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Whistleblower

Issue: Communication, Media, and Broadband

Commerce Committee Democrats Decry Carr’s Censorship of Jimmy Kimmel

U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which oversees the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), senior member of the Committee, Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Telecommunications and Media Subcommittee, and all Democratic members of the Committee sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr demanding that he immediately stop threatening media organizations over content the Trump Administration does not like, in violation of the First Amendment.

Cantwell Statement on FCC Chair Carr’s Attacks on Free Speech

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which oversees the Federal Communications Commission, condemned FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s intimidation of the press yesterday, which resulted in the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show.

NPR and PBS Are More Than “Tiny Desk” and “Daniel Tiger” They Are Critical to Public Safety

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, today released a Snapshot Report that highlights data on public broadcasters across the United States and broadcasters’ role in responding to emergencies and public safety events. In rural areas, public broadcasters may be the sole source of information during emergencies, leaving them disproportionately impacted by federal funding cuts.

Cantwell Sounds the Alarm About Dangers of Republican Plan to Auction Spectrum Essential to National Security, Aviation Safety and the Innovation Economy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, sounded the alarm about the dangers of the Republican plan to auction 800 megahertz of spectrum that is essential to national security, aviation safety and America’s innovation economy in a one-on-one conversation with Dr. Tom Karako, Director of the Missile Defense Project and Senior Fellow in Defense & Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Cantwell Demands Answers from AT&T and Verizon on Chinese “Salt Typhoon” Hack

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, demanded answers from AT&T Chairman and CEO John Stankey and from Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg about ongoing vulnerabilities related to the successful Chinese state-sponsored “Salt Typhoon” hack discovered last year. Salt Typhoon deeply penetrated major U.S. telecommunications networks, including AT&T and Verizon, but in December 2024, both companies claimed that their networks were secure.

Cantwell Statement on GOP Spectrum Auction Proposal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, criticized Senate Republicans’ spectrum auction language released on Thursday, June 5, 2025 for failing to protect aviation safety and national security. The proposal would require the FCC to sell off at least 100 Mhz of spectrum in the upper C-Band, directly adjacent to the spectrum used for aircraft altimeters, within just two years. When the first Trump administration auctioned the lower C-Band—even further from aircraft altimeter spectrum—the FAA was so concerned about potential interference it nearly grounded every airplane in the country in early 2022.

Cantwell, Blackburn, Heinrich Reintroduce Bipartisan Bill to Increase Transparency, Combat AI Deepfakes & Put Journalists, Artists & Songwriters Back in Control of Their Content

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) reintroduced the Content Origin Protection and Integrity from Edited and Deepfaked Media Act (COPIED ACT) to combat harmful deepfakes. The bill would set new federal transparency guidelines for marking, authenticating and detecting AI-generated content, protect journalists, actors and artists against AI-driven theft, and hold violators accountable for abuses.