Carr Likely to Face Only Democrats' Ire on Kimmel at Senate FCC Hearing 3 Months Later

But lawmakers and observers will be closely watching whether that criticism comes from both sides of the dais or only from Democrats, amid perceptions that Republicans are more than ready to move on from the Kimmel incident at a hearing that will happen three months to the day after Carr’s comments first aired. Senate Commerce announced the hearing in early November (see 2511100042). Panel ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and other Carr critics argued that the Kimmel incident remains relevant months later and will allow lawmakers to highlight concerns about the FCC’s media policies during the second Trump administration.

Carr will likely push back strongly against Democrats’ censorship claims, as he has repeatedly, officials and lobbyists told us. Carr has insisted that it wasn't a threat when he said ABC would have to choose between “an easy way and a hard way" to act against Kimmel (see 2510230050). He also lampooned the controversy earlier this month at the annual FCBA dinner (see 2510230050). FCC Commissioners Anna Gomez (D) and Olivia Trusty (R) will also testify Wednesday, but they're expected to get less attention, according to communications lobbyists.

Carr met with several Senate Commerce Republicans ahead of Wednesday's hearing to highlight policy priorities, but Senate GOP aides emphasized that such meetings are routine and not an indication of concerns about party unity in support of the FCC chairman. The agency didn’t comment.

Republicans Eye Other Topics

In an interview Monday, Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, evaded questions about whether he would bring up Carr’s Kimmel controversy during the hearing. Cruz chastised Carr within days of the incident, saying the comments were “dangerous as hell” and “right out of” the movie Goodfellas (see 2509190059). “I’m confident that will be a topic of discussion,” Cruz told us Monday. “I expect multiple senators will ask about it.” However, he avoided saying whether he will be among them.

Cruz also emphasized that the Wednesday panel will be “an oversight hearing on the entirety of the FCC’s jurisdiction,” so many other issues will likely get attention. Several GOP-focused lobbyists told us they expect that Cruz and other Commerce Republicans will seek to deflect from the Kimmel comments as much as possible and will likely respond by citing instances of perceived Democratic media censorship, including a 2018 letter from Cantwell and 11 other Democratic senators asking then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to review Sinclair's fitness to maintain its broadcast licenses (see 1804120026).

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said Carr’s Kimmel comments have never been a focus for her but declined to say what she wants to discuss during the hearing. “We’ll see” whether the Kimmel incident is a major part of the panel, she said.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she expects questions about Kimmel will “probably be asked about five times before” her turn to address the FCC commissioners, but she nonetheless wants to hear Carr’s explanation. He has “done it [already], but I think he needs to do it in front of Congress,” Capito told us, adding that lawmakers want to hear Carr explain his comments because they illustrate “how he views freedom-of-speech issues” and media policy. She said she will instead press Carr on carriage blackouts, citing YouTube’s recent dispute with Disney over its channels, including ABC and ESPN (see 2511170042). She also wants to ask Carr about broadband deployment, including the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

Cantwell: 'Jawboning' Effects

Cantwell told us that Democrats will raise concerns Wednesday about the FCC's media policies under Carr “well beyond” the Kimmel incident. However, that controversy illustrates the Trump administration's “pressure on these companies” and raises questions about “what the consumer is getting out of all this, [because the public] keeps getting screwed,” she said. “We don't like it” when there's simultaneously media consolidation on the scale of recent deals, efforts to eliminate the broadcast TV ownership cap (see 2512150046) and Carr “jawboning” media companies by “saying, ‘Don't do this’ and ‘I have this decision in front of me.’”

Senate Communications ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., blamed Carr for the hearing happening three months after the Kimmel incident, saying the FCC chairman “canceled one [hearing date] after another. If he shows up, there are a lot of important questions to address, and I certainly hope … that we don’t get told he has 10 minutes” to testify. Lujan and other Senate Commerce Democrats pressed as far back as September for Cruz to set a hearing (see 2509290062). Lujan told us he hopes Cruz in particular “continues to hold [Carr] to account with his concerns [about Kimmel], because those concerns are widely shared, not just [among] Democrats but also Republicans.”

Cantwell said she anticipates that there will be Democratic interest in other topics, including misgivings about the role the FCC will play in implementing President Donald Trump's recent executive order aimed at preempting what the administration considers overly onerous state-level AI regulations (see 2512120048). The order requires Carr to begin a proceeding within 90 days “to determine whether to adopt a Federal reporting and disclosure standard for AI models that preempts conflicting State laws.”

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., told us she would like to see that subpanel hold a similar FCC oversight hearing soon to probe Carr on the Kimmel incident and other matters. “That really struck a chord with the public” in a way that most FCC issues don’t. “It’s not going away” as a relevant topic just because it happened several months ago, she said. Democrats are still “going to have something to say” about it.

“Everybody’s going to want to ask” Carr about his Kimmel comments because it “continues to shine a light on how outrageous the [FCC’s] actions have been” during his chairmanship, said American Association for Public Broadband Executive Director Gigi Sohn, a former senior aide to former commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. That’s “in some ways unfortunate, because there’s a lot else that’s going on and not going on at the commission that I think also needs attention,” including its September decision to undo its 2024 order allowing E-rate recipients to use funding for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots (see 2509300051).