Cantwell Believes FCC Nominations Coming Soon

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Tuesday she believes the White House may be moving on long-delayed nominations for two Democratic FCC seats. “Some names may be coming up” to the Senate from President Joe Biden as soon as this week, she said, citing information her office received in recent days. “I don’t think” acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is out of the running to be permanent chair despite recent reports to the contrary, Cantwell said. She cautioned that she hasn’t received definitive word on nominees. Recent media coverage of the potential for the FCC to shift to a 2-1 Republican majority in January if Rosenworcel has to depart (see 2110080046) and related pressure from Democratic lawmakers “has gotten people to act,” Cantwell said. Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., told us he hadn’t heard anything about progress on FCC nominations but would welcome it because “we’ve all been waiting around to see what they’re going to do.” Any FCC nominations that do happen are likely to be paired with Biden's expected pick of Mozilla Foundation Senior Adviser Alan Davidson for NTIA administrator, lobbyists said. The White House didn’t comment.