Sen Luján Questioning Exposes that FCC is no Longer an Independent Agency

Sen Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, pressed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing regarding the independence of the FCC. In Senator Luján’s questioning, he pressed FCC Chairman Carr on the independence of the FCC and displayed images of the FCC’s own website, which, minutes prior to the hearing, stated in its mission statement that the FCC is “[a]n independent U.S. government agency.” In response to Senator Luján, Chairman Carr contradicted previous testimony he has given and the FCC’s own mission statement by stating that the FCC is not an independent agency. Minutes after Senator Luján’s questioning, the FCC edited its own website to remove the word “independent.”