• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) was among the 12 senators who co-signed a recent letter to scrutinize the National Park Service’s (NPS) decision to remove Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the list of fee-free days at national parks, while adding President Donald Trump’s birthday to the list. “Not only does this send the deeply troubling message that these days of profound historical importance in the struggle for civil rights are not worth honoring, but it also further promotes the president’s agenda of self-celebration,” the Jan. 16 letter stated. The senators behind the letter also criticized the redesign of the 2026 America the Beautiful annual national park pass, replacing photographs of nature or historic buildings taken at national parks with an image of Trump. “National parks are national treasures and exist as spaces where people, regardless of background and political affiliation, can come together and enjoy the outdoors. These changes do nothing to modernize how people visit national parks and are instead a thinly veiled attempt to use our nation’s most iconic landscapes to further the self-promotion of President Trump and disparage our shared history,” the senators stated. The letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Padilla, Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Andy Kim (D-New Jersey), Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts), Patty Murray (D-Washington), Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon). The 12 senators requested answers to several questions related to NPS rationale and plans for the fee-free day changes, the agency’s process for determining the 2026 recreation pass designs, and whether U.S. residents will have the option to purchase America the Beautiful passes that do not depict Trump. “While the images on these passes are typically replaced every year, … the selection process is required by law to occur through a public competition, not a unilateral administrative decision,” the letter noted.
•U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) joined U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware) and six of their colleagues in sending a letter to some of America’s largest tech and social media companies—including Meta, X, and Reddit—addressing the rise of non-consensual, sexualized, AI-generated images appearing on their platforms. In the Jan. 16 letter, the eight senators asked questions about the platforms’ policies around sexualized images, including those targeting minors, and sought clarity on their efforts to remove images, prevent distribution, and notify victims. “We are particularly alarmed by reports of users exploiting generative AI tools to produce sexualized ‘bikini’ or ‘non-nude’ images of individuals without their consent and distributing them on platforms including X and others,” the letter states. “These fake yet hyper-realistic images are often generated without the knowledge or consent of the individuals depicted, raising serious concerns about harassment, privacy violations, and user safety.” In addition to Schiff and Blunt Rochester, the letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), Ben Ray Luján (D-New Mexico), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “Recent reporting has identified large volumes of AI-generated content depicting what appear to be underage girls in sexualized outfits or suggestive poses circulating on social platforms, sometimes attracting substantial engagement despite stated platform prohibitions,” the letter states. “Protecting the privacy, dignity, and safety of individuals, especially women and minors who are frequent targets, is a responsibility shared by platforms, policymakers, and the broader ecosystem. … As policymakers, we are working to address this issue for our constituents.”
This article appears in January 22 – January 29, 2026.
