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(NewsNation) — U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told NewsNation’s Ross Coulthart that he plans to reintroduce the UAP Disclosure Act, legislation that could push the federal government to release files and records related to unidentified anomalous phenomena.
A stripped-down version of the original amendment was previously passed as part of an annual defense policy bill, but that iteration nixed several key provisions that were expected to lead to more transparency.
Rounds says he and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., intend to “move forward once again” with the initial UAP transparency effort as lawmakers begin working on the annual National Defense Authorization Act in the coming weeks.
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“I have no objections to submitting the legislation in its current form, but I would also work with my House counterparts to allay any concerns that they may have,” Rounds told Coulthart on a new episode of “Reality Check.”
The UAP Disclosure Act was originally modeled after the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which required that documents regarding the assassination be made public no later than 25 years after enactment.
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The version of the UAP amendment that ultimately passed eliminated a proposed advisory panel that would have helped determine which records would be disclosed. It also removed a provision that would have granted the federal government eminent domain over UAP-related materials held by private individuals or entities.
Those changes watered down the push for transparency in the eyes of whistleblowers like David Grusch, who have maintained that the government isn’t revealing everything it knows about UAPs.
Rounds said his support for the amendment is driven by a desire for clarity, not by any evidence of a “smoking gun.”
“If there was such information that existed, we were directing that it be preserved and then it be delivered for appropriate persons, and for review, by this select committee,” Rounds said.
He added: “At this stage of the game, I think it’s worth trying once again to reassure the American people that those of us that are here, we’re not trying to hide anything, but we will protect very clearly those items of national interest with regard to our national security.”
