But My Ultimate Loyalty Rests With the Constitution, Which Gives Certain Prerogatives to Congress

Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who served as House majority leader from 2003 to 2005, said the Federal Communications Commission lacks legal authority to repeal the National Television Ownership Rule, which caps any single broadcast station owner at 39 percent of US TV households. DeLay wrote in an op-ed for The Daily Wire that only Congress can change the cap because the limit is written into law, not chosen by the commission. The Trump FCC appears ready to eliminate the rule at its meeting this week, with a vote scheduled Thursday on Chairman Brendan Carr's proposal.

"I am a Republican, DeLay wrote. "I support deregulation and the Trump administration. But my ultimate loyalty rests with the Constitution, which gives certain prerogatives to Congress.

Regulatory agencies cannot defy or modify laws enacted by Congress. DeLay helped write the 2004 law that set the cap at 39 percent after the FCC raised it to 45 percent. The FCC first implemented a 25 percent cap in 1985, and Congress directed it to increase to 35 percent in 1996. Carr's plan would replace the cap with case-by-case merger reviews, potentially easing expansion for station groups.

In March, the FCC granted a waiver letting Nexstar Media Group buy Tegna, reaching over half of TV households. Carr would be the first FCC chairman to test whether the agency can eliminate the cap entirely, facing potential court challenges after a 2024 Supreme Court ruling narrowed agencies' leeway in interpreting ambiguous laws. DeLay resigned from Congress in 2006 after an indictment on money laundering and conspiracy charges; his 2010 conviction was overturned in 2013.