Maria Cantwell

Cantwell & Colleagues Demand FCC Rescind Order for Early License Renewals to Disney Following Trump’s Latest Attacks on Broadcasters | U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington

Position: Senators demand the FCC rescind an order requiring Disney to file early license renewals for ABC broadcast stations, arguing the order violates the First Amendment and represents an abuse of FCC authority to target editorial content based on presidential pressure.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) led their colleagues in a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr, urging the FCC to rescind last week’s order requiring Disney to file early license renewals for its eight ABC broadcast stations. The FCC order, at Chairman Carr’s directive, came just one day after President Donald Trump publicly demanded ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and is the latest effort by President Trump and Chairman Carr to weaponize the FCC’s authorities to target broadcasters. In the letter, the Senators wrote, “The campaign against Disney and its editorial decision-making, culminating in last week’s early-renewal order, is an egregious abuse of power and a clear violation of the First Amendment. Although the FCC has the authority to ensure broadcasters operate in the public interest, it cannot serve as President Trump’s roving censor, threatening to revoke licenses against broadcasters whose editorial content — including a comedian’s jokes — displeases the President. In fact, before serving as chairman, you frequently recognized the importance of the First Amendment and the freedom of speech, including for comedians. As you previously explained: ‘From Internet memes to late-night comedians, from cartoons to the plays and poems as old as organized government itself - Political Satire circumvents traditional gatekeepers & helps hold those in power accountable. Not surprising that it’s long been targeted for censorship.’ Now, you are doing exactly that — targeting political satire for censorship.” Senators John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) co-signed the letter. The Senators request answers by May 21, 2026, to questions including: Last September, in the wake of ABC’s suspension of Kimmel, Sen. Cantwell strongly defended free speech and condemned the actions of Chairman Carr. The full text of the letter is HERE.

Cantwell Presses Trump FTC on Big Grocery Chains’ Anti-Competitive Practices that Stifle Competition, Leave Local Communities with Fewer Choices & Consumers with Higher Costs | U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington

