September 2, 2025
Press Release
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, released the below statement regarding President Trump’s August 27 illegal firing of Robert Primus, one of two Democratic members of the Surface Transportation Board (STB). Primus had been confirmed unanimously by the Senate and his sudden firing comes as the STB is set to consider the controversial proposed merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads, that, if approved, would be the largest rail merger in the Nation’s history. If not reversed, the Board would be left with two Republicans and one Democrat with
September 2, 2025
Press Release
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, joined Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) to lead 23 additional members of Congress in filing an amicus brief defending the independence of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and supporting Congress’s authority to allow removal of CPSC Commissioners only for cause.
August 25, 2025
Press Release
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.
August 8, 2025
Press Release
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.
August 1, 2025
Press Release
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
August 1, 2025
Press Release
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.
August 1, 2025
Press Release
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.
August 1, 2025
Press Release
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.
July 30, 2025
Press Release
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:
July 25, 2025
Press Release
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).