Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025
Introduced Feb 4, 2025 by Rep. Dan Newhouse
It's waiting on a committee vote to reach the full chamber. Most bills never leave this stage.
This bill reauthorizes the Department of Defense to sell its excess aircraft and aircraft parts that are acceptable for commercial sale for wildfire suppression purposes. Such authority begins October 1, 2025, and ends October 1, 2035.
The bill also provides that such aircraft may be used to deliver water by air in order to suppress wildfire (the previous authority only provided for the delivery of fire retardant).
The bill removes the previous limitation on providing international wildfire suppression assistance with such purchased aircraft.
Summary by the Congressional Research Service.
No floor votes yet — it hasn't reached the floor of either chamber.