Democratic News

Press Releases 06/9/2025
Cantwell, Cruz Lead Call for Audits of DCA Airspace Safety Issues
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) were joined by U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-Mich.), all Democratic members of the Committee and several Republican members in sending a letter to Acting Inspector General of the Department of Transportation (DOT OIG) Mitch Behm and Inspector General of the Department of the Army (Army OIG) Lieutenant General Gregory J. Brady requesting concurrent safety audits in response to the January 29th mid-air collision near National Airport (DCA), as well as ongoing coordination issues between the Army and DCA air traffic control.
Press Releases 06/6/2025
Cantwell Statement on Commerce Secretary Lutnick's "Reform" of BEAD Broadband Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, released the following statement on Commerce Secretary Lutwick's "new guidance" on the BEAD program:
Press Releases 06/6/2025
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.
Press Releases 06/5/2025
In Wake of DCA Collision Tragedy, Senators Cantwell, Duckworth, Klobuchar, Warnock, Kaine, Warner and Markey Introduce the Safe Operation of Shared Airspace Act of 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Safe Operation of Shared Airspace Act of 2025 to strengthen aviation safety at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), airports across the nation, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This bill is the first comprehensive aviation safety legislation responding to the January 29, 2025 collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a regional commercial jet operating as American Airlines flight 5342 near DCA that took the lives of 67 people.
Press Releases 06/4/2025
Trump’s Rescission Package Defunds Essential Public Broadcasting Across the Nation to Pay for Tax Cuts for Billionaires
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s rescission package that claws back $1.1 billion in appropriated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Press Releases 06/4/2025
Facing Extreme Hurricane & Wildfire Seasons, Cantwell Slams Admin’s Erosion of Weather Forecasting: “NOAA Has Been Transparent That They Can’t Keep Up”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined renowned meteorologists from across the country for a virtual presser to sound the alarm on cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) as the United States heads into peak hurricane and wildfire season – and call on the Trump Administration to restore the agency to full capacity.
Press Releases 06/3/2025
Democrats Continue to Hammer Trump Administration on Illegally Gutting Agency Dedicated to Growing Minority Owned Businesses
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Science, Manufacturing and Competitiveness, Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) continued to hammer the Trump Administration for its illegal dismantling of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). Today, the Senators asked the GAO to investigate whether actions by Trump Commerce Department officials or others in the Administration violated congressional directives, the extent to which they undermined MBDA’s congressional mandate and whether any officials have engaged in misconduct.
Press Releases 06/2/2025
National Weather Service Partial Rehire Plan Isn’t Good Enough, Says Cantwell
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, released this statement following the Trump administration’s announcement of a plan to partially undo the damage done by their indiscriminate firings, resignations, and attrition plaguing the National Weather Service (NWS) workforce.
Press Releases 05/30/2025
Senators Cantwell, Schumer & Luján Call on Trump Administration to Stop Bureaucratic Delays and Immediately Release Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment Funding to States
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Democratic Leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, called on the Trump Administration to immediately release the $42 billion allocated for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program as part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The program was designed with the goal of building high-speed, scalable, and reliable networks everywhere in the United States.
Press Releases 05/29/2025
As Hurricane Season Begins, Cantwell Demands Trump Administration Stop Putting Lives & Property at Risk & Immediately Lift National Weather Service Hiring Freeze
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, again demanded that the Trump Administration immediately exempt the National Weather Service (NWS) from its current Federal hiring freeze so that citizens and communities will not be left to fend for themselves without adequate warnings as both hurricane season and wildfire season rapidly approach.
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