Rosenworcel May Get Limited GOP Pushback at Confirmation Hearing

Republicans we spoke with indicated they plan to ask Rosenworcel tough questions, including ones focused on whether she will veer away from the consensus approach she’s applied while the FCC has been tied 2-2 if the commission shifts to a 3-2 Democratic majority. Democrats view the hearing as a barometer for whether they can fast-track Rosenworcel’s reconfirmation before she must leave the agency in early January.

Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us her aim remains getting both Rosenworcel and Sohn through the confirmations process “as soon as possible” but acknowledged it will be “easier to move [Rosenworcel] quickly” than it will be for Sohn. “Everybody knows her record” already, Cantwell said: The committee agreed to separate the two FCC nominees’ hearings at Republicans’ request so they could get “more information” on Sohn. Cantwell confirmed a confirmation hearing for Sohn and NTIA nominee Alan Davidson is likely to happen Dec. 1, as expected (see 2111120029).

“Everyone who was” a member of Senate Commerce in 2017 when Rosenworcel was last up for reconfirmation “voted for her” at that time, said Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. “I can’t imagine that any of them would object to her path forward.” Sohn hasn’t been through that process, “so members are going to ask questions” and seek more rigorous vetting, he said. “I think it’s important" that all five commissioners be in place by year's end if possible, but “what I do not want to see is a” 2-1 GOP FCC majority “come January. So, I’m open to whatever path presents that allows us to have at the very least a 2-2 commission with the goal of getting” to the 3-2 majority at a later date.

Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., confirmed he will introduce Rosenworcel at the hearing. It’s unlikely to be a “tremendously surprising” hearing due to lawmakers’ familiarity with Rosenworcel’s record and views, so it should be “very smooth,” he said. “She’s eminently qualified” and there’s “nothing controversial” in her record that “could threaten or derail her confirmation.”

Senate Commerce Democrats made a “good” decision in choosing to not bring Rosenworcel and Sohn up together for a hearing, said Communications ranking member John Thune, R-S.D. GOP committee members are largely familiar with Rosenworcel and “she was a good pick” for Biden to make for the chair “relative to some of the other people who were under consideration,” including Sohn. Rosenworcel “is obviously not going to be on the same page as a lot of” Republicans are, “but she’s proven in the past at least to be willing to listen and somewhat reasonable,” he said.

Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., didn’t tip his hand on the hearing but said he believes it “will be a straightforward affair.” GOP-focused telecom lobbyists told us Wicker's office has made clear he's going to largely give Rosenworcel a free pass and save his ire for Sohn.

Policy Questions

Several Senate Commerce Democrats indicated their questions for Rosenworcel will focus on how she envisions FCC’s involvement in implementing connectivity money in the newly enacted Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 2111150074), including its own $14 billion allocation to extend and expand the Emergency Broadband Benefit program. Much of the $65 billion in connectivity funding in the new law will flow through NTIA, but the FCC has a role in ensuring new broadband builds “get deployed into every corner of” the U.S., eliminating “every gap wherever it exists” and ensuring strong consumer protections, Lujan said.

Cantwell intends to focus in part on how the FCC is proceeding on long-awaited improvements to its broadband coverage data maps. The FCC’s timeline for making the maps available has drawn congressional scrutiny all year, leading lawmakers to require a delay in disbursing some of the new broadband money allocated to NTIA until the commission releases the revised data (see 2107210063). It’s already clear “where the digital divide is” and the FCC has been “using a faulty standard to say” what areas are served and unserved, Cantwell said.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said he’s also likely to ask about the maps due to his long-standing concerns about broadband coverage in rural states like Montana. He’s likely to also “ask her about low-service areas” and whether the FCC needs to increase its minimum service speed threshold above 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. Blumenthal plans to focus his questions on a range of items, including robocalls and broadband-related matters.

“I just hope [Rosenworcel’s] agenda doesn’t get co-opted by” the Democrats’ “far-left” wing “in the same way” that former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler did in proposing what became the commission’s now-rescinded 2015 net neutrality rules and reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, Thune told us. There’s going to be “a lot of” GOP interest in asking Sohn “about many of the statements that she’s made fairly recently about wanting to go farther than” Wheeler on net neutrality. “My guess is that Rosenworcel will get some questions too about whether or not she wants to” go the Title II route “and questions about rate regulation and all the other things that come with that,” he said.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said he wants to “make certain” Rosenworcel, if reconfirmed, will work to move the FCC “back to the days in which all the commissioners worked pretty well together.” He cited his own past collaboration with Rosenworcel on broadband and other telecom issues as an example of bipartisanship that should continue at the FCC. “I also remember the Wheeler days when” such cooperation between the parties was far less prevalent, Moran said.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., plans to ask how Rosenworcel envisions “the FCC is going to structure themselves and move forward.” Rosenworcel’s also aware “closing the digital divide” is an issue that’s “at the top of my list,” Blackburn said.

Expectations

Rosenworcel “is going to be fine” and should be able to easily sail through the confirmation process once again, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “She’s going to have the easier road” than Sohn faces.

“A lot of Republicans will end up supporting Rosenworcel” even if she faces tough questioning Wednesday, Hogan Lovells’ Ari Fitzgerald told us. “For a lot of them, they believe that even though they don’t like her position on net neutrality” and some other issues, “they feel like they could do a lot worse.” The FCC’s mapping work, like net neutrality, is likely to be a major focus, he said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if there are questions about why it’s taking so long” for the commission to revise the maps, though Democrats are likely to “make the argument that she needs to be careful because a lot of federal funding” from HR-3684 “is at issue.”

Rosenworcel appears to be “in a pretty decent place” going into the Wednesday hearing, GOP former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told us. “There’s a group of Republicans who are willing to listen and give her the benefit of the doubt. They may not agree with her on policy but if she says the right things and can paint a picture on substantive issues that’s not that unattractive, they might be willing to go along” with reconfirming her.

“There are substantive issues that will color the conversation,” O’Rielly said. “I hope that she provides some kind of answers” on the FAA’s examination of interference risks from C-band deployments (see 2111100068) that go beyond “saying ‘we’re listening to the FAA and we’re hoping’” to reach an understanding. “That’s probably not going to be well received” given senators’ skepticism about the FAA’s argument, he said. “People understand where [Rosenworcel] stands on net neutrality, but they want to know that even if she’s going to go in a direction they’re not in favor of, that it's going to be done in a reasonable way” that jettisons controversial requirements like rate regulation.

Consumer protections, “securing universal access” to broadband and growing the economy are the top issues the FCC faces, Rosenworcel said in her prehearing questionnaire response. “As technologies evolve, one thing is paramount -- consumers should be the ultimate beneficiaries of” the FCC’s policy choices. It’s “imperative that all people in this country, no matter who they are or where they live, have access to the communications services that are necessary for 21st century opportunity, safety, and economic security,” she said. “Digital services are now a vital feature of our economy,” so “providing certainty to companies is an essential part of promoting investment, fostering innovation, and creating jobs.”