On July 22, 2026, the House adopted Rep. Eric Burlison’s Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, the annual bill that sets defense policy.

If it becomes law, the amendment would create a permanent UAP Records Collection at the National Archives and require federal agencies to find, preserve and transfer their UAP records there on a set schedule. Contractors would be covered too. An independent review board, confirmed by the Senate and given subpoena power, would decide what stays classified. The amendment would also give legal backing to PURSUE, the administration’s program for releasing UAP files. “The government belongs to the American people,” Burlison said.

The idea is not new. Senators Chuck Schumer and Mike Rounds first attached a UAP Disclosure Act, modeled on the JFK Records Act, to the FY2024 defense bill. It passed the Senate, but negotiators removed the review board and most of its teeth before the bill became law. Versions came back for FY2025 and FY2026 and were left out of the final bills both times.

This year the push came from the House side, and the press release did not report a vote count. The defense bill now goes to the Senate, and any final version will be worked out in House-Senate negotiations, the stage where the earlier versions lost their key provisions.