Senator Marshall: U.S. Skies Must be the Safest in the World
Senator Marshall Joins Press Conference on Aviation Safety Legislation on the Six-Month Anniversary of the DC Plane Crash
Washington – On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined a press conference with conservative leaders to support the introduction of the ROTOR Act led by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas). This legislation addresses oversight gaps in aviation safety, specifically those revealed in the aftermath of the midair collision involving an Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342, by strengthening coordination, transparency, and operational safeguards in American airspace.
Senator Marshall joined Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, and Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) in support of the legislation.
Click HERE or on the image above to watch Senator Marshall’s full remarks.
Senator Marshall’s remarks as delivered:
“Thank you, Senator Cruz, for your leadership and for inviting us to participate, and to all my fellow speakers up here, thank you. Good morning, everybody. On January 29, 2025, American Airlines flight 5343, from Wichita to DCA, tragically crashed, claiming 67 lives, including seven Kansans: Bob and Lori Schrock, Pete ‘PJ’ Diaz, Lindsey Fields, Grace Maxwell, Kiah Duggins, and Dustin Miller.
“Their loss weighs heavily, and we owe it to them to ensure their deaths were not in vain. That night, I shared many of the same thoughts that so many of the family members had. Why was the helicopter in that airspace? Was it flying too high? Why did its transponder fail to warn the jet or air traffic control?
“While we’re still awaiting some of those answers, Congress needs to act swiftly. Our proposal legislation, led by Senator Cruz, mandates ADSB technology on aircraft in key airspaces, and for damn sure, they need to turn them on. They need to turn them on when they’re in those airspaces. The military, if they’re going to be in the airspace, they need to turn on their transponders.
“This legislation mandates the technology, aircraft, and key airspace studies barring rotorcraft from DCA during final approaches and orders, an army audit of FAA coordination, pilot training, and ADSB use. These demands were asked for and driven by the victims’ families. I hope they know that their voices were listened to and that they’re being heard. And I appreciate the families staying at this. And no law can bring back the 67 people who we lost, but we can strengthen aviation safety to prevent such a tragedy again.
“Again, I’m trying to think what was missed today, but I just want to reflect back to a conversation I had with the mayor of Wichita the day after. I said, “What can I do? What can I tell Wichita?”, and she said, ‘The number one thing is, you could tell them we won’t have helicopters in that airspace anymore.’ And I reached out to Secretary Duffy and Secretary of Defense Hegseth, and they stopped and grounded them all. They stopped them from being in that air that day, and I hope we continue to have that commitment until Congress does does her job.
“Echoing what Senator Moran said, The One Big, Beautiful Bill, which is now law, had $7 billion, $12 billion for modernizing air traffic control, which was long overdue. The other response I see the Trump administration doing is accelerating air traffic controllers going through the system. The Secretary could speak more to that than I can, but from what I understand, over 3,000 people are in some point of training to become air traffic controllers.
“We’ve accelerated the process. It’s still a very rigorous process to get in the system, added bonuses, doing everything we can to get people in the seats that we need to prevent a tragedy like this again. Thank you, everybody.”
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Contact: Payton Fuller
