A Drone Rule and an Oversight Hearing

Concept ApplicationAbout 20 minutes · 3 points

Scenario

Several years ago Congress passed a law directing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to "ensure the safe integration" of delivery drones into the nation's airspace. The law did not say how high drones could fly or how they must be identified. Last spring the FAA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would require every commercial delivery drone to broadcast an identification signal and to fly no higher than 400 feet. After receiving more than 40,000 public comments, the agency issued a final rule that also bars delivery drones from flying over crowds.

The chair of a House subcommittee on aviation, who represents a rural district, says the final rule will make it too expensive for small companies to deliver medicine to remote towns. The chair has scheduled an oversight hearing and asked the head of the FAA to testify about how the agency wrote the rule.

(A) Describe the power the FAA used when it issued the final rule in the scenario. 1 point

(B) Explain how the oversight hearing described in the scenario could affect the FAA's rule. 1 point

(C) Suppose the subcommittee chair belonged to the same political party as the president. Explain how this would likely affect the chair's use of oversight hearings, compared with a chair from the party opposing the president. 1 point