[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E63]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                     NOTAM IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2023

                                 ._____
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 25, 2023

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 346, the 
``NOTAM Improvement Act of 2023'', which will be beneficial to the 
modernization of the safety, efficiency, and productivity of the future 
of aviation in the United States of America.
   Specifically, this bill aims to reinvigorate the current system of 
Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) by pinpointing failures within the 
existing standards. This will be achieved by:
  Aligning the NOAM and aeronautical information systems under a single 
governing office with the authority to standardize and ensure 
compliance with FAA Orders and ICAO requirements.
  Redesigning the current NOTAM information management system with 
single technology gateways for entering, processing, and retrieving all 
NOTAM data.
  Creating a unified training and outreach strategy for federal and 
non-federal NOTAM users.
  Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Committee on Homeland Security and 
the Budget, it is my pleasure to support and urge members to strongly 
consider H.R. 346.
  This bill aims to modernize flight across all The United States of 
America and not only increase the safety of the existing system of 
Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) but maximize its efficacy.
  Mr. Speaker, hundreds of flights were grounded Wednesday, January 11, 
2023, at Houston airports and across the nation's airports, domestic 
and international which the Federal Aviation Authority reported as a 
nationwide outage that was felt across the country.
  Millions of Americans were grounded away from their homes, families 
and loved ones. The cause of this devastating outage was attributed to 
a computer system glitch.
  More than 21,000 flights in the U.S. were scheduled to take off on 
January 11, 2023, mostly domestic trips, and about 1,840 international 
flights expected to fly to the U.S., according to aviation data firm 
Cirium.
  ``The FAA's infrastructure is a lot more than just brick and 
mortar.'' Investment in the agency is set to be addressed this year by 
Congress when the 5 year FAA Reauthorization Act signed in 2018 
expires. Strong consideration for this bill should be thoughtfully 
considered.
  Throughout the years we have lagged in advancing our aviation 
systems. The tragic events that transpired earlier this year could have 
been avoided, but ``Because of budgetary concerns and flexibility of 
budget, this tech refresh has been pushed off.''
  AOPA recently surveyed 30,000 members about improving Notice to Air 
Missions (NOTAMs), and 77 percent of respondents said making Notice to 
Air Missions (NOTAMs) easier to understand was important while 46 
percent said addressing the number of Notice to Air Missions (NOTAMs) 
was important.
  Sources and tragic instances have continuously given us warning signs 
plus evidence that our NOTAM system is an example of aging 
infrastructure that is considerably due for an overhaul.
  This bill firmly establishes the strategic steps towards harnessing 
the will power of strengthening our domestic air space, our nationwide 
digital aviation infrastructure and cybersecurity measures.
  I urge all my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of H.R. 346, 
the ``NOTAM Improvement Act of 2023''.

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