Position: Senator Cantwell and colleagues urge the FTC to strengthen enforcement against grocery retailers' use of restrictive covenants in property agreements that prevent competitors from entering local markets, arguing these practices reduce consumer choice and drive up prices, particularly harming lower-income communities.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Finance Committee, sent a letter to Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Andrew Ferguson regarding the use of “restrictive covenants” by grocery retailers to keep competitors out of local markets, leaving communities with fewer options and driving up grocery prices for consumers. The letter, which was also signed by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Cory Booker (D-NJ), follows an April 15 hearing where Sen. Cantwell called on the FTC to do more to combat skyrocketing grocery prices and protect consumers from these anti-competitive practices. “The 2016 closure of an Albertsons grocery store created a food desert in the Birchwood neighborhood of Bellingham, Washington,” Sen. Cantwell and her colleagues wrote. “Yet when Albertsons later sold the property in 2018, it included a deed restriction that would have prevented a grocery store from operating in the space until 2038. Albertsons ultimately removed the deed restriction after the Washington Attorney General opened an investigation into whether Albertsons had violated Washington’s antitrust laws.” At an April 15 hearing, during which Sen. Cantwell focused on the affordability crisis facing families, Sen. Cantwell asked Ferguson whether the FTC considers restrictive covenants used by grocery chains to keep out competitors to be an unfair method of competition. Restrictive covenants are terms written in property sale, purchase, or lease agreements that restrict the future use of a property. Earlier this year, the State of Washington became the first state to ban restrictive covenants that prevent or limit a property from being used by a grocery store or pharmacy. “Lower income communities are more vulnerable to these closures and the reduction of competition,” their letter continued. “A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that ‘[p]oorer, more concentrated markets experience larger and more persistent food price shocks, amplifying the burden on low-income households.’ That burden may be growing as the latest round of tariffs and the ongoing conflict in Iran threaten further spikes in grocery prices.” “Americans are struggling with rising prices, and anti-competitive corporate lawfare should not be a reason costs stay high,” the senators wrote. For decades, large retailers have used anti-competitive restrictive covenants—written into property sale, purchase, and lease agreements—to block competitors’ access to a local market. These restrictive covenants prohibit competitors from purchasing or leasing commercial real estate. As a result, storefronts are left empty, small businesses are boxed out from opening in certain locations, consumers have fewer options, and companies corner regional markets and drive-up prices. Large retailers’ use of restrictive covenants has been especially prevalent in the grocery industry. Significant square footage and parking requirements limit the number of suitable properties available in a given area for grocers, especially in developed or urban areas, and the anti-competitive effects of restrictive covenants only exacerbate these constraints. The impact of these anti-competitive covenants on consumers is further heightened in the grocery industry because grocery store competition is local. In the FTC’s recent and successful challenge of the Kroger-Albertsons merger, data “showed that on average, more than seventy percent of defendants’ sales are drawn from within five miles of a store,” which the district court found “support[ed] the drawing of small, local geographic markets.” Fed. Trade Comm’n v. Kroger Co., No. 3:24-cv-00347, 2024 WL 5053016, at *23 (D. Or. Dec. 10, 2024). Across the country, anti-competitive restrictive covenants have shut out grocers from operating in locations where consumers would have otherwise frequented their stores and benefited from their presence in the community. In Woonsocket, Rhode Island, only one supermarket services roughly 45,000 people due to anti-competitive restrictive covenants set by competitors. Among those stores with restrictive covenants was a Walmart store that closed in 2011. For six years, Walmart prevented competitors from moving into the location, while the property sat vacant. When Walmart finally sold the building in 2017, it included a “25-year restrictive covenant prohibiting the property from being used for a grocery store or supermarket.” The restrictive covenant also prohibits the property from being used for “a wholesale club operation similar to that of Sam’s Club.” On the West Coast, the 2016 closure of an Albertsons grocery store created a food desert in the Birchwood neighborhood of Bellingham, Washington. Yet when Albertsons later sold the property in 2018, it included a deed restriction that would have prevented a grocery store from operating in the space until 2038. Albertsons ultimately removed the deed restriction after the Washington Attorney General opened an investigation into whether Albertsons had violated Washington’s antitrust laws. When grocers leave a community, anti-competitive restrictive covenants further cement the harm caused by the initial loss of the store, leaving consumers without ready access to food or more exposed to high food prices with fewer choices to seek better deals. Additionally, when a grocery store closes, communities often lose a neighborhood pharmacy, and anti-competitive restrictive covenants can prolong pharmacy deserts. Lower income communities are more vulnerable to these closures and the reduction of competition. A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that “[p]oorer, more concentrated markets experience larger and more persistent food price shocks, amplifying the burden on low-income households.” That burden may be growing as the latest round of tariffs and the ongoing conflict in Iran threaten further spikes in grocery prices. Americans are struggling with rising prices, and anti-competitive corporate lawfare should not be a reason costs stay high. Given the ongoing impacts of anti-competitive restrictive covenants on communities across the country, please provide answers to the following questions: I ask that you respond to these questions by no later than May 15, 2026. I look forward to your response.

Cantwell Introduces Resolution Raising Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women | U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a senior member on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, joined U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) in introducing a resolution commemorating May 5th, 2026, as a National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. "Indigenous people – especially women and girls – are being murdered or going missing at horrific and unacceptable rates. On May 5th, we remember the victims of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis and recognize the suffering of families and Native communities. We must demand justice and continue our work to get more law enforcement resources for tribes,” Sen. Cantwell said. Sen. Cantwell is a strong advocate for increasing the presence of tribal law enforcement officers on reservations to help combat the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP) crisis among Native communities. In 2023 and 2025, she introduced the Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act, which would help tribal police departments hire and retain tribal law enforcement officers by providing access to federal retirement, pension, death, and injury benefits on par with law enforcement officers from non-tribal jurisdictions. In 2023, she called on then-President Joe Biden to work to secure additional Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services Missing and Murdered Unit (MMU) agents for the State of Washington. Following Sen. Cantwell’s urging, in June 2023 the U.S. Department of Justice announced the creation of the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program, which dedicated five Assistant U.S. Attorneys and five coordinators to the task of resolving the cases of missing and murdered indigenous people. This included dedicated personnel based in Eastern Washington. In 2020, the Sen. Cantwell-championed Savanna’s Act was signed into law. The law helps federal, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies better respond to cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and people by improving coordination among all levels of law enforcement, increasing data collection and information sharing, and providing tribal governments with vital resources. Sen. Cantwell has also helped secure public safety funding specifically for tribal communities. In the 2013 and 2022 reauthorizations of the Violence Against Women Act, Sen. Cantwell fought to include strong tribal policies including: allowing tribes to continue to have jurisdiction over dating violence and domestic violence crimes and violations of tribal protection orders, restoring tribal jurisdiction over violent and dangerous crimes such as child and sexual abuse, sex trafficking and stalking, and providing tribes with more resources to improve and build public safety programs within their communities. In 2019, Sen. Cantwell co-sponsored the Securing Urgent Resources Vital to Indian Victim Empowerment (SURVIVE) Act to provide a substantial increase in resources for tribal crime victim assistance programs.

Cantwell Responds to Climate Change Denial on Senate Floor: “[We] Cannot Bury Our Heads in the Sand.” | U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington

Position: Senator Cantwell argues that the Senate should recognize the reality of anthropogenic climate change and sea-level rise, and that Congress must take necessary steps to protect communities, infrastructure, and the economy from these threats.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, urged her colleagues to take sea-level rise seriously in remarks on the Senate floor. “[We] cannot bury our heads in the sand while climate change and sea level rise put billions of dollars of infrastructure and millions of Americans at risk,” Sen. Cantwell said. “If we want to protect our economy and these communities, we need the data and the science to understand the problem. We need to take the necessary steps to protect our communities and our infrastructure and our economy.” Sen. Cantwell’s remarks came immediately after the failure of Senate Resolution 551, which sought to resolve: “That the Senate recognizes the reality of anthropogenic climate change and the role it plays in dangerously raising sea levels.” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who introduced the measure, asked for unanimous consent that it be adopted. But Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) objected, saying “The simple truth is, there's no climate emergency.” In her remarks, Sen. Cantwell urged Republican colleagues to try to change Sen. Johnson’s mind. “I hope that some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle that represent coastal states will talk to our colleague from Wisconsin and encourage him to instead support this legislation,” she said. As evidence, Sen. Cantwell shared examples from Washington state of how sea level rise is already creating problems. Sen. Cantwell also cited a recent Seattle Times article describing work to understand threats to Chinook salmon on the Stillaguamish River. “In this river alone, Chinook populations are down to roughly 10 percent of their historic levels,” said Sen. Cantwell. “So this is really important to us as a state. We want salmon. We want to understand rising sea levels. We want to understand what flooding is going to do to create damage. When are those spawning grounds going to be lost, and when are Chinook survival rates going to continue to drop? We want to know.” Sen. Cantwell noted her bipartisan push to identify how climate change threatens federal government infrastructure. In September 2024, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a new report requested by Sen. Cantwell and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), on the economic impacts of climate change to the federal government. This report built on an October 2017 GAO report requested by Senators Cantwell and Collins on the same topic. The report, titled Climate Resilience: Congressional Action Needed to Enhance Climate Economics Information and to Limit Federal Fiscal Exposure, warned that “Available estimates indicate significant projected costs to the economy and the federal government as a result of climate change,” and that “the federal government is currently not well-organized to manage this reality.” GAO’s work on costs to the federal government followed eye-opening analysis in the Fifth National Climate Assessment that found the cost of climate damages to the entire U.S. economy from extreme weather events is already $1.5 trillion per decade. “So literally, you're costing taxpayers a trillion dollars because you don't want to adapt or mitigate those impacts,” Sen. Cantwell warned. Video of Sen. Cantwell’s floor speech is HERE; a transcript is HERE.

As Gas Prices Spike, Cantwell Introduces Bill to Target Petroleum Market Manipulators & Protect Consumers at the Pump | U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington

Position: Senator Cantwell introduced legislation to establish a dedicated FTC unit to monitor and prevent fraud or manipulation in petroleum markets, increase price transparency, and strengthen penalties for market manipulators in order to protect consumers from artificially inflated gas prices.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act. The bill would create a new Transportation Fuel Monitoring and Enforcement Unit at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) dedicated to proactively monitoring and preventing fraud or manipulation that may be artificially inflating pump prices, increasing price transparency in transportation fuel markets, and increasing penalties for bad actors. In the past, unscrupulous oil traders have taken advantage of volatility and supply disruptions to profit at the expense of consumers. “This legislation couldn’t come at a more needed time as drivers in Washington and all across the country face record breaking pump prices,” said Sen. Cantwell. “Protecting American households and businesses requires forcing the same level of transparency in fuel markets that we successfully fought to secure in other energy markets. This legislation will put a full-time policeman on the beat able to shine a bright light on the mysterious middle of gas markets and go after any bad actors that are exploiting consumers.” Today, gas prices in Washington state hit $5.57 per gallon – the highest in state history. KOMO 4 SEATTLE: State gas prices hit record average of $5.57 a gallon, squeezing drivers’ budgets The New York Times: Oil Hits Wartime High Above $120 a Barrel as Standoff Shows No End in Sight The bill was co-introduced by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Alex Padilla (D-CA). The Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act: A one-page summary of the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act is available HERE. The full bill text is available HERE. As Chair of the Committee, Sen. Cantwell led the initial introduction of this legislation in the 117th Congress, and it passed out of the Commerce Committee in May 2022. In April 2022, Sen. Cantwell held a hearing that revealed how a lack of oversight and visibility into petroleum trades affects prices at the gas pump. The bill was also introduced in the 118th Congress. Sen. Cantwell has long sought to protect consumers from unjustified energy prices. In the aftermath of Enron’s energy trading schemes, she authored an amendment to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that strengthened the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) authority to investigate and punish market manipulation in the electricity and natural gas markets. Since then, FERC has built a permanent cadre of internal energy experts that continually monitor and investigate anomalous market trends and suspicious behavior. In the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis, Sen. Cantwell authored legislation that gave the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) similar anti-market manipulation authority and responsibilities in financially-settled energy commodity derivatives markets. A Sen. Cantwell addition to the 2007 Energy Bill gave the FTC virtually identical anti-market manipulation authority and responsibility to oversee wholesale crude oil and petroleum markets. However, unlike FERC and the CFTC, the FTC has not used their authority to protect American consumers.

Cantwell Joins Democratic Colleagues in Demanding DHS and SSA Uphold Federal Law Rather Than President Trump’s Illegal Executive Order to Limit Voting | U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington

Position: Senator Cantwell and colleagues oppose President Trump's executive order directing DHS and SSA to use citizenship data for voter roll maintenance, arguing it violates federal law, the Constitution, and will cause eligible voters to be wrongfully removed from voting rolls.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined 27 of her colleagues in demanding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) follow existing federal law rather than the March 31 Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump, which violates the Constitution and risks disenfranchising eligible voters. President Trump’s directive, which has been challenged in the courts, would require DHS to create eligible voter lists – which the federal government does not have the authority to do. Under the order, DHS is required to use data from the Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program that incorporates incorrect and incomplete, out-of-date citizenship information from SSA, which DHS has acknowledged may produce inaccurate citizenship verification results. If the President’s executive order is implemented in place of current federal law, it will prevent many eligible voters from exercising their fundamental right to vote. In their letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the senators wrote: “The foreseeable result is that tens of thousands of eligible U.S. citizen voters will discover on Election Day that they are barred from voting because they have been incorrectly removed from voter rolls. Indeed, reports have already confirmed that eligible Americans are being targeted for removal from voter rolls after being erroneously flagged as non-citizens by the SAVE program. As state and local election officials have stated, the SAVE program’s expanded use for voter roll maintenance would likely lead to even greater wrongful disenfranchisement.” “The Department should immediately discontinue the SAVE program’s use for these illegal and non-statutory purposes and take no steps pursuant to the Executive Order that violate the law and risk disenfranchising eligible voters,” the senators concluded. In their letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, the senators wrote, “SSA data is already at the core of the overhauled SAVE program at DHS, which continues to have serious accuracy and reliability concerns. State and local elections officials, nonpartisan voter advocacy organizations, federal agencies, and courts have made clear that the SAVE program is not appropriate for voter roll maintenance because incorrect and out-of-date citizenship information in the databases it queries, including SSA databases, leads to eligible voters often being incorrectly flagged as non-citizens.” “Given that SSA is an unreliable source for information on U.S. citizenship, that recent DOGE activities at SSA put the American public’s data at risk, and that federal interference in state-run elections is a clear violation of the Constitution’s Elections Clause, SSA should immediately discontinue its data sharing activities and take no steps pursuant to the Executive Order that violate the law and risk disenfranchising eligible voters,” the senators concluded. The letters were led by U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Read the full letter to DHS Secretary Mullin HERE. Read the full letter to SSA Commissioner Bisignano HERE. On Wednesday, Sen. Cantwell was tapped by Sen. Schumer to join a task force of senators fighting back against the Trump administration’s illegal overreach into free and fair elections. “Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, so I'm glad to join Senator Schumer's task force on elections to make sure that this year we fight in the United States of America to preserve that right,” Sen. Cantwell said during a press gathering ahead of a meeting of the group Wednesday. Video of the press gathering is HERE; a transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is HERE. On March 31, President Donald Trump issued an illegal executive order that would direct his administration to compile lists of eligible voters in each state and direct the USPS to mail ballots only to those voters who meet that criteria – a clear violation of the Constitution, which delegates authority to oversee elections to the states. Last week, Senate Republicans failed to pass the SAVE America Act, a disastrous voter suppression bill that would disproportionately harm women who change their name upon marriage and rural voters – many of whom make up their own base. The Seattle Times: Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting may hurt his own supporters in WA The Spokesman Review: SAVE America Act would require Washingtonians to mail photocopies of official IDs with ballot to vote In the 2024 election, nearly 48 million people – almost a third of all voters – cast their ballots by mail. All states offer registered voters the opportunity to vote by mail in federal general elections and 12 states, including Washington – an early pioneer in expanding by-mail voting – conducted their 2024 elections entirely by mail. Washington state started vote-by-mail in 1983, adopted optional vote-by-mail in 2005, and enacted universal vote-by-mail in 2011. Sen. Cantwell has been a stalwart defender against overreach of the Trump administration into our elections:

New Wenatchee-Portland Passenger Flight Starts in October, Thanks to Federal Grant Cantwell Secured | U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, celebrated yesterday’s announcement of a new daily flight between Wenatchee’s Pangborn Memorial Airport and Portland. “This new daily flight at Pangborn Memorial Airport will help connect nearly 125,000 Chelan and Douglas County residents to more than 65 nonstop destinations from Portland International Airport. Game-changing flight options like these are why we worked to secure a Small Community Air Service Development Program grant for Pangborn to attract new service. Thank you to Pangborn Memorial Airport and Alaska Airlines for their partnership in making this new connection a reality for the Apple Capital of the World,” Sen. Cantwell said. In 2018, Sen. Cantwell helped secure a $750,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) to help Pangborn Memorial Airport attract airlines to provide new air service for North Central Washington travelers. The COVID-19 pandemic’s significant impact to air travel delayed that effort. Since the grant was set to expire on January 9, 2026, Sen. Cantwell wrote U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy last December, urging the Department of Transportation to extend the grant so that the airport could continue discussions about new service to Portland. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the region has only been served by twice-daily service to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Once Horizon Air begins service on October 3, 2026, Pangborn will offer direct non-stop flights to both Seattle and Portland. In 2024, Sen. Cantwell joined local leaders at Pangborn Memorial Airport to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new General Aviation Terminal Building. She secured a $3,096,000 Congressionally Directed Spending award from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP) for the rehabilitation project in FY 2024. In 2022, Sen. Cantwell secured a $10 million AIP grant to help reconstruct 7,100 feet of existing taxiway, taxiway lighting systems, and 28 airfield guidance signs to meet FAA standards. In 2023, Pangborn Memorial received $8.4 million from Cantwell-championed programs, and just in the first half of 2024, Pangborn received an additional $1.6 million. As then-chair of the Senate Commerce Committee and lead architect of the 2024 FAA reauthorization law, Sen. Cantwell secured cost relief for small and non-hub airports like Pangborn and a historic $4 billion per year to fund airport infrastructure projects nationwide under the AIP. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 authorized historic funding to support small and rural community air service via the Small Community Air Service Development (SCASD) and Essential Air Service (EAS) programs, increasing the authorization for the SCASDP program by 50 percent to $15 million annually through FY 2028. In 2021, Sen. Cantwell also championed $25 billion for new airport infrastructure improvements in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The FAA Reauthorization Act increased funding for the AIP program from $3.35 billion per year to $4 billion per year and provided specific cost share relief under the AIP program so smaller airports with limited infrastructure resources don’t have to put up as much money up front to receive federal funding. This relief helps small and non-hub airports like Pangborn Memorial utilize every available dollar of federal funding to improve airport infrastructure and meet important aviation safety needs. Video from Sen. Cantwell’s 2024 visit to Pangborn is available HERE, audio HERE, photos HERE, and transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks HERE.