control over the economic, competitive, safety, and secu-
rity decisions of United States airlines, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) 
Under 
current 
law 
(49 
U.S.C. 
40102(a)(15)), only an airline that qualifies as ‘‘a 
citizen of the United States’’ (commonly referred to 
as a United States airline) may provide service be-
tween cities in the United States or on international 
routes obtained by the United States through inter-
national agreements. The law further provides that 
an airline will qualify as a citizen of the United 
States only if the airline is ‘‘a corporation or asso-
ciation . . . which is under the actual control of citi-
zens of the United States’’. 
(2) Throughout its 47-year history (1938– 
1985), the Civil Aeronautics Board interpreted the 
governing law as requiring that United States inter-
ests be in ‘‘actual control’’ of all operations of the 
airline. The Department of Transportation contin-
ued these policies when it took over the responsibil-
ities of the Civil Aeronautics Board in 1985.
(3) To ensure that these long-standing policies 
remained in effect, Congress in 2003 passed an 
amendment specifically adding to the definition of 
‘‘citizen of the United States’’ a requirement that 
the airline be ‘‘under the actual control of citizens 
of the United States’’. When this ‘‘actual control’’ 
test was specifically added to the law, it clearly was 
intended to codify the policy developed by the Civil 
Aeronautics Board and the Department, which re-
quired that United States interests control economic 
and competitive decisions of the airline, as well as 
safety and security decisions. 
(4) Congress has repeatedly refused the Depart-
ment’s requests to pass legislation to allow foreign 
interests to gain increased control of United States 
airlines by changing the statutory requirements that 
United States citizens must own 75 percent of the 
voting stock of United States airlines. The Depart-
ment now seeks to accomplish increased foreign con-
trol by other means. 
(5) On November 7, 2005, the Department 
issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (70 Fed. 
Reg. 67389) that proposes to change the Depart-
ment’s long-standing interpretation of ‘‘actual con-
trol’’. Under the proposed rules, United States citi-
zens would be required to control decisions of a 
United States airline concerning commitments to the 
Civil Reserve Air Fleet, transportation security, safe-
ty, and organizational documents. However, United 
States citizens would not be required to control the 
airline’s basic economic and competitive decisions, 
such as the cities to be served, the fares to be 
charged, the aircraft to be purchased, and the na-
ture and size of the aircraft fleet. 
(6) The proposed new interpretation that ‘‘ac-
tual control’’ does not require control of significant 
portions of an airline’s operation is contrary to the 
plain language of the statute. 
(7) The proposed new interpretation would 
change long-standing policies and legal interpreta-
tions that ‘‘actual control’’ means control over all 
operations of the airline, not only decisions con-
cerning security, safety, the Civil Reserve Air Fleet 
program, and organizational documents. 
(8) The proposed new interpretation could lead 
to fundamental changes in the Nation’s aviation sys-
tem. 
(9) The Department’s rulemaking is a major 
impairment of the policies and legal interpretation 
that Congress specifically required by statute in
2003, and that have been followed for over 60 years. 
Any major change in the definition of ‘‘actual con-
trol’’ should only be accomplished through the legis-
lative process and should not be unilaterally imposed 
by the executive branch. 
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON CERTAIN ACTIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—For a period of one year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor-
tation shall not issue a decision on the notice of proposed 
rulemaking referred to in section 1(a)(5), issue any final 
rule, or make any fitness determination under section 
41102 of title 49, United States Code, that would change 
the Department of Transportation’s long-standing inter-
pretation concerning what constitutes ‘‘actual control’’ of 
an airline for purposes of section 40102(a)(15) of such 
title. 
(b) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW.—Any final rule de-
scribed in subsection (a) issued by the Secretary shall be 
treated as a major rule for purposes of chapter 8 of title 
5, United States Code. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to 
Congress a report that assesses the impact of the proposed 
rules referred to in section 1(a)(5). At a minimum, the 
report shall include the following: