Who?
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) — Congressional UAP Caucus; House Oversight Committee
LISTEN: Laslo & Burlison
Ask a Pol asks:
Is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s bipartisan UAP Disclosure Act — or UAPDA — still needed even with the Pentagon and White House now declassifying UFO content?
Key Burlison:
“Oh, yes, absolutely. We’re going to keep trying to get that,” Rep. Eric Burlison exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP. “We’re in fact working on it right now, trying to get that on the [National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA].”
Caught our ear:
“It will probably happen in the committee, in the Rules process,” Burlison tells us.*
*Impromptu Rules Primer: The Speaker controls the House by controlling the Rules Committee, which currently has 9 Republican members compared to a mere 4 for Democrats.
Because there are 435 members of the House, no bill comes to the floor without an agreed-upon number of amendments for the entire House to vote on, along with a set amount of debate time divided between Republicans and Democrats.
In choosing which amendments are in order, the Rules Committee plays a ton of defense on the Speaker’s behalf. So, while once again, the UAPDA wasn’t included in the House Armed Services-passed National Defense Authorization Act, if there’s broad bipartisan agreement among committee Chairs and the Speaker — historically called backroom dealing… — they can amend the underlying legislation without a formal vote of the entire House. Then that new amended measure would come before the full House for a vote.
It’s early in the process, so there’s also a chance Burlison and the Congressional UAP Caucus fail to get the UAPDA inserted into the underlying bill. Then they could try to convince the Speaker and his allies on the Rules Committee to allow the UAPDA to be voted on by the full House as a standalone amendment to the NDAA.
The UAPDA could also still get tucked into the Senate NDAA, though its authors tell Ask a Pol UAP it’s still early in the process.
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Mini aside, while the Rules Committee has gotten more ideologically diverse since Speaker McCarthy was run out of the Capitol, the new, more far-right conservatives on the panel — who Johnson had to agree to to garner the support needed to win the Speaker’s gavel — have proven a headache for Speaker Johnson and the GOP agenda.
Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Rep. Eric Burlison (6-9-2026)
SCENE: After the bipartisan Congressional UAP Caucus press conference broke on Tuesday, Ask a Pol founder Matt Laslo waited in the wings until Rep. Eric Burlison left the throngs of people amassed outside the US Capitol.
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Laslo then accompanied Burlison to the historic House Carriage Entrance before the Congressman rushed to cast his vote on the floor of the US House of Representatives.
Matt Laslo: “UAPDA — is that still needed or not at this point?”
Rep. Eric Burlison: “Oh, yes, absolutely. We’re going to keep trying to get that. In fact, we’re working that right now, trying to get that on the bill.”
Laslo: “Yeah? Are you talking with [Schumer’s Republican co-sponsor Sen. Mike] Rounds?”
Burlison: “It will probably happen in the committee, in the Rules process.”*
Laslo: “Yeah?”
What should we ask Congress next?
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