民主党人在本周中期选举结果出炉后新获权力，正准备针对布伦登·卡（Brendan Carr）展开行动，指控他利用联邦通信委员会（FCC）威胁广播公司，并对得罪唐纳德·特朗普总统的人发起调查。
Democrats, newly empowered after this week’s midterm results, are preparing to go after Brendan Carr over claims he’s used the Federal Communications Commission to threaten broadcasters and launch investigations into those who’ve crossed President Donald Trump.
民主党人和少数共和党人对卡的行为感到不满，包括：威胁惩罚播放深夜脱口秀主持人吉米·金梅尔（Jimmy Kimmel）笑话的广播公司；就政治嘉宾上《观点》（The View）节目发起“平等时间”调查；就《60分钟》（60 Minutes）节目对当时总统竞选人卡玛拉·哈里斯（Kamala Harris）的采访剪辑提出投诉；以及以对迪士尼（Disney）的多元、公平与包容（DEI）调查为由威胁吊销执照。
Democrats and a handful of Republicans have chafed at Carr’s conduct, including threats to punish broadcasters airing jokes from late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel; an equal time investigation into political guests on “The View”; complaints about a “60 Minutes” edit of an interview with then-presidential contender Kamala Harris; and threats to yank licenses over a diversity, equity and inclusion investigation into Disney.
资深议员如今誓言将在新一届国会动用监督权力，传唤卡出席听证会——这可能迫使他在商务、司法和监督等委员会面前为其言论辩护。
Veteran lawmakers are now pledging to use their oversight powers in the new Congress to haul Carr for hearings — attention that could force him to defend his comments before committees like Commerce, Judiciary and Oversight.
民主党的调查最终可能塑造卡的政治遗产和公众对政府行为的印象，甚至可能挫败或削弱这位主席的威胁。
Democratic investigation could ultimately shape Carr’s legacy and the public’s impression of the administration’s actions and may even thwart or dull the chair’s threats.
“当民主党多数派履行其义务，追究‘让美国再次伟大’（MAGA）议程设计者对国家造成的伤害责任时——包括持续重创普通美国人的物价危机，而他们的亿万富翁资助者的财富却只增不减——请放心，布伦登·卡的名字和行动绝不会逃过我们的严密审查，”众议院能源与商务委员会资深成员、众议员伊薇特·克拉克（Yvette Clarke，民主党-纽约州）周四对《政治》（POLITICO）表示。
“As the Democratic majority embraces its obligation to hold the architects of the MAGA Agenda responsible for harms they have wrought upon our nation, including the affordability crisis that continues to devastate ordinary Americans while the wealth of their billionaire benefactors has only grown, rest assured that Brendan Carr’s name and actions will not escape our close review,” Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told POLITICO on Thursday.
“请放心，布伦登·卡作为一个毫无监管的公然党派马屁精的日子谢天谢地就要结束了。” 有望担任参议院商务委员会电信与媒体小组委员会主席的新墨西哥州参议员本·雷·卢汉（Ben Ray Luján）也誓言将动用一切可用工具向卡施压。
“Rest assured, Brendan Carr’s time as an overt partisan sycophant without oversight is thankfully coming to an end.”New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, who stands to chair the Senate Commerce Telecommunications and Media Subcommittee, also pledged to use every available tool to press Carr.
“卡主席辜负了美国人民，国会有责任要求透明度、调查滥用职权，并确保联邦通信委员会（FCC）将美国人利益放在首位，而不是服务于总统的政治利益，”卢汉说。
“Chairman Carr failed the American people and Congress has a responsibility to demand transparency, investigate abuses of power, and ensure the FCC is putting Americans first, not serving the political interests of the President,” Luján said.
周二的选举结果将赋予民主党新的工具，如传票，增强他们强制卡出席作证和要求机构提交文件的筹码。周四，康涅狄格州参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔，参议院国土安全调查小组委员会的民主党首席议员，警告卡称，如果他继续无视该小组委员会对他媒体活动的调查，委员会将寻求强制其作出回应。
Tuesday’s election outcome will hand Democrats new tools like subpoenas, upping their leverage to compel Carr’s testimony and request agency documents. On Thursday, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee, warned Carr that the committee would seek to compel a response if he keeps ignoring the subcommittee’s investigation into his media activities.
多数党可能会寻求实施限制，约束联邦通信委员会主席涉嫌将机构权力武器化的行为，特别是如果他们能与持怀疑态度的共和党人找到共同点，通过立法或拨款附加条款来实现。克拉克表示，他们打算追求所有调查途径，包括调查卡的议程如何影响了民众的钱包和电视内容。
The majorities could seek to impose curbs restricting the FCC chair’s alleged weaponization of agency powers, particularly if they can find common ground with skeptical Republicans, through legislation or appropriations riders. Clarke said they intend to pursue all avenues of investigation, including into how Carr’s agenda has affected people’s pocketbooks and TV content.
主要领导人长期以来已表达对卡的不满，这位坚定的特朗普盟友至少自2025年接任主席以来便备受诟病。（民主党此前曾更快与卡合作，这从他最近在2023年三次以口头表决方式获得参议院确认便可见一斑。）预计将出任众议院议长的哈基姆·杰弗里斯今年早些时候表示，卡是“一个腐败的政治打手和假主席”，他将“很快发现自己处于国会调查的对立面”。
Top leaders have long signaled discontent with Carr, a staunch Trump ally, at least since he took the gavel in 2025. (Democrats were quicker to work with Carr beforehand, evident in his three Senate confirmations by voice vote as recently as 2023.) Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the likely incoming speaker of the House, said earlier this year that Carr is “a corrupt political hack and fake chair” who will “find himself on the wrong side of a congressional investigation in short order.”
预计将出任众议院能源和商务委员会主席的弗兰克·帕洛内（民主党-新泽西州）在一年多前曾在卡威胁播放吉米·金梅尔节目的广播公司后呼吁卡辞职，杰弗里斯和预计将出任参议院多数党领袖的查克·舒默也曾提出同样的呼吁。预计将领导司法委员会的杰米·拉斯金（民主党-马里兰州）已对卡审查迪士尼旗下广播公司（ABC）的执照以及特朗普的媒体优先事项据称影响并购审批的指控表示反对。
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the likely incoming chair of House Energy and Commerce, called on Carr to resign more than a year ago after his threats to broadcasters airing Kimmel, as did Jeffries and presumptive incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who will likely helm the Judiciary Committee, has objected to Carr’s scrutiny of Disney’s ABC licenses and allegations that Trump’s media priorities swayed merger approvals.
卡尔广泛反驳了关于他在管控言论或顺应特朗普意愿行事的指控，坚称自己是在努力恢复公众对媒体的信任，并重振数十年来未被执行的旧广播规则。
Carr has broadly disputed charges that he is policing speech or acting partial to Trump’s whims, insisting he is trying to restore trust in media and reinvigorate old broadcast rules not enforced for decades.
联邦通信委员会发言人未就民主党赢得选举胜利的置评请求作出回应。在10月29日的新闻发布会上，卡尔承诺未来两年将“全速推进”他的议程。
FCC spokespeople didn’t respond to a request for comment about Democrats’ election victory. At an Oct. 29 news conference, Carr pledged that “it’s full steam ahead” for his agenda the next two years.
“我这边完全没有顾虑，”卡尔当时告诉《政治报》（POLITICO）。“只要在正确的政策成果上达成一致，我一直很乐意与任何人合作。”国会山外的批评者也在呼吁国会对卡尔进行严厉质询，像“要求进步”（Demand Progress）和“自由新闻”（Free Press）等组织甚至呼吁弹劾他。
“No concerns on my end at all,” Carr told POLITICO then. “I’m always happy to work with anybody when we’re aligned on the right types of policy outcomes.”Carr’s critics off the Hill are also clamoring for congressional grillings, with groups like Demand Progress and Free Press going as far as calling for his impeachment.
