Joel Rose

This time, the FAA closed a smaller area around Fort Hancock, about 50 miles southeast of El Paso, and no commercial flights were affected.

In an unusual joint statement, the Pentagon, the FAA and Customs and Border Protection said they're, quote, working together in an unprecedented fashion, unquote, while also trying to increase cooperation and communication in the future.

Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.

The GOP committee chairs in the House have their own bipartisan safety bill that they are pushing.

It's known as the Alert Act.

But it does not have the backing of safety investigators at the NTSB who say it would not go far enough to close loopholes and to truly require this safety technology everywhere that it needs to be.

The Rotaract sponsors say they will keep pushing for another vote in the House.

They note that a significant majority...

of the representatives voted in favor.

But under the fast-track rules in the House, the bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass and came up just a few votes short.

The Rotor Act, as it's known, would require wider use of a safety system known as ADS-B, which transmits an aircraft's location.

Federal safety investigators say that could have prevented the mid-air collision of a U.S.

Army helicopter and a passenger jet that killed 67 people last year.

The Senate approved the bill unanimously, and it has support from families of the crash victims.

But it faces headwinds in the House, where some powerful Republican committee leaders have proposed their own bipartisan bill.

The Pentagon also has concerns.

After supporting the Rotar Act last year, the Pentagon now says it could create, quote, unresolved budgetary burdens and operational security risks.

Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.

Heavy snow and strong winds made for a big mess at airports around New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Airlines canceled thousands of flights in or out of U.S.