Senate Democrats Grill FCC Nominee Thumann Severs on Carr, Vow Regular Testimony Once They Take Control in January

Senate Democrats used a confirmation hearing Tuesday, Nov. 10, to preview what Brendan Carr's FCC will face once they take over Congress in January 2027.

The nominee was Danielle Thumann Severs, an attorney and senior counsel to Carr. President Trump picked her for one of the commission's two open seats. The Senate Commerce Committee hearing was among the first held since last week's midterms, which returned both chambers to Democratic control.

The quorum problem

The FCC currently has three members: Republicans Carr and Olivia Trusty, and Democrat Anna Gomez. Gomez's term expired earlier this year. Under the law she can keep serving through next year if no replacement is confirmed.

Confirming Thumann Severs would give Republicans a 3-1 edge. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said that would let three Republicans form a quorum on their own, and that a recent Supreme Court decision could allow Trump to fire Gomez. The result, he said, would be a commission with no Democrat on it.

Hickenlooper said Senate precedent is to move FCC nominees in pairs, one from each party. He said he "strongly" believed Thumann Severs should have been paired with a renomination of Gomez. "A bipartisan FCC is essential to avoid things like large-scale media consolidation," he said, and to protect "a free and diverse press."

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., argued the timing was the problem. "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," he said.

Gomez said last Wednesday she is ready to work with members of both parties to "restore a fully staffed, bipartisan Commission as Congress intended."

Kimmel and the broadcast licenses

Much of the hearing was about Carr. Last year he told Disney it could handle Jimmy Kimmel "the easy way or the hard way" and said Disney must "take action" on Kimmel "or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead." ABC's owner then suspended Kimmel. The top Senate and House Democrats called for Carr's resignation at the time.

In April, Carr ordered an early license review of Disney's eight company-owned ABC stations. That order came a day after Trump publicly called for Kimmel to be fired. No source has said the two events are connected, and no one has presented a finding that the review was improper.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., asked the nominee: "Do you support Chairman Carr's illegal campaign to remove Jimmy Kimmel from the nation's airwaves?" "Illegal" is Luján's characterization. No court or agency has ruled on that question.

Thumann Severs said she has not advised Carr on media matters. She declined to name any policy issue on which she disagrees with him. She vowed to make independent judgments if confirmed. Markey accused her of dodging questions about Carr's actions against broadcasters. "Anyone seeking a seat on the Federal Communications Commission must be willing to stand up to such threats and to defend the First Amendment," he said.

For a conservative audience, the First Amendment question deserves the same weight regardless of which party's host is being targeted. Using a license threat to pressure a network over a comedian's monologue is a government-speech problem. Carr's critics are not all Democrats. CQ-Roll Call noted that some Republicans have also criticized his comments about using the public-interest standard against stations over programming.

E-Rate

Senators also pressed the nominee on E-Rate, the program Congress created to connect students and library visitors to the internet. Carr has proposed eliminating or scaling it back. Thumann Severs said she helped work on the FCC's notice seeking public comment on the program and on the commission's authority to change or end it.

"I can't prejudge the open proceeding at the FCC right now," she said.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said the FCC cannot eliminate E-Rate without congressional approval. "We never directed the FCC to eliminate the program," she said, adding that with gas, grocery and utility prices rising, the FCC should not be "making it harder for schools to stay connected." Duckworth also said she feared the nominee could help turn the FCC from an independent regulator into "an arm of the White House press office."

What Democrats plan for Carr

Luján said Carr "has been evading questions and ignoring his responsibilities." He promised Carr would testify at least monthly in both chambers. "You don't have the protection of the gavel any longer," he said. He also said Democrats would use subpoena authority to "get to the bottom of the nonsense and the cover-ups."

Luján predicted Carr would not last more than "another three or four months." No source describes a mechanism for removing him. Carr leads the commission under a Trump appointment.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who is set to chair the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has already asked Carr for documents. They cover the FCC's handling of investigations into media companies and its approval last year of the merger that created Paramount Skydance.

Carr's side has not given ground. A spokesperson said that "over the next two years, under Chairman Carr's leadership, the FCC will continue to deliver great results for the American people." After the FCC's meeting last week, Carr told reporters he had "no concerns" about his relationship with congressional Democrats and that the commission would go "full steam ahead" in 2027.

What comes next

Republicans still control the Senate until January. Whether the committee votes on Thumann Severs before then has not been announced.

The FCC's next meeting is Nov. 19. Its agenda includes a vote on authorizing prisons to jam contraband cellphones. Carr will run it with a two-to-one Republican majority, and the third seat is the one Senate Democrats are fighting over.