“布伦丹是位才华横溢的律师和发言人，但我认为他真的可能在交叉盘问中被钉住，暴露出其中的一些虚伪和选择性执法，”消费者权益组织“自由新闻”的总法律顾问马特·伍德（Matt Wood）说。“卡尔很多时候之所以能逃脱责任，是因为他在甚至没有权力落实威胁的情况下进行威胁。”考虑到准备工作需要投入大量时间，这些可能举行的听证会可能会挤占卡尔处理其他联邦通信委员会事务的精力。
"Brendan’s a talented lawyer and spokesman at this point, but I think he could really be cross-examined and pinned down on just some of the hypocrisy and the selective enforcement,” said Matt Wood, general counsel at consumer advocacy group Free Press. “What Carr's gotten away with a lot is threatening things even when he doesn't have the power to carry them out.”These likely hearings could eat into Carr’s bandwidth to tackle other FCC matters, given the amount of time that goes into preparing.
“他们确实会占用很多时间，”信息技术与创新基金会（Information Technology and Innovation Foundation）宽带与频谱政策主任乔·凯恩（Joe Kane）说。“这将成为他生活中更大的部分，需要同时处理这些准备工作以及事后记录的提问之类的事情。这也让民主党有更多机会获取电视片段。”卡尔（Carr）在国会山也失去了可靠的盟友，包括现任众议院能源与商务委员会通信与技术小组委员会主席理查德·哈德森（Richard Hudson）（R-北卡罗来纳州），他多次为主席的议程辩护，却在连任竞选中落败。
“They do eat up a lot of time,” said Joe Kane, director of broadband and spectrum policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation think tank. “It's going to be a bigger part of his life, sort of having to deal with both the prep for those and the sort of after-the-fact questions for the record, that kind of thing. It also just gives the Democrats more of an opportunity to kind of get clips for TV.”Carr is also losing reliable allies on the Hill, including current House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), who repeatedly defended the chair’s agenda but lost his reelection bid.
尽管部分共和党人，如德克萨斯州参议员泰德·克鲁兹（Ted Cruz），对卡尔的媒体议程表示不安，但大多数人仍遵从卡尔的优先事项，并赞扬他削减监管的努力。
Although some within the GOP, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, voiced discomfort with Carr’s media agenda, the majority deferred to Carr’s priorities and praised his efforts to slash regulations.
曾为卡尔工作过的共和党技术顾问埃文·斯瓦兹特劳伯（Evan Swarztrauber）表示，民主党不应忽视可以与主席合作的领域，例如应对机器人电话（robocalls）和为私营部门释放频谱。
Evan Swarztrauber, a Republican tech consultant who once worked for Carr, said Democrats shouldn’t lose sight of areas they can work with the chair, like addressing robocalls and freeing up spectrum for the private sector.
“我认为这种能力是存在的，”斯瓦兹特劳伯说。“它一直都在，而且会继续下去。”卡尔的盟友和怀疑者普遍认为，他不会因为新出现的民主党多数而改变自己的行为。
“I think that capability is there,” Swarztrauber said. “It's always been there, and that'll continue.”Carr’s allies and skeptics alike tend to believe he won’t change his own behavior on account of new Democratic majorities.
“我认为布伦丹在扑克术语里属于‘锅已投入’的状态，”Optimal Advisory的资深电信分析师布莱尔·莱文（Blair Levin）说。“他不会因为‘我需要停止攻击迪士尼’或‘我需要停止攻击转播关于特朗普负面新闻的广播公司’而改变这种做法。他会继续这样做。”
“I think Brendan is what in Poker terms is pot committed,” said Blair Levin, a veteran telecom analyst at Optimal Advisory. “He's not going to look at this and say, ‘I need to stop attacking Disney,’ for example, ‘I need to stop attacking broadcasters who relay negative news about Trump.’ He'll keep doing that.”