Sen. Cruz threatens another shutdown unless restrictions on military flights are approved

WASHINGTON D.C. — Republican Sen. Ted Cruz threatened Monday to hold up funding to keep the federal government open after the end of January if reforms don't pass by then to tighten up the rules on military flights and help prevent deadly crashes like the collision between an airliner and an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., that killed 67.

Cruz and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell held a news conference Monday with some of the victims' families to urge Congress to strip provisions from a massive defense bill that would allow military aircraft to get a waiver to return to operating without broadcasting their precise location, just as they were before the Jan. 29 crash.

But amending the defense bill would send it back to the House and could delay raises for soldiers and other key provisions.

When he was asked about the helicopter safety concerns Monday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune responded that he hoped to hold a vote to add the legislation Cruz and Cantwell introduced last summer, called the ROTOR act, to a government funding package this week.

''I think we'll get there on that, but it would be really hard to undo the defense authorization bill now,'' Thune, R-S.D., said.

Cruz said he will hold up government funding until the ROTOR act is passed to fix the problem.

Cruz said the defense bill provision ''was airdropped in at at the last moment," noting it would unwind actions taken by President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to make the airspace around D.C. safer.

Before the crash, military helicopters routinely flew through the crowded airspace around the nation's capital without using a key system called ADS-B to broadcast their locations. The Federal Aviation Administration began requiring all aircraft to do that in March.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, senators, airlines and key transportation unions all sharply criticized the new helicopter safety provisions in the defense bill last week when they came to light.

Cruz and Cantwell said they only became aware that the sprawling military bill would have that language after it was finalized by congressional leaders last week. They began strenuously objecting as soon as they realized it contained the exemptions.

The families of the crash victims said that bill would weaken safeguards and send aviation safety backwards. Amy Hunter, who lost her cousin and his family in the crash, said Trump and his administration had worked to implement safety recommendations from the NTSB, but warned those reforms could be lost in the military policy bill.

Hunter said it ''now threatens to undo everything, all the progress that was already made, and it will compromise the safety around Reagan National Airport.''