Cruz Calls for FCC Halt During Trump Transition, Warning of 'Particular Scrutiny'

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas pressed FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday night to stand down from working on controversial matters during the transition from President Joe Biden to President-elect Donald Trump, as expected (see 2411060042). Cruz's “pencils down” request to Rosenworcel followed a similar Wednesday call from House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, the favorite to lead the agency when Trump takes office in January, backed a pencils-down call Thursday (see 2411070046).

“The results of the 2024 presidential election are apparent, and the American people have spoken definitively for a new administration,” which means the FCC's leadership “will soon change,” Cruz said in a letter to Rosenworcel we obtained. “I request the FCC and all of its bureaus and offices immediately stop work on any partisan or controversial matters under consideration or in progress and focus only on matters that are uncontroversial or require action under the law. This course will follow the norms set during past transfers of power.” Cruz will likely become Senate Commerce chairman when the Republicans retake a majority in the chamber come January (see 2411060001).

“Any controversial FCC action taken up or continued after [the Nov. 5 election] will receive particular scrutiny,” Cruz said. “I note that you have previously advocated this position by welcoming calls from congressional leaders for the FCC to” stop work on controversial items after Biden won against Trump in the 2020 presidential election and urged then-Chairman Ajit Pai “‘to follow this past practice in order to ensure an orderly transition…’ I ask that you respect this time-honored tradition now.” The FCC didn’t immediately comment.

Dickinson Wright's Lee Petro, a former FCBA president, told us he doesn’t “expect that the FCC is going to spend a lot of time on groundbreaking new issues” during the transition that would conflict with the Republicans’ drawdown requests. It wouldn't make sense for Rosenworcel to press forward since Capitol Hill could use Congressional Review Act resolutions of disapproval to reverse “anything the FCC does” between the election and Jan. 20 that Republicans find objectionable. Petro said. He noted Congress used the CRA to reverse some FCC actions when Trump began his first term in 2017 (see 1704040059).

Digital First Project Executive Director Nathan Leamer, who served as an aide to former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, told us “Rosenworcel has led the agency with integrity” and he expects she “will follow the same path we’ve seen with past chairs to make a smooth transition” to incoming leadership. Carr is “ready to roll” should Trump pick him to lead the FCC with an agenda that will focus on “right-sizing the approach to ending the digital divide by making sure it’s market friendly and that we’re not overbuilding” existing connections, Leamer said: Carr has also been “pretty open about” seeing an “opportunity for holding Big Tech accountable” and wanting to lead on addressing concerns about Chinese equipment and related matters.

Petro expects the FCC under a Carr chairmanship to “move faster” to begin staking out an agenda than happened when Pai took the gavel in 2017, even though it’s unclear how quickly the Trump administration will move to try to nominate a third GOP commissioner to replace Rosenworcel if she vacates her seat per tradition. It took Trump until June 2017 to nominate Carr for his first term to fill the seat former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler vacated that January (see 1706280068). The incoming Trump team seems "more organized this time around,” but “I doubt that communications policy will be a preeminent issue” given other priorities, Petro said.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell, whose group petitioned the FCC to reconsider granting Audacy a temporary foreign-ownership rules review waiver (see 2410290054), endorsed a Carr chairmanship Friday. Bozell cited Carr’s opposition to the Audacy waiver (see 2409250051) as an example of him being “relentless in fighting for all Americans.” It “is imperative that the next FCC chairman is committed to restoring the public’s trust, increasing telecommunications access for all communities and protecting the fundamental right to free speech,” Bozell said: Carr “has proven he is more than capable of accomplishing that task.”