Senate's August Recess Delay Could Prompt Earlier Senate Commerce FCC Nominee Movement
A two-week delay for the start of the Senate's August recess could give the Senate Commerce Committee a chance to advance FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's renomination and nominations of Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel to FCC seats earlier than previously anticipated, with the timeline in flux, lobbyists said Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters he's cutting the Senate's traditional August recess by two weeks to “provide more time to complete action on important legislative items and process nominees that have stalled.” The Senate will now work through the week of Aug. 7 and still reconvene after Labor Day.
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Commerce ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said he would like to see the committee use the additional two work weeks to advance nominees, but committee Democrats still “want parity” in advancing FCC nominees given the Senate's move last year not to act on then-President Barack Obama's renomination of Rosenworcel to another term. President Donald Trump nominated Rosenworcel last month for the seat she previously held (see 1706140065 and 1706150072). Rosenworcel's future at the FCC “has been on hold for two years now,” Nelson told us: “I want to see her moved along with an equal number” of Republican FCC nominees. Nelson didn't say whether he would prefer to see Carr or Pai, both Republicans, paired with Rosenworcel. Thune said he prefers to move all three nominees at the same time.
The additional two work weeks inherently gives Commerce more time on the FCC nominees, possibly enough so the committee can vote on advancing Pai, Carr and Rosenworcel to the full Senate, communications sector lobbyists told us. Commerce already was expected to hold a hearing on the nominees this month, possibly on July 19 (see 1706200026), so the August recess delay makes that part of the process more likely to occur this month, one lobbyist said. The additional work time opens up the possibility that Commerce could then schedule a vote on the FCC nominees a week after a confirmation hearing, though the chances are uncertain, another lobbyist said. A Commerce vote on the FCC nominees before the truncated recess is possible, but it's still too early to tell whether Thune wants to make that move, a GOP-leaning lobbyist said. A full Senate vote on the nominees remains unlikely to occur before Labor Day, the lobbyist said.
The committee still needs to confirm the scheduling of a hearing for Carr, Pai and Rosenworcel, but all three nominees have now submitted all of the necessary prehearing paperwork, a spokesman said. Redacted versions of all three nominees' prehearing questionnaires, filled out last week, are now on the committee's website.
Pai and Carr listed promoting broadband development in their responses as the FCC's top challenge. The FCC “has an important role to play in ensuring that consumers who want high-speed access to the Internet can get it,” Pai said. The FCC ”must continue to promote policies that will spur broadband deployment and competition throughout the country,” Carr said. Pai also cited defending the public interest and increasing the FCC transparency as top challenges. Pai noted his pilot project to make draft agenda items public three weeks before commissioners' meetings (see 1702020051). Carr said he believes the agency needs to “pursue an all-of-the-above approach” to opening spectrum for wireless use, including a “spectrum pipeline that can deliver a mix of low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum into the market.” Carr sees the commission's public safety obligations as a priority, including the next-generation 911 transition. Rosenworcel said her priorities include ensuring consumers are the “ultimate beneficiaries” of the FCC's policy choices, securing services access and “providing certainty” on digital services.