadership also allowed members flexibility on the vote in order to address concerns raised by lawmakers.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise both voted against the measure, while leading Democrats on the Transportation and Armed Services committees supported it.
Meanwhile, a preliminary staff analysis from the National Transportation Safety Board warned that a key provision in Graves’ competing ALERT Act would fail to implement the agency’s recommendation for ADS-B In technology and “would seriously harm our efforts to implement ADS B In at FAA.”
Homendy said congressional committees did not consult her before releasing the ALERT Act’s legislative text.
Rep. Don Beyer, a strong supporter of the ROTOR Act, said the vote was deeply disappointing.
“It was unnecessary to lose all those Republicans,” Beyer said, noting that several Democratic members were unable to travel to Washington due to a historic New England blizzard.
“On a normal day,” he said, the bill “would have passed.”
Families of victims echoed that frustration in a joint statement, arguing the legislation “was not defeated on its merits” but by “eleventh-hour objections built on misleading technical claims” and the Pentagon’s sudden reversal.
They urged House leaders to bring the bill back under a simple majority vote, declaring, “We are not done.”
House Targets Taliban Funding in Separate Measure
In another move aimed at strengthening U.S. national security policy, the Republican-controlled House recently passed legislation designed to cut off international financial support to the Taliban.
The measure, titled the No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act (H.R. 260), was introduced by Tim Burchett.
Speaking on the House floor, Burchett said Afghans resisting Taliban rule had warned him that international funding is still reaching the regime.
The legislation states that U.S. foreign policy should “oppose the provision of foreign assistance by foreign countries and nongovernmental organizations to the Taliban, particularly those countries and organizations that receive United States-provided foreign assistance.”
If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary of State to develop a strategy within 180 days aimed at discouraging foreign governments and NGOs from providing aid to the Taliban. The strategy would also outline ways to support Afghan women and former U.S. military partners still in the region.
Additionally, the State Department would be required to provide regular reports to Congress detailing how international aid flows into Afghanistan and whether any funds are reaching Taliban authorities.
Supporters say the measure reinforces the principle that American taxpayer dollars should never indirectly benefit terrorist regimes while ensuring continued support for those who stood with the United States during the war in Afghanistan.