Washington, D.C.—Today, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Rick Larsen (D-WA) released the following statement after the Trump administration air dropped its own counter-UAS proposal into the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act rather than working to advance H.R. 5061, the bipartisan, tri-committee legislation that was approved by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in September.
“I’m disappointed that the Trump administration and House Republican leadership undermined a bipartisan, tri-committee solution to protect the public and U.S. airspace from nefarious and unlawful drones,” Ranking Member Larsen said. “The administration’s air-dropped proposal has serious problems—including minimizing the critical safety role of the Federal Aviation Administration and significantly expanding use of high-risk counter-UAS technologies with lax safety guardrails. Public safety must always come first, and I remain committed to working on implementation of this provision to ensure the safe, responsible expansion of counter-UAS technologies."
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