UPDATE The White House has withdrawn nominations to regulatory commissions made in the last days of the Obama administration, including that of former FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Democrats have vowed to push back.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee, said during Thursday’s spectrum hearing (see earlier story) he was “appalled” at the action. “I hope the White House will re-nominate her and the Senate will keep its commitment to confirm her, as we should have done a year ago.”
Rosenworcel, who began working at the agency in 2012, left the FCC at the end of the year when her term expired. The Democrats’ expectation was that once Trump took office, he would pair her nomination with a Republican choice and they would jointly go through the confirmation process, Inside Towers reported at the time.
Typically, the White House defers to Senate leadership in the selection of nominees from the opposing party. “We intend to assert our prerogative on nominees as has always been done,” an aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Huffington Post. “The administration has always deferred to congressional leaders and we fully expect that to continue.”
The FCC has a quorum now with three commissioners. But the issue is what happens when the term of the sole Democrat, Mignon Clyburn, is up on June 30. To bring the agency up to its full complement of five commissioners, the Trump Administration needs to fill the GOP post left open when Ajit Pai became chairman and the Democratic slot formerly filled by Rosenworcel.
March 3, 2017
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