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A proposed exception to restrictions on military flights around Reagan National Airport is prompting outcry among some federal officials.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D) and five other members of Congress representing Virginia joined the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as well as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, in crying foul yesterday (Wednesday).

They raised concerns about a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would allow military secretaries to waive tighter safety restrictions on training flights in some circumstances — potentially creating conditions similar to those of the deadly mid-air crash at Reagan National in January.

“This is a significant, significant safety setback,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters as the House prepared to pass the NDAA yesterday. “It represents an unacceptable risk to the flying public, to commercial and military aircraft crews and to the residents in the region. It’s also an unthinkable dismissal of our investigation and of 67 families who lost families in a tragedy that was entirely preventable.”

Beyer and U.S. Reps. Suhas Subramanyam, James Walkinshaw, Bobby Scott, Jennifer McClellan, and Eugene Vindman released a joint statement raising similar concerns about the exception for certain training missions. Under the provision in the NDAA, some of these missions could be allowed to operate with limited broadcasting of location data after the completion of a risk assessment and with the approval from the Secretary of Transportation.

“This provision falls short of NTSB’s preliminary safety recommendations and omits changes that are essential to improve visibility, safety, and communications between military and civilian aircraft in D.C. airspace,” the representatives wrote. “Further action is needed to prevent a repetition of the mistakes that led to this incident, and we will continue working with all possible speed on legislative solutions with our colleagues and transportation officials to get this right before any waivers are issued, and to ensure air safety in the region.”

The Jan. 29 crash that killed 67 people took place when a U.S. Army helicopter on a training mission collided with a commercial airliner above Reagan National. In the months since, critics have pushed for more robust broadcasting requirements for military flights in the DCA airspace.

“It is now clear that this provision was included without consultation from the NTSB, the agency leading the investigation into the crash, and without regard for the safety of DC residents, visitors, and our military personnel,” Mayor Bowser said in a statement. “I urge Congress to strike Section 373 from the NDAA and to follow the recommendations of safety experts.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also raised concerns about the provision. However, he noted that it increases restrictions on military flights around Reagan National in most circumstances and argued that it represents a degree of progress.

“Congressional leaders watered my provision down to accommodate DOD concerns,” Kaine wrote. “While this final provision is a smaller step forward than I wanted, I will work to ensure that it won’t be the last.”

“In the coming weeks, the NTSB and Army are releasing their reports regarding the crash, which will provide guidance as Congress considers additional steps the DOD and the FAA can take to avoid catastrophe in the future, including reducing commercial air traffic to and from DCA,” he continued.

A bipartisan effort is underway in the Senate to address the safety concerns brought about by the NDAA provisions, the Associated Press reported Thursday. From the AP:

Senators from both parties pushed Thursday for changes to a massive defense bill after crash investigators and victims’ families warned the legislation would undo key safety reforms stemming from a collision between an airliner and Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board investigating the crash, a group of the victims’ family members and senators on the Commerce Committee all said the bill the House advanced Wednesday would make America’s skies less safe. It would allow the military to operate essentially the same way as it did before the January crash, which was the deadliest in more than two decades, they said.

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Republican Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz filed two amendments Thursday to strip out the worrisome helicopter safety provisions and replace them with a bill they introduced last summer to strengthen requirements, but it’s not clear if Republican leadership will allow the National Defense Authorization Act to be changed at this stage because that would delay its passage.

“We owe it to the families to put into law actual safety improvements, not give the Department of Defense bigger loopholes to exploit,” the senators said.

Right now, the bill includes exceptions that would allow military helicopters to fly through the crowded airspace around the nation’s capital without using a key system called ADS-B to broadcast their locations just like they did before the January collision. The Federal Aviation Administration began requiring that in March. NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy called the bill a “significant safety setback” that is inviting a repeat of that disaster.

“It represents an unacceptable risk to the flying public, to commercial and military aircraft, crews and to the residents in the region,” Homendy said. “It’s also an unthinkable dismissal of our investigation and of 67 families … who lost loved ones in a tragedy that was entirely preventable. This is shameful.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is looking into the concerns but thinks they can be addressed by quickly passing the aviation safety bill that Cruz and Cantwell proposed last summer.

“I think that would resolve the concerns that people have about that provision, and hoping — we’ll see if we can find a pathway forward to get that bill done,” said Thune, a South Dakota Republican.

The military used national security waivers before the crash to skirt FAA safety requirements on the grounds that they worried about the security risks of disclosing their helicopters’ locations. Tim and Sheri Lilley, whose son Sam was the first officer on the American Airlines jet, said this bill only adds “a window dressing fix that would continue to allow for the setting aside of requirements with nothing more than a cursory risk assessment.”

Homendy said it would be ridiculous to entrust the military with assessing the safety risks when they aren’t the experts, and neither the Army nor the FAA noticed 85 close calls around Ronald Reagan National Airport in the years before the crash. She said the military doesn’t know how to do that kind of risk assessment, adding that no one writing the bill bothered to consult the experts at the NTSB who do know.

The White House and military didn’t immediately respond Thursday to questions about these safety concerns. But earlier this week Trump made it clear that he wants to sign the National Defense Authorization Act because it advances a number of his priorities and provides a 3.8% pay raise for many military members.

The Senate is expected to take up the bill next week, and it appears unlikely that any final changes will be made. But Congress is leaving for a holiday break at the end of the week, and the defense bill is considered something that must pass by the end of the year.