{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://houlahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4362", "Representatives Houlahan and Garbarino Call for Counter-Drone Legislation to be Included in Continuing Resolution", "2024-12-15", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Chrissy Houlahan", "H001085", "houlahan.house.gov", "houlahan", "https://houlahan.house.gov/press/documentquery.aspx", "page_html", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and Leader Hakeem Jeffries this evening urging them to address the recent spate of drone sightings and activity by including the bicameral counter-drone legislation \u2014 of which Speaker Johnson is an original co-sponsor--in the Continuing Resolution currently being negotiated as the 118th Congress draws to a close.\n\nThe letter reads:\n\nDear Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries:\n\nIn light of the recent incidents involving drones spotted over the eastern seaboard, we urge you to swiftly take\n\naction on counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) legislation that will allow for state and local law\n\nenforcement to protect their communities from this emerging threat in the year end continuing resolution. In\n\nrecent weeks, there has been a sudden surge in sightings of unknown drones over New Jersey, New York,\n\nPennsylvania and other east coast states.1 Although the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland\n\nSecurity have claimed that there is not an immediate national security threat, senior officials from both\n\ndepartments have also been extremely clear in numerous appearances before Congress that the federal\n\ngovernment does not have the resources to handle every drone threat alone.2 In his own testimony to the\n\nBipartisan Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump and the United States Senate Homeland\n\nSecurity Committee, Acting Director Rowe of the Secret Service has been clear that additional C-UAS legal\n\nauthority for state and local law enforcement could have helped prevent the assassination attempt on President-\n\nElect Trump.3\n\nThere are hundreds of thousands drones in the U.S. market alone, many of them unregistered with the FAA.4\n\nThese sorts of incidents are likely to be come only more common, as will the number flights that do pose\n\ngenuine threats to public safety. It is clearly time to end the blanket ban on the use of C-UAS technology by\n\nlocal law and state law enforcement to detect and mitigate drone threats, in favor of at least a limited pilot\n\nprogram that will allow the responsible use of these technologies throughout their jurisdictions in coordination\n\nwith the FAA. There has been bipartisan legislation introduced in both the House and Senate that will address\n\nthis emerging threat, including our bill H.R.4333. It is essential that as you consider a year-end continuing\n\nresolution, that this package include an expansion of the current C-UAS authorities to allow local and state law\n\nenforcement to access these technologies.\n\nChrissy Houlahan\n\nMember of Congress\n\nAndrew R. Garbarino\n\nMember of Congress\n\n###\n\n1 https://apnews.com/article/drones-new-jersey-what-to-know-e6f565f5d51d9d47ad140e7e7d131842\n\n2 https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/joint-dhs-fbi-statement-on-reports-of-drones-in-new-jersey\n\n3 https://www.youtube.com/live/0iyeDFRLKV4?si=huVoe_dF1T-CHbff", 1, "2026-04-08T14:14:11Z", "2026-04-08T14:23:06Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://houlahan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4362"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 11.333792004734278, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}