1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

Congress needs to investigate FCC Chair Brendan Carr and provide real oversight of an agency that has become a tool for consolidating Trump-friendly media power. The FCC just voted to eliminate the longstanding rule preventing a single corporation from owning stations reaching more than 40 percent of American households — a gift, as one media reporter put it, to Nexstar and Sinclair, which already dominate local TV. If Nexstar acquires Tegna, it would reach 4 in 5 American households. That's not competition. That's a monopoly. The ethics situation is just as alarming. ProPublica reported that Carr accepted $75,000 in gifts from CBS and its parent company, including a $125,000 skybox seat at the Kennedy Center alongside Paramount CEO David Ellison — then voted to approve the Paramount-Skydance merger. The Democracy Defenders Fund has filed a formal complaint. This is textbook self-dealing, and it demands a congressional response. The FCC's only Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, called the ownership cap repeal "unlawful on its face" — and she's right that Congress created that cap. Her term has expired and Trump intends to replace her with another loyalist. Before that happens, the Commerce Committee must demand a paired appointment and hold public hearings on Carr's conduct. The public deserves an FCC that serves the public interest, not one man's political agenda.