// ARS TECHNICA — FINANZA
Democrats oppose plan to stack FCC with Republicans, plan probes of Chairman Carr
Democrats accuse FCC nominee of evading questions about Carr, her current boss.
Senate Democrats today opposed President Trump’s nominee for an open Federal Communications Commission seat, and criticized Republicans for moving to confirm a new commissioner during the period before Democrats take control of Congress in January 2027. Democrats also plan to use their majority next year to launch probes of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
“After the American people last week overwhelmingly rejected the MAGA agenda, there is no justification for this committee to advance partisan nominees during the lame-duck period,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said today at the Commerce Committee’s nomination hearing for Danielle Thumann Severs, Trump’s pick to fill an empty commissioner’s seat.
Thumann Severs, an attorney and senior counsel to Carr, faced questions from Democrats about whether she supports Carr’s attacks on TV broadcasters.
“Do you support Chairman Carr’s illegal campaign to remove Jimmy Kimmel from the nation’s airwaves?” Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) asked the nominee.
Thumann Severs responded that she has not advised Carr on media-related topics and declined Luján’s request to identify any specific policy issues on which she disagrees with Carr.
Luján predicted trouble for Carr when Democrats take the majority in both chambers of Congress. He seemed to suggest that Carr will quickly grow tired of having to testify in Congress multiple times a month under the Democratic majorities.
“I don’t think Chairman Carr is going to be around more than another three or four months because when we have the gavels in here, he will be here once a month,” Luján said. “And Mr. Carr, if you’re listening now, know you’re going to be in this body once a month, if not more, and in the House of Representatives as well, answering questions, and you don’t have the protection of the gavel any longer.” Luján said Democrats will use “subpoena authorities that you have to respond to so we can get to the bottom of the nonsense and the cover-ups that have been taking place.”
Markey accused Thumann Severs of evading questions about Carr threatening and taking actions against broadcasters on behalf of Trump. “Anyone seeking a seat on the Federal Communications Commission must be willing to stand up to such threats and to defend the First Amendment, and you’re not willing to do so here in your confirmation hearing,” Markey said.
Democrats similarly criticized Thumann Severs for not giving a clear answer on whether the FCC has authority to eliminate E-Rate, a $2 billion-a-year program that was created by Congress to connect students and library visitors to the Internet. Carr has proposed eliminating or scaling back the program. Thumann Severs said she helped Carr work on the E-Rate Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which seeks public comment about the program and the FCC’s authority to change or eliminate it.