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S 160
Became Law Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.

Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025

To amend the Wildfire Suppression Aircraft Transfer Act of 1996 to reauthorize the sale by the Department of Defense of aircraft and parts for wildfire suppression purposes, and for other purposes.

Introduced Jan 21, 2025

Latest action (Jun 12, 2025) Became Public Law No: 119-18.

Referred to
Armed Services Committee
Policy area
Armed Forces and National Security
Issues
Defense

Summary

The bill would reauthorize and modify the Department of Defense's authority to sell military aircraft and parts to firefighting agencies for wildfire suppression purposes. It clarifies that aircraft sold under this program may be used only for wildfire suppression operations and specifies that fire retardant or water may be used in these operations. The bill extends the authorization period for these sales through October 1, 2035, replacing the previous expiration date.

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)
8 cosponsors

Actions (18)
  1. Jun 12, 2025 Became Public Law No: 119-18.
  2. Jun 12, 2025 Signed by President.
  3. Jun 10, 2025 Presented to President. · house
  4. Jun 3, 2025 Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection. · house
  5. Jun 3, 2025 On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2390) · house
  6. Jun 3, 2025 Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2390)
  7. Jun 3, 2025 DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 160. · house
  8. Jun 3, 2025 Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H2390) · house
  9. Jun 3, 2025 Mr. Comer moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill. · house
  10. Apr 9, 2025 Held at the desk. · house
  11. Apr 9, 2025 Received in the House. · house
  12. Apr 9, 2025 Message on Senate action sent to the House. · senate
  13. Apr 8, 2025 Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text: CR S2480) · senate
  14. Apr 8, 2025 Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
  15. Apr 8, 2025 Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent. (consideration: CR S2480) · senate
  16. Apr 8, 2025 Senate Committee on Armed Services discharged by Unanimous Consent. · senate
  17. Jan 21, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services. · senate
  18. Jan 21, 2025 Introduced in Senate

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.

  • HR 956 — Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025 · Introduced Mar 7, 2025 · Cong. 119 86%
  • S 91 — Western Wildfire Support Act of 2025 · Introduced Feb 4, 2026 · Cong. 119 70%
  • S 350 — Wildfire Emergency Act of 2025 · Introduced Jul 17, 2025 · Cong. 119 69%
  • HR 9534 — Wildfire Response Modernization Act · Introduced Jun 29, 2026 · Cong. 119 68%
  • S 395 — Emergency Fuel Reduction Act of 2025 · Introduced Feb 4, 2025 · Cong. 119 68%
  • S 306 — Fire Ready Nation Act of 2025 · Passed Senate Sep 11, 2025 · Cong. 119 67%

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

January 21, 2025

Mr. Sheehy (for himself and Mr. Heinrich) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services

A BILL

To amend the Wildfire Suppression Aircraft Transfer Act of 1996 to reauthorize the sale by the Department of Defense of aircraft and parts for wildfire suppression purposes, 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 “Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATION AND REAUTHORIZATION OF AUTHORITY FOR SALE BY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OF AIRCRAFT AND PARTS FOR WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION PURPOSES.

Section 2 of the Wildfire Suppression Aircraft Transfer Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-307; 10 U.S.C. 2576 note) is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)(1)—

(A) by striking “a period” and inserting “the period”; and

(B) by inserting “or water” after “fire retardant”;

(2) in subsection (b), by striking “sold under subsection

(a)” and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting “sold under subsection (a) may be used only for the provision of aircraft services for wildfire suppression purposes.”;

(3) in subsection (c), by inserting “or water” after “fire retardant”;

(4) in subsection (d)(1), in the second sentence, by striking “subsection (a)(1)” and inserting “subsection

(g)”; and

(5) by striking subsection (g) and inserting the following:

“(g) Period for Exercise of Authority.—The period specified in this subsection is the period beginning on October 1, 2025, and ending on October 1, 2035.”. <all>

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