Democratic News

Press Releases 08/25/2025
Cantwell Warns University Presidents, Regents That SCORE Act Will Widen Inequities in College Sports, Roll Back Athletes’ Rights, Fuel a Football Spending Arms Race & Shortchange Women’s & Olympic Sports
As college football season begins, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, wrote to the presidents and chancellors of more than 350 Division I universities and their governing bodies, warning that legislation currently before the House of Representatives would further cement current inequities in college athletics and consolidate power with the SEC and Big Ten. She asked for their input on how to address these inequities and maximize the value of college sports across the board.
Press Releases 08/8/2025
DOT Launches Safety Audit of FAA Oversight of DCA Airspace
The Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General (DOT OIG) today announced it will spearhead a safety audit of FAA’s oversight of DCA airspace. In June, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, led a letter along with Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to DOT’s Acting Inspector General and the Inspector General of the Army (Army OIG) requesting concurrent safety audits in response to the January 29th mid-air collision and ongoing coordination issues between the Army and DCA air traffic control. To date, the Army has refused to conduct its own audit.
Press Releases 08/1/2025
Cantwell, Wicker, Blunt-Rochester, & Sullivan Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Reauthorize NOAA’s Sea Grant Program
U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee, Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), former chair and ranking member of the committee, Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced legislation to reauthorize the National Sea Grant College Program, a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and 34 university-based programs in every coastal and Great Lakes state, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
Press Releases 08/1/2025
Cantwell Reintroduces Bill to Modernize Nation’s Weather Radio
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) Chair of the Committee, and Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jerry Moran (R–Kansas), and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio Modernization Act.
Press Releases 08/1/2025
Cantwell to FAA as NTSB Hearing Concludes: You Must Listen. You must Lead.
This morning, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigative hearing into the January 29, 2025 mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 near DCA that took the lives of 67 people. The 3-day hearing – which concludes today – has revealed massive failures by FAA leaders to listen to and act on safety warnings from its own front-line employees.
Press Releases 08/1/2025
Cantwell Says FAA Must “Do Its Job” During Interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Day Two of NTSB Hearing
During an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto last night, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, had a straightforward message for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): Do its job. Her comments came near the end of the second day of the three-day National Transportation Safety Board NTSB investigative hearing into the January 29, 2025 mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 near DCA that took the lives of 67 people. The hearing has revealed massive failures by FAA leaders to listen to and act on safety warnings that, unaddressed, could lead to a deadly collision.
Press Releases 07/30/2025
Cantwell Delivers Opening Statement at July 30 Markup
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, delivered the following opening statement at the July 30, 2025, Full Committee Markup:
Press Releases 07/25/2025
Ranking Member Cantwell Statement on Trump’s Executive Order on College Sports NIL
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, responded to the release of President Trump’s Executive Order which aims to regulate college sports in the era of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL).
Press Releases 07/23/2025
Cantwell Seeks Digital Forensics Expert’s Assessments of AT&T and Verizon Network Security After Chinese “Salt Typhoon” Hack
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, is pursuing key security reports from the digital forensics expert Mandiant, hired by both AT&T and Verizon to conduct comprehensive network security assessments of last year’s “Salt Typhoon” hack. Although the telecommunications companies claim Mandiant’s analyses verify their public assertions that the threat has been contained and their networks are secure, AT&T and Verizon have refused to make them available to the Committee.
Press Releases 07/23/2025
Cantwell Statement on SCORE Act Advancing in the House
Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, responded to the House Education and Workforce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee advancing the SCORE Act, a massive giveaway to the largest schools in the wealthiest conferences that leaves athletes and small and mid-sized institutions behind.
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