Threatening to derail an aviation safety pact with the European Commission (EC), US lower house lawmakers have passed a bill mandating US safety inspectors to conduct more checks of overseas aircraft maintenance, repair and overall (MRO) companies. The new bill, not as yet law, requires the Federal Aviation Administration to increase its overseas inspections from once a year to twice a year, and foreign workers would have to submit to the same drug and alcohol testing and criminal background checks that apply to US workers.