Congress asks FAA to study how drones hurt wildfire fighting.
H.R. 6618 — Wildfire Aerial Response Safety Act · Filed by Janelle Bynum (D-OR) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 11, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill tells the FAA to study unauthorized drones. These drones got in the way of wildfire suppression work on federal lands over the past five years. The FAA must measure delays, costs, and impacts on firefighting. The FAA must also look at whether teaching people or counter-drone systems could stop the problem. The FAA must report findings to Congress within 18 months.
Who it affects
Wildfire firefighters will benefit from the study. The FAA will do the study work. Congress will get the report.
One thing to notice
The study may help Congress decide whether to let groups use counter-drone systems near wildfire operations.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
- Dec 11, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Dec 11, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure”
- Jan 21, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jan 21, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote”
- Mar 24, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2654)”
- Mar 24, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Taylor moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- unauthorized drones — Aircraft without permission that fly near wildfire suppression work.
- wildfire suppression — Work to stop and control wildfires.
- counter-drone systems — Tools or methods used to detect or stop unauthorized drones.
- federal lands — Land owned by the U.S. government.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,574 characters) on Jul 10, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,358 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-19.
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