Part Two
On Friday, Inside Towers ran part I of a piece about President Biden’s delay in selecting a permanent FCC Chair, plus another Democrat, could potentially give the GOP a 2-1 majority at the agency. Experts believe he needs to act soon, and get Senate confirmation of both picks, to avert that outcome.
Potential Pick Opposed in Senate
Blair Levin was FCC chief of staff for Chairman Reed Hundt in the 1990s, and oversaw the development of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. He’s now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a policy analyst for New Street Research. In July, Levin wrote that the potential nomination of longtime consumer advocate Gigi Sohn “led to enough Senatorial opposition that she is no longer at the top of the rankings, leaving the situation murkier than ever.” Levin further noted that while “interim Chair Rosenworcel continues to have significant Senate support, her inability to obtain the nomination after more than six months suggests to us that there is some internal White House opposition. But there is no clear front-runner for replacing her.”
Levin told Ars Technica that he has no solid information on who Biden will pick or when he’ll make an announcement. He agrees with Lewis that Biden’s delay has lasted so long that it is now possible for the GOP to gain an FCC majority in January.
Free Press VP of Policy and General Counsel Matt Wood said that Biden is cutting it closer “than anyone would like” but that he still thinks it’s likely Democrats will avert the worst-case scenario. Wood pointed out that in December 2020, the Senate’s then-Republican majority fast-tracked the confirmation of Trump nominee Nathan Simington in order to create the FCC’s 2-2 deadlock. The confirmation was almost three months after then-President Donald Trump made the nomination, which isn’t atypical, but Republicans sped up the process after Biden won the election.
“Unfortunately, yes, [a 2-1 GOP majority is] possible. I still think it’s unlikely,” Wood said.
If the unlikely 2-1 Republican majority occurs, Democrats could still block the GOP agenda. That’s because Biden would be able to promote Democrat Geoffrey Starks to the chair position, and the FCC chair decides which items get voted on.
Biden and Senate Leadership Haven’t Agreed
Which candidate is at the top of Biden’s list is unknown, and he’s apparently waiting until he can agree with Senate Democratic leaders on the makeup of the expected 3-2 Democratic majority. Traditionally, the president would nominate two Democrats simultaneously, and the Senate would pair the nominations and fast-track their approvals.
Democrats could already have an FCC majority if Biden had prioritized a nomination and settled on a choice amenable to senators by the time of his inauguration in January or even by March, April, or May. A September 2020 article by Protocol—two months before Biden beat Trump in the election—listed 14 potential nominees with experience at the FCC or in the telecom industry.
“There’s a long list of Democrats with FCC experience, and a number of them are people of color, which is sure to be a factor for Biden if he’s elected; several insiders said that being a white male would be just short of disqualifying for the top slot at the FCC under a Biden administration,” Protocol wrote in that article just over a year ago, noting that there was already plenty of speculation about Biden’s pick.
FCC Takes Back Seat in Biden Era
“Failing to seat a full commission this year could be a tremendous missed opportunity for the Biden administration to move forward on the goals it has laid out to fully close the digital divide and protect an open internet,” Lewis told Ars. “This work takes time, and oversight of the FCC from a Congress in reelection mode in 2022, or with a new makeup in 2023 could disrupt that important work.”
FCC Can’t Vote on Anything Controversial
Wood noted that the FCC often has party-line votes on topics that are controversial only in the Beltway—like municipal broadband networks, which are supported by both Democratic and Republican voters despite Republicans in Congress trying to ban the public networks. With a 2-2 deadlock in which both Republicans generally oppose Democratic priorities, Wood said the Commission “can’t really move ahead on anything that is the least bit controversial within the Beltway,” even if those policies are supported by large majorities of Americans.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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