releases: https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-cohen-and-kinzinger-reintroduce-airplane-seat-act-early-next-year
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://cohen.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-cohen-and-kinzinger-reintroduce-airplane-seat-act-early-next-year | Reps. Cohen and Kinzinger to Reintroduce Airplane SEAT Act Early Next Year | 2016-12-19 | 2016 | 2016-12 | Democrat | House | TN | Steve Cohen | C001068 | cohen.house.gov | legacy | [WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Ahead of a busy week for holiday air travel, and in response to shrinking airplane seats, Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, and Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) today announced that they will reintroduce the Seat Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act early next year during the new Congress. The SEAT Act would establish a minimum seat size on commercial airlines as well as a minimum distance between rows of seats to protect the safety and health of airline passengers. “As millions of Americans take to the skies this week for the holiday season, it is a reminder of our obligation to ensure air travel is safe for passengers,” said Congressman Cohen. “The time to examine the safety implications of smaller airplane seats is now, not after some future tragedy. Planes need to be capable of rapid evacuation in case of emergency, yet appropriate testing has not been conducted by the FAA on all of today’s smaller seats. In addition, doctors have warned that deep vein thrombosis can afflict passengers who don’t move their legs during longer flights. The safety and health of passengers must come first. That is why Congressman Kinzinger and I will be reintroducing the SEAT Act early next year during the new Congress.” “This time of year is a busy time of travel for people in Illinois and across the country, and it is critical that safety is our top priority,” said Congressman Kinzinger. “I’m grateful to join my colleague, Rep. Cohen, in announcing our plans to introduce the Safe Egress in Air Travel (SEAT) Act in the 115th Congress. This legislation is important to ensure our aircraft’s seats are of a big enough size to guarantee effective passageways of evacuation for passenger safety. I am proud to support this important measure and look forward to working with my colleagues to get this bill signed into law.” The next Congress will be working to renew authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with the current authority set to expire on September 30, 2017. Congressmen Cohen and Kinzinger introduced the SEAT Act as an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization bill last year. Press coverage of the SEAT Act can be found at: NY Times; Chicago Tribune; CBS Evening News; CBS Morning News; NBC’s Today Show; Washington Post; USA Today; Washington Post; CNN Congressman Cohen’s Op-Ed on this issue was published in USA Today. You can read his Op-Ed here. The average distance between rows of seats has dropped from 35 inches before airline deregulation in the 1970s to about 31 inches today. The average width of an airline seat has also shrunk from 18 inches to about 16 ½. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |