Senate Could Vote on FCC Nominees Monday


WASHINGTON: The full Senate could vote as early as Monday, May 7 on the FCC nominees.

Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran let the timing slip on Twitter; as the home state senator of one of the nominees, Ajit Pai, Moran would be appraised of the timing, The Hill reported.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, recently lifted his hold on the two nominees, Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai, after receiving documentation from the FCC on the proposed LightSquared wireless broadband project.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., was anxious to get the full Senate to vote on the nominations, which his committee had sent to the floor in December.

Rosenworcel is senior communications counsel for the Senate Commerce Committee and also has FCC experience. Pai has worked at Jenner & Block since April 2011, and is a former FCC attorney and Senate staffer.

If confirmed, Rosenworcel would take the seat of former Democratic commissioner Michael Copps, who resigned in December, while Pai would replace former Republican commissioner Meredith Baker, who left the agency in May 2011 to join Comcast.

-- Radio World