Bipartisan Senate Commerce Approval of Gomez, Starks Raises Quick Confirmation Hopes

Senate Democratic officials and other observers now believe it's a matter of when, not if, the chamber will confirm FCC nominee Anna Gomez and renominated Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks after the Commerce Committee advanced them Wednesday, all on non-unanimous voice votes, as expected (see 2307110071). Backers of Gomez and Starks and other observers cited unified committee Democratic support for Gomez and Starks as a sign they may get unanimous caucus backing on the floor. At least one of the four Commerce Republicans who didn't oppose the Democratic nominees Wednesday plans to vote for them on the floor.

Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us she plans to urge Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to make their confirmations a priority before the chamber leaves at the end of July on the month-plus August recess. Cantwell and other leaders left open the possibility a deal could emerge to pair some of the FCC nominees with other candidates, including Republican FTC picks Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak (see 2307110048), for confirmation via unanimous consent.

GOP opposition to Gomez as the commissioner who would usher in a 3-2 Democratic FCC majority, however, makes it unlikely they will be willing to move her by UC, officials said. Schumer's appetite for using floor time on the FCC nominees amid an already packed pre-recess agenda remains unclear, lobbyists said.

Senate Commerce technically advanced all three FCC commissioner nominees on a single voice vote on a slate of candidates that also included commission inspector general pick Fara Damelin. Panel ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and eight other Republicans subsequently asked to be recorded as no votes on Gomez, as expected. Four Republicans, including former Senate Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi, didn't ask to be recorded against Gomez and Starks. The others were Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Todd Young of Indiana.

GOP Split

Capito told us she was “going to vote for both” Gomez and Starks during the Senate Commerce meeting if leaders had moved to a roll-call vote on the nominees, as lawmakers initially expected, and intends to support them if they come up for floor votes. “I talked to all three” commissioner nominees and though “Gomez was the one I had probably the biggest question mark about,” Capito said: “I work a lot with the FCC and I want to have a good relationship” with the entire slate of commissioners if the Senate confirms Gomez as now appears likely.

“I voted yes” on Gomez and Starks for all intents and purposes, Wicker told us: “It’s not a semi-vote” just because members weren’t called by name. He’s not guaranteeing he will vote for them again on the floor. “We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it,” Wicker said. Aides to Moran and Young didn’t comment. A Senate GOP official noted some members of the caucus are likely to back Gomez and Starks on the floor because there’s now a recognition they will likely win confirmation even without Republicans’ agreement because of expectations they will unanimously support from all 51 Democratic-affiliated senators.

Gomez's supporters and critics believe unanimous Democratic support for the nominee is likely because she got backing Wednesday from Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and two of the party's other Commerce members who were undecided on ex-nominee Gigi Sohn before she withdrew in March (see 2303070082). Tester told us he decided to approve Gomez and Starks because he simply thinks “they'll do a good job” at the commission.

Some Republicans believe they’re “not likely to get anyone better” than Gomez and Starks for the Democratic FCC seats from a telecom policy perspective due to the Biden administration’s insistence on repeatedly renominating Sohn, the GOP official said: Neither Gomez nor Starks, for instance, is “that hot on” reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II service as part of work on new net neutrality rules, “although they may yet” support such an approach.

Cruz and the other GOP no votes on the Democrats, including Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune of South Dakota, are likely to continue opposing them now that they’ve cleared Senate Commerce. The other Republicans who opposed Gomez: Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Ted Budd of North Carolina; Deb Fischer of Nebraska; Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming; Eric Schmitt of Missouri; Dan Sullivan of Alaska; and JD Vance of Ohio. All but Fischer and Sullivan were also recorded as no votes on Starks.

“I haven’t had a chance to bring up” potential Senate action on the FCC nominees with Schumer yet, Cantwell told us after the meeting. “I’m not sure what we’re going to do” about moving the trio, including whether confirming any of them by UC is still a viable option. She would prefer to keep pursuing all three as a package rather than splitting off either Gomez or Starks for pairing with the Republican FTC candidates. “I’m just glad we got” them through Commerce with bipartisan support, Cantwell said: The four Republicans who didn’t ask to be recorded as no votes on either Democrat “could have” gone along with most of their GOP colleagues in opposing them.

Strategy

“There will have to be roll call votes” on at least Gomez, Thune told us: Her “position on” the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and net neutrality is “going to be very problematic for” most Republican senators. Gomez “couldn’t name a single harm that had occurred since” the FCC rescinded its 2015 net neutrality rules during Ajit Pai’s chairmanship, Thune said. He left open the possibility of moving either Gomez or Starks in tandem with the FTC Republican nominees. “Obviously there will have to be some discussion about pairing, so we’ll see how that goes,” Thune said.

“It’s important” that Senate Commerce advanced the FCC nominees on a “voice vote and that a roll call was not demanded,’ Communications Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. “I look forward to their consideration on the floor, maybe before the August recess.” Schumer and most other senators “understand the importance” of having a “fully functioning FCC” as soon as possible, Lujan told us: Federal agencies are "quickly" disbursing connectivity money from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, NTIA “is moving aggressively across the country” in implementing their share of that funding and the FCC recently updated its coverage maps in connection with that work.

Carr’s chances of moving via UC depend in part on whether the two Commerce Democrats who voted against him Wednesday, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, accede to any deal leadership reaches with Republicans to swiftly confirm him in hopes of easing the process for Gomez and Starks, lobbyists said. Damelin, meanwhile, faces a strong chance of moving by UC as part of a confirmations package, lobbyists said.

Gomez and Starks “only need Democratic votes” to secure confirmation since the party has a 51-49 majority in the Senate “and Carr is going to get reconfirmed because the Democrats aren’t going to play games” by opposing him on policy grounds, said New Street’s Blair Levin in an interview. “The question is whether Republicans in the full Senate try to do things which require Schumer to devote floor time” to confirming the FCC nominees. Schumer cited a range of Senate priorities in a Sunday letter to colleagues, including work on the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, but also emphasized “we must continue working to confirm” President Joe Biden’s “diverse and experienced nominees.”

Cruz cited both process and policy reasons for opposing Gomez and Starks. “Confirming FCC commissioners is a serious matter,” but Senate Commerce Democrats repeatedly sought to “rush” the vetting process, he said during the meeting. “I understand Democrats have wanted an FCC majority for two years, but the Senate’s advice and consent process shouldn’t have to suffer." It’s “not Republicans’ fault” the Biden administration “failed to prioritize the FCC,” repeatedly nominated Sohn “and then slow walked nominating” Gomez as her replacement, he said. Cruz isn't “comfortable that” Gomez “possesses the independence and regulatory humility necessary for confirmation” to an FCC seat, and Starks since first joining the FCC in 2019 has “developed a record that leaves much to be desired.”

Blackburn said her opposition to Gomez primarily stems from concerns she first raised in June about approving the nominee while she’s still head of the U.S. delegation to the upcoming Nov. 20-Dec. 15 World Radiocommunication Conference (see 2305120050). “That is a duty" Gomez "should finish” before she joins the FCC, Blackburn said: She “would have considered” voting for Gomez if the nominee didn’t have the WRC role.