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Democrats plan a UFO committee if they win the House

3 min read

According to the New York Post, Democrats would set up a dedicated UFO committee if they retake the House in the November 3 midterm elections. The effort is led by Rep. André Carson, who says the Pentagon’s UFO office has held back a key report for almost two years. A Republican congressman, however, warns that a Democratic win would bring the disclosure effort to a halt.

What Democrats are planning

According to the New York Post, Democrats would create both a caucus and a select committee on UFOs in the House if they win a majority in the November 3, 2026, midterm elections. The effort is led by Rep. André Carson of Indiana, who chaired a congressional UFO hearing in May 2022.

The plan is conditional and has not been formally announced. The reports do not say who would serve on the panel, what powers it would have or when it would be set up.

Carson told the Post that the current administration has not been fully transparent on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and has slow-walked several requirements Congress set for disclosure. As an example, he pointed to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which he says has delayed a key historical UAP report for almost two years.

According to Carson, that report should cover how incidents were investigated, the role of classified programs, and whether Congress was properly informed about them.

Which report could it be?

Carson did not name the report, and he did not say which deadlines were missed.

In early 2024, AARO published the first volume of its report on the history of government UAP investigations. It reviewed U.S. government investigations since 1945 and found no evidence of any confirmed sighting of extraterrestrial technology, and no evidence that the U.S. government or private companies possess such technology.

A second volume is required under the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). According to UFOUAP, a site that tracks AARO's work, it had still not been published as of September 2026. Whether Carson was referring to it is unknown.

What Republicans say

Citing unnamed Republican sources, the Post reported that they fear a Democratic select committee would take credit for disclosures that would otherwise be associated with the Trump administration.

Rep. Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, went further on a podcast: he says that if Republicans lose the midterms, the disclosure effort will come to a complete halt. His reasoning is that Democrats would focus on investigating the Trump administration, which would in turn shift the resources it has devoted to the topic into defending itself. According to NewsNation, Burlison also worries that the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, on which he serves, could be shut down.

The House's six-member UAP Caucus currently has only one Democrat, Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida.

Who doesn't trust the next president?

David Grusch, the former Air Force intelligence officer who told Congress in 2023 about an alleged secret UFO retrieval program, raised a different concern: he fears a future president may be less willing to allow information to be released. That is distinct from Carson's complaint, which targets the current administration's slow pace.

What comes next

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican, said in September that a postponed UAP hearing would be revisited in November, during the post-election session. Whether that happens, and who controls the House from January, will become clear after the election.

The sober take

What is established? Carson's statement to the Post, and the fact that the second volume of AARO's historical report has not been published according to available records. Burlison's warning was also made on the record, on a podcast.

What is not established?

The Democratic UFO committee is only a plan that depends on the election result. Its members, powers and timeline are unknown.
Carson did not name the delayed report, so it is impossible to verify exactly which document and which deadline he meant.
Burlison's claim that a Democratic majority would stop disclosure is a political prediction, not a fact. Some Democrats also push for disclosure; Carson's plan is itself about that.

What does this mean for the UFO question? Nothing about what the unreleased files contain. The two sides are arguing over who releases the files and how fast, not over what they prove. AARO's only public historical review so far found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology.