Houston Daily

House Aviation Chairman Troy E. Nehls has voiced concerns about a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026. In a statement released from Washington, D.C., Nehls said Section 373 of the bill does not sufficiently address safety issues in the heavily congested airspace over the National Capitol Region.

“While I supported the overall passage of the FY26 NDAA, I have specific concerns with Section 373 of the legislation, which does little, if anything, to adequately address the safety of the overly congested National Capitol Region airspace,” said Chairman Nehls. “I made a commitment to the families of American Airlines flight 5342 and to the American people that we, as Congress, will ensure the January 29 midair crash that took 67 souls would never happen again. Section 373 of the FY26 NDAA fails to uphold that commitment and fails to seriously consider the safety of DC’s congested airspace.

“I will continue to work with my Senate counterparts to address these concerns related to Section 373 before the FY26 NDAA is signed into law."

Nehls represents Texas' 22nd Congressional District and has secured his seat through several recent elections. In 2020, he won against Sri Preston Kulkarni by a margin of about seven percentage points. He was re-elected in both 2022 and 2024, defeating Jamie Jordan and Marquette Greene-Scott respectively, each time with over sixty percent of the vote.