Senate Communications Subcommittee member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., praised the FBI on Monday night for investigating claims that during the Biden administration, the bureau and then-Special Counsel Jack Smith tracked her phone calls and those of eight other GOP lawmakers as part of a probe into the Jan. 6 Capitol siege. Fox News reported that in 2023 the FBI circulated a memo outlining the Jan. 6 team’s “analysis on limited” records of communications by Blackburn and the other Republicans, including current Senate Communications members Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. The Fox News report indicated that the FBI tracked the phone numbers that lawmakers called and the locations of the callers and recipients.

The government shutdown that has largely suspended FCC activity (see 2510010065) continued into Tuesday with no clear consensus in sight. The Senate failed again Monday to reach the 60-vote cloture threshold on dueling GOP and Democratic continuing resolutions to temporarily restore federal appropriations. It voted 52-42 on Republicans’ House-passed CR (HR-5371) to reopen the government through Nov. 21, with only three Democrats in support. The Senate also voted 45-50 on Democrats’ CR (S-2882), which would restore federal appropriations through Oct. 31 and bring back CPB’s rescinded $535 million funding for FY 2026.

The government shutdown that has largely suspended FCC activity (see 2510010065) continues at least through Monday, after the Senate gaveled out for the weekend without reaching the 60-vote cloture threshold on dueling GOP and Democratic continuing resolutions to temporarily restore appropriations. The chamber voted 54-44 on Republicans’ House-passed measure (HR-5371) to reopen the government through Nov. 21, with only three Democrats in support. It voted 46-52 on Democrats’ version (S-2882), which would restore federal appropriations through Oct. 31 and bring back CPB’s rescinded $535 million funding for FY 2026. The Senate will vote on both resolutions again Monday night.

The Senate Commerce Committee isn’t looking to bring in FCC Chairman Brendan Carr as a potential additional witness at Wednesday's planned hearing to examine what Republicans call government agencies’ actions to pressure major social media platforms to engage in “jawboning” (see 2510020041), a spokesperson told us Thursday night. Panel Democrats had been pushing for the hearing to include Carr because they want him to answer questions about his mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as influencing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air (see 2509220059). A Senate Commerce aide confirmed that Carr “will be coming to testify,” but the panel hasn’t set a date yet, and it won’t happen “before November.”

The Senate Commerce Committee said Wednesday night that it plans to vote Oct. 8 on the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act (S-2666). The measure would direct the FCC to create a public-private task force to recommend new methods “to combat unlawful robocalls made into” the U.S. from outside the country, as well as determine whether the agency’s Stir/Shaken rules “adequately provide call authentication for unlawful robocalls from foreign originating providers or foreign intermediate providers through gateway providers” in the U.S. The task force would also examine whether creating a robocall-focused office within DOJ would improve the department’s ability to conduct enforcement against unlawful robocalls. The Senate Commerce meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.

The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing November dates for an FCC oversight hearing that will likely feature heated confrontations between panel Democrats and commission Chairman Brendan Carr over his media regulatory actions, congressional aides and lobbyists told us. The hearing will also include the agency's other Republican, Olivia Trusty, and its lone Democrat, Anna Gomez, lobbyists said. Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has faced pressure from committee Democrats to specifically bring Carr in to answer questions about his mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as influencing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air (see 2509220059). Cruz was among several Republicans who also criticized Carr’s comments (see 2509190059).

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and dozens of other congressional Democrats spoke Monday against FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s proposals to undo the commission's July 2024 order allowing schools and libraries to use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and another to fund Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2509030064). The commission is likely to approve the orders’ rescission during its Tuesday meeting along party lines over E-rate advocates’ misgivings (see 2509260046).

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday called congressional Democrats’ continuing resolution proposal (S-2882), which extends federal appropriations through Oct. 31, a “dirty” counteroffer that “sends half a billion dollars to left-wing media.” S-2882 proposes to restore CPB's $535 million in rescinded FY 2026 funding (see 2509180033). Conversely, Republicans’ House-passed “clean” CR to keep the government open until Nov. 21 (HR-5371) is “non-partisan, no gimmicks [and includes] no new partisan spending demands,” Leavitt said. The Senate is set to return Monday night, just a day before current appropriations will expire. The chamber failed to pass either HR-5371 or S-2882 in mid-September (see 2509190061).

Current lobbyists and former House Commerce Committee chairmen Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said Wednesday that lawmakers “must again ask tough questions [about] whether FirstNet is fully achieving the goals we put into law in 2012” as Congress eyes reauthorizing it before the existing mandate expires in February 2027. The House Communications Subcommittee examined FirstNet and other public safety communications matters during a hearing earlier this month (see 2509090062).

House Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia of California and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee ranking member Maxwell Frost of Florida on Wednesday expanded panel Democrats’ investigation into ABC's temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! (see 2509180055) to also probe why Nexstar Media Group is continuing to preempt the show following its return to air. The committee Democrats’ investigation already also included Sinclair, which continues to preempt Kimmel as well (see 2509230051). Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and three other Democratic senators pressed Nexstar and Sinclair earlier this week on the matter.