Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Announcing He Will Seek Passage Later Today Of Legislation To Better Respond To Drone Activity

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to announce that he will stand with Senator Peters (D-MI) to pass legislation via unanimous consent to authorize state and local authorities to conduct drone detection and help them better coordinate with federal law enforcement to respond to the recent reports of unusual drone activity. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

This afternoon, I will come to the Senate floor to stand with Senator Peters to take up legislation to respond to the recent reports of unusual drone activity.

I am proud to cosponsor this bipartisan legislation, which the FBI, DHS, DOD, and FAA all support. Let me say that again: this legislation is supported by just about every federal group concerned – the FBI, the DHS, Department of Defense, and the FAA. The Senate should pass our bill without delay.

Our bill, among other things, explicitly authorizes state and local authorities to conduct drone detection and helps them better coordinate with federal law enforcement agencies to keep communities safe.

The utter confusion surrounding these drone sightings shows that the feds can’t respond all on their own: the federal government needs help from local officials detecting these drones, but right now the locals have neither the authority nor resources to act. Our bill will fix that.

All the federal agencies involved say they need local help. Drones are relatively new, but they're all over the place. And you don't want to tell people they can't fly drones for recreational use and many other commercial uses. So, it's a difficult area. We don't have broad-reaching federal legislation on drones, even though we do say they can't be near airports and be near military facilities.

So, there's a desperate need – until the federal government does more on this new issue of drones – for the locals to participate. The feds want the locals to participate. There's no reason they shouldn't.

So, I hope the Senate will pass our bipartisan drone legislation later today.

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