Senate Commerce Committee

On March 25, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to request that the Department of Defense turn over any Biden-era documents referring to the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum auction authority. In the letter, Sen Cruz details allegations that Biden-era DOD officials pressured defense contractors to lobby against reauthorizing auction authority.

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced  14 bills and two nominations, Mark Meador to be a Federal Trade Commissioner (Roll call vote: 20 Yeas, 8 Nays) and Michael Kratsios to be the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (Roll call vote: 24 Yeas, 4 Nays). The approved legislation covers a wide swath of the Commerce Committee’s broad jurisdiction, including, oceans, space exploration, consumer protection, semiconductor manufacturing, and industrial supply chains. The legislation, passed by voice vote, includes:

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced the Subcommittee assignments for the 119^th Congress. Chairman Cruz and Ranking Member Cantwell are ex officio members on each subcommittee.

Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Chairman

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.)

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.)

Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.)

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)

The Senate voted 51-45 to confirm Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, putting in place a billionaire Wall Street veteran turned avowed protectionist to lead the president’s global trade agenda. The former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm, ran the personnel operation for Trump’s presidential transition. Lutnick, age 63, took the reins at Cantor in 1991. He stepped down following the confirmation vote. President Trump has said the secretary will lead the second-term trade portfolio as well as oversee an agency of roughly 47,000 employees.

Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, announced staff promotions and senior staff positions for his committee office for the 119th Congress. 

The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee overwhelmingly approved 17 bipartisan bills and the nomination of Howard Lutnick to be Secretary of Commerce. The legislation passed touches almost all aspects of the Commerce Committee’s wide jurisdiction including transportation, weather and emergency forecasting, consumer protection and fee transparency, manufacturing and supply-chain resilience, oceans and fisheries, promoting tourism, and protecting children online. In addition to the nomination of Howard Lutnick, the committee approved bills including:

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX), Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Katie Britt (R-AL) introduced bipartisan legislation to keep kids off social media and help protect them from its harmful impacts. The Kids Off Social Media Act (S.278) would set a minimum age of 13 to use social media platforms and prevent social media companies from feeding algorithmically-targeted content to users under the age of 17.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) led 13 Senate Commerce Republicans in introducing a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) that would nullify a partisan FCC order. As adopted, the Biden administration’s Wi-Fi Hotspot Order expanded the Universal Service Fund (USF) to subsidize Wi-Fi hotspots for off-campus use by schoolchildren. This partisan order, strongly opposed by then-Commissioner Brendan Carr and Commissioner Nathan