The monthslong clash over competing air safety bills following the worst domestic aviation disaster in more than two decades is raising concerns among victims’ families about whether Congress will take action.
It has also sparked a previously unreported public blowup between a committee chair and the nation’s top transportation accident investigator.
As the House and Senate begin searching for a cross-chamber deal, it will be a test of wills between Transportation Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the champions of the rival bills.
Talks over the House-passed “ALERT Act” and the Senate-OK’d “ROTOR Act” are in a “super preliminary” phase, said a person familiar with the state of play. Each measure takes a different approach to addressing last year’s deadly midair collision between a regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington.
