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Prohibit Deactivation of the ECABs Act of 2026
To limit the use of certain funds for the deactivation of Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would restrict the use of Army funds through fiscal year 2031 from being used to deactivate, retire, or reduce capabilities of Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades, unless the Secretary of the Army provides certification and a plan to recapitalize the aircraft and restore capabilities, resources, and personnel. Any Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades that were previously deactivated must be reactivated and restored to their prior levels within one year of the bill's enactment. The Secretary of the Army would be required to submit a plan within 180 days to sustain and modernize the aircraft used by these brigades. The bill authorizes $35 million in fiscal year 2027 for operation and training of Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade aircraft.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
3 cosponsors
- Rep. Crank, Jeff [R-CO-5] (R-CO)
- Rep. Guthrie, Brett [R-KY-2] (R-KY)
- Rep. Tran, Derek [D-CA-45] (D-CA)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Morgan Luttrell’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $63,345
- STEELY LUMBER $11,600
- ALLIANT $7,600
- STEDMAN WEST INTERESTS INC. $6,600
- VEGA ENERGY $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Morgan Luttrell → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- May 14, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services. · house
- May 14, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 14, 2026
Mr. Luttrell (for himself, Mr. Tran, and Mr. Crank) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To limit the use of certain funds for the deactivation of Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Prohibit Deactivation of the ECABs Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR DEACTIVATION OF EXPEDITIONARY COMBAT AVIATION BRIGADES.
(a) Limitation.—None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for any of fiscal years 2027 through 2031 for the Army may be obligated or expended to retire, deactivate, schedule to deactivate, or proceed with any other action that would reduce the capabilities, resources, aircraft, or personnel available, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, for the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades unless the Secretary of the Army submits to the congressional defense committees—
(1) a certification that the Secretary of the Army plans to recapitalize any such aircraft for the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades and to otherwise restore any such capabilities, resources, or personnel levels reduced; and
(2) the plan of the Secretary of the Army for the actions specified in paragraph (1).
(b) Requirement To Restore.—
(1) Requirement.—Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, for any Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade that, prior to such date of enactment, the Secretary of the Army retired or deactivated (or carried out any other activity to reduce the capabilities, resources, aircraft, or personnel thereof), the Secretary of the Army shall reinstate or reactivate such brigade, or otherwise restore such brigade to the levels preceding such reduction, as the case may be.
(2) Report.—Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the implementation of this subsection.
(c) Plan Required.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army shall submit to the congressional defense committees a plan to sustain and modernize the aircraft used by the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the Department of the Army for the operation of aircraft, and training for such operation, by the Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigades $35,000,000 for fiscal year 2027.
(e) Congressional Defense Committees Defined.—In this section, the term “congressional defense committees” has the meaning given such term in section 101 of title 10, United States Code. <all>
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