Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is moving quickly on getting the FCC nominees through the Senate confirmation process.
He has scheduled a committee vote for Thursday on both FCC nominees. A “yes” vote would send the nomination of Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, and Ajit Varadaraj Pai, a Republican, to the full Senate.
If confirmed, they would replace — respectively — former Commissioner Meredith Baker, who left the commission this spring, and Commissioner Michael Copps, whose term is up and will likely leave the Portals by year-end.
During a nomination hearing last week for the FCC nominees, Rockefeller told Rosenworcel and Pai their chances of being confirmed look good.
The nominations are expected to easily pass the committee. However late last week, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa reaffirmed his intention to block the nominations on the Senate floor over an unrelated issue. There’s been no indication so far that that situation has changed.
— Leslie Stimson
