After Kimmel Blowback, Senate Commerce Eyes November FCC Oversight Hearing With Carr
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).
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Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell of Washington and other Democrats had been urging Cruz to include Carr as a witness at an Oct. 8 hearing examining what Republicans call government agencies’ actions to pressure major social media platforms to engage in “jawboning” censorship, lobbyists said. The committee's Wednesday notice about the censorship hearing suggested that an “additional witness,” besides the three listed, “may be announced at a later date,” which lobbyists interpreted as leaving open the possibility that Carr may appear then, too. Lobbyists said a November date for Senate Commerce’s FCC hearing isn’t final, but the panel is committed to bringing the commissioners in before year-end. Several Democratic lawmakers teed off on Carr’s Kimmel comments during an unofficial Monday forum (see 2509290062).