Pai, Rosenworcel Should Be Confirmed ‘By the Holidays’ Senator Predicts
FCC nominees Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel “will swim right on” through the Senate, Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller said Wednesday as his committee opened the nominees’ first confirmation hearing. Rosenworcel, who would leave Rockefeller’s staff to join the commission, and Pai, a telecom lawyer at Jenner & Block, made their first public appearance together at the hearing. They were received warmly by the committee’s senators. “I'm very pleased that I can heartily support you both,” Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told them in a packed hearing room. He teased Rosenworcel, whom he said is “very difficult to argue with” and said he was gratified that Pai grew up in Parsons, Kan., which means “there’s an automatic rural prejudice built into your DNA.”
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Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, and Jim DeMint, R-S.C., also praised the two nominees, but used their opening statements to condemn what they saw as overreach by the FCC. “I am going to watch closely, but I'm certainly appreciative of both the professionalism and the experience of the nominees,” Hutchinson said. