Gomez's Senate Confirmation May Stretch Into Next Week; Observers Eye Thursday Votes

Senate confirmation of Democratic FCC nominee Anna Gomez is likelier than not to stretch into next week, with the chamber on track to vote on invoking cloture on her Thursday, said Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and other officials in interviews. The Senate's Wednesday schedule didn't include a cloture vote on Gomez that some lobbyists previously thought possible (see 2309050084), though some suggested it could still happen that night.

"I'm not anticipating" Gomez's confirmation will happen "this week," but the likely Thursday cloture vote means the Senate is close to ending the FCC's more than two-year-long 2-2 partisan tie, Cantwell told us Tuesday. Gomez's confirmation would give the Democrats a 3-2 majority on the commission, though the Senate would also need to reconfirm Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to a new term to cement that control for the remainder of President Joe Biden's term. Starks’ term technically ended June 30, 2022, and he will have to leave the FCC by Jan. 3 without reconfirmation.

A Thursday cloture vote wouldn't entirely foreclose Senate confirmation of Gomez this week, but it would depend on the timing of that action because the chamber typically holds three roll calls that day, officials and lobbyists said. The Senate’s final scheduled Wednesday vote will be to invoke cloture on Federal Reserve board nominee Andrea Kugler, so if the first Thursday morning vote is on her confirmation, setting the second vote to be on cloture for Gomez would allow mandated debate time before a confirmation vote that afternoon, lobbyists said.

Gomez’s confirmation would instead happen Monday night if Senate leaders schedule a cloture vote on Gomez as the last Thursday poll, lobbyists said. They noted a Wednesday announcement from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., that the chamber would vote Monday night on a motion to proceed to an FY 2024 appropriations minibus measure that includes funding for the Agriculture Department. The chamber typically holds only one vote the night the chamber gavels in for the week.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune of South Dakota told us he expects only "a small number" of fellow Republicans will back Gomez during either the cloture or final confirmation votes despite the Democratic nominee not drawing anywhere near the same ire from the GOP caucus that ex-pick Gigi Sohn faced during her year-plus evaluation (see 2306220067). Thune, also Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member, was one of nine Commerce Republicans who asked the panel to record them as no votes on Gomez during a July meeting (see 2307120073).

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, one of four Commerce Republicans who didn't object to advancing Gomez in July, confirmed Wednesday she still plans to vote for Gomez on the floor. Capito remains the only Republican declared to support the nominee on the floor. The Senate is very likely to confirm Gomez even if Capito is the only Republican to back her, as all 51 members of the Democratic caucus are expected to back the nominee.

Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi, one of the four Commerce Republicans who didn't vote down Gomez, told us he's now "likely to vote no" on her confirmation. He declined to explain his opinion shift. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, another of the non-objectors, said Wednesday he will "make a decision" on Gomez "between now and the vote tomorrow." The office of Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, the other GOP non-objector, did "not have any additional updates to share at this time," a spokesperson emailed.