Democrats Plan Continued Carr Criticism at House FCC Hearing; More GOP Defense Possible
The House Communications Subcommittee’s FCC oversight hearing Wednesday is highly likely to echo the dynamics and most of the same topics that dominated an identical Senate Commerce Committee panel last month (see 2512170067 and 2512170070), lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. Democrats are expected to again place a major emphasis on castigating FCC Chairman Brendan Carr over his media regulatory actions, while Republicans are likely to defend Carr even more strongly than Senate Commerce GOP members and steer the hearing’s focus toward less controversial matters.
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Observers told us that they will be closely watching the House Communications hearing for any signs of Carr slow-walking on proposals for the FCC to eliminate or ease the 39% national TV station audience reach cap amid chatter that he may be waiting for more definitive signals from President Donald Trump. Lobbyists said they will also be listening for any lawmaker discontent over the pace and direction of the FCC’s implementation of the 800 MHz spectrum pipeline included in the 2025 GOP-sought reconciliation package. The hearing will begin at 10:15 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
House Communications ranking member Doris Matsui of California expects that she and fellow Democrats will bring up Carr’s media regulatory approach in multiple contexts, she said, beyond simply registering their ongoing objections to his comments against ABC and parent Disney in mid-September over Jimmy Kimmel Live! (see 2509220059 and 2509170064).
Congressional Democrats’ ire over the Kimmel incident and other FCC media actions “is not going to end” soon, particularly given the spillover effects on the agency’s review of media deals and the debate over the broadcast-ownership cap, Matsui told us. She noted continued misgivings about how Nexstar’s proposed $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna could “take over so much of local broadcasting.”
Two media industry lobbyists said Carr's response to ownership-cap questions will be important, given that Trump criticized such proposals in November because they might aid broadcasters that he sees as favoring Democrats (see 2511240055). Media industry lobbyists said any dialogue about the broadcast-ownership cap at House Communications' Wednesday hearing will be interesting, given Senate Commerce’s own yet-to-be-scheduled hearing on the topic (see 2601130068).
'Pent-Up'
Congressional Democrats also have “pent-up” frustrations about other FCC actions under Carr that could come up Wednesday, including concerns about his proposal to slash some broadband nutrition label requirements in a pending further NPRM (see 2512310047), Matsui said. They may also vent frustrations about NTIA’s changes last year to the $42.5 billion BEAD program’s rules (see 2512180064).
“Democrats would never [hijack] one of our hearings” to dunk on the Trump administration, joked House Communications Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., in a brief interview Monday. More criticism of Carr’s Kimmel comments and other media actions “may happen. It’d be too bad if it does, but I’m sure he can handle it all right.” Hudson said he and other Republicans will largely highlight what they see as positive FCC accomplishments under Carr’s chairmanship, though “there may be a couple issues about implementation of” the reconciliation spectrum pipeline.
“There’s probably nothing newsworthy that [Republicans are] gonna bring up that would surprise anybody,” Hudson said. "Overall, I’ve been very pleased" with Carr’s performance as FCC chairman. "He’s shown some good leadership." Senate Commerce Republicans also largely praised Carr during the December hearing, though panel Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, acknowledged his own past criticism of Carr’s Kimmel comments (see 2509190059).
Digital Progress Institute President Joel Thayer predicted that House Communications Republicans are going to be “more focused” on highlighting positive parts of Carr’s agenda, while Democrats will “just emulate something reminiscent of a South Park episode” caricaturing him. Democrats may also ask Carr why he’s “focusing all this time on broadcast [matters] when there's always spectrum issues that we have to deal with,” particularly now that the FCC must implement the new spectrum pipeline, Thayer said.
Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood said he expects Carr to again spar fiercely with Democrats, mirroring his testy exchanges with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and others at the Senate Commerce hearing. Markey at the time called on Carr to resign over the FCC’s probe of Audacy’s KCBS San Francisco, which the commission chairman rejected soon after. “We've seen some assertive or even combative chairmen in past” congressional FCC oversight hearings, but “I was still shocked at just how combative [Carr] was” in December, Wood told us. “It's clear that [Carr] feels like he has an audience of one [in Trump], so he puts on that persona” publicly.