May 7, 2026
Press Release
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, along with Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) today led their colleagues in writing to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr urging it to rescind last week’s order requiring Disney to file early license renewals for its eight ABC broadcast stations. The FCC order, at Chairman Carr’s directive, came just one day after President Donald Trump publicly demanded ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and is the latest effort by Trump and Carr to
May 1, 2026
Press Release
Today, in the face of record gas price spikes caused by the war in Iran, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act. The bill would create a new Transportation Fuel Monitoring and Enforcement Unit at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) dedicated to proactively monitoring and preventing fraud or manipulation that may be artificially inflating pump prices, increase price transparency in transportation fuel markets and increase penalties for bad actors. In the past, unscrupulous oil traders have taken
April 29, 2026
Press Release
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, spoke out on the Senate floor this evening to urge support for Senate Resolution 551, sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), which recognizes that sea levels are rising at accelerated rates and that human-caused climate change is driving measurable, real-world impacts across our communities and our economy.
April 28, 2026
Press Release
U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), co-chair of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus, today sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin urging him to stand by his nomination hearing testimony supporting whistleblower protections and demand that the White House withdraw the promotion of Commander Jesse Millard to become a Captain in the U.S. Coast Guard.
April 27, 2026
Press Release
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, posted the following statement in response to President Trump’s unprecedented termination of members of the National Science Board which helps guide the National Science Foundation and its support for technological and scientific research and innovation:
April 23, 2026
Press Release
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 Aviation Subcommittee and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today requested that the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation (DOT) investigate whether Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator and former Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford deliberately violated his ethics agreement to boost his stock payout, and misled Congress and the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) about his actions.
April 22, 2026
Press Release
U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today introduced a resolution to commemorate the hugely successful Artemis II mission that launched on April 1, 2026, and returned astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen safely to Earth on April 10, 2026. The Artemis II mission took humans farther from Earth than ever before, when on April 6, 2026, the crew surpassed the record set by Apollo 13 for the farthest distance traveled by astronauts into deep space.
April 16, 2026
Press Release
U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Ben Ray Lujàn (D-N.M.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) reintroduced legislation to restore the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) authority to return money to consumers victimized by illegal scams, fraud and other unfair practices. In April 2021, the Supreme Court slashed the FTC’s “Section 13(b)” authority which it had used to refund $11.2 billion dollars to consumers in the five years prior to the decision. Over the last five years, the FTC has returned $2 billion while consumer
April 16, 2026
Press Release
The United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution introduced by U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) to commemorate and support the goals of World Quantum Day, recognized annually on April 14. World Quantum Day highlights the significance of the quantum mechanics in everyday-life technologies, such as semiconductors, GPS systems, and MRI imaging.
April 15, 2026
Press Release
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, blasted the Trump Administration for illegally firing two Democratic Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioners and the failure of the Trump-led FTC to protect consumers who are facing skyrocketing costs for basic necessities like groceries and gas. Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya were illegally removed from the FTC on March 18, 2025, and neither was invited to testify at today’s FTC oversight hearing. Instead, the Committee heard only from Trump-appointed Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Republican Commissioner Mark Meador who confirmed the agency is no