Tempered Expectations for Senate Confirmation of Carr, Starks Despite Holds' End

Withdrawal of both holds on Senate confirmation of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to a full five-year term ends the main hurdle to approval of him and Democratic FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks. But dynamics in the Senate continue to cloud their chances for confirmation this year. Senate leaders have been working since June to advance the nominees as a pair (see 1806270065). Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, lifted his hold on Carr (see 1812200033) in concert with the formal end of a separate hold by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. President Donald Trump would need to renominate Carr and Starks for the Senate to reconsider them in 2019.

Sullivan told us he lifted his hold after receiving “concrete commitments and timelines” from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to fix the USF Rural Health Care Program. Sullivan placed the hold earlier this year because of RHCP concerns (see 1809130059). Sullivan didn't say what additional steps from Pai led him to lift the hold but noted the contents of a letter Pai sent earlier this month outlining a course of action that includes new rules for RHCP in 2019, likely during the first half of the year (see 1812140047).

Manchin confirmed the end of his hold after getting a "firm commitment" from Pai that addressed his concerns about the commission's decision to suspend the window for responding to Mobility Fund Phase II challenges while it investigates whether wireless carriers submitted incorrect broadband coverage maps (see 1812070048). Manchin cited a letter from Pai in which he said the FCC would conduct the investigation in a "thorough, yet expeditious” manner.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told us Wednesday he was hopeful that if an agreement could be reached with Sullivan, a chance remained that Carr and Starks could be confirmed this week along with a range of Trump's other nominees. Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders separately told us they were also hopeful about Senate approval of Carr and Starks but acknowledged continuing uncertainty. “I expect that accommodations will be made” to end Sullivan's hold, said Senate Communications Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who's expected to be the next Senate Commerce chairman.

Wicker and Senate Communications ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, also looked ahead at how Senate Commerce should handle the confirmation process next year for Carr and Starks if they aren't confirmed in this Congress. “I would want” confirmation of Carr and Starks “to go forward on an expedited basis,” Wicker said. “I think we're in a position to expedite” the FCC nominees' confirmation in the next Congress even though they would technically need to go through the full process again if Trump renominates them, Schatz said.

Senate aides Thursday tempered expectations for Carr and Starks to be in an end-of-the-year confirmations package, though they said the end of the Manchin and Sullivan holds removed the main “hard” obstacles to the nominees' path forward. The Senate timeline to take up a confirmations package depends on when Congress resolves the dispute over FY 2019 federal government funding, aides said. That dispute and other factors that have soured the mood in the Senate are clouding the prospects for a large confirmations package, aides said. “The overall atmosphere of the Senate” will likely dictate the package size, one said.

Prospects for agreement on a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government through Feb. 8 took a turn for the worse Thursday when House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Trump indicated to Republicans he “will not sign” a CR text that doesn't include his demand for $5 billion in additional border security funding. The Senate passed a CR Wednesday on a voice vote after the administration indicated Trump would sign a CR without the border funding. CR passage would avert a partial government shutdown that would otherwise begin at midnight Friday. The FCC released a slightly updated shutdown plan Tuesday (see 1812180056).