A dispute over air safety at Reagan Airport could be resolved as part of the next package of spending bills, according to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, may get a vote on his ROTOR Act when the Senate takes up a set of five appropriations bills, likely early next year. The bill sets a stricter standard for aviation safety after a Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger jet in January, killing 67 people, but was excluded from a defense bill in favor of House language that is considered more lenient.
“I think there’s a way to get at it,” Thune said Monday, noting that the ROTOR Act has already made it through Cruz’s committee in a bipartisan vote. “And I think there’s a way we can probably get that, hopefully, an amendment vote on the appropriations package, if we can get on it.”
Cruz and his Democratic counterpart on the Commerce Committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), had wanted to strip the current language from the National Defense Authorization Act, set to pass the Senate later this week. But Thune said resolving the dispute now was not practical, given that the House passed the legislation last Wednesday, leaving little time before lawmakers depart for the Christmas recess.
“I think we’ll get there on that, but, yeah, it’d be really hard to undo the defense authorization bill now,” Thune added.
Cruz and Cantwell’s bill would require military aircraft near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to use location-transmitting technology that the Federal Aviation Administration required, with limited exceptions, after the January crash. The current language, by contrast, has more carveouts.
The possible concession to Cruz comes as the Senate took another procedural vote Monday on the NDAA, which sets the Pentagon’s policy priorities. Thune is not only the majority leader but also one of the senior-most members of the Commerce Committee, having once chaired the panel.
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After the NDAA, the package of appropriations bills is the next major piece of legislation that could come across the Senate floor.
Thune had hoped to advance the spending bills this week, setting up a possible vote in January. However, he is still negotiating with a few Republicans, who are delaying them over earmarks and a handful of other concerns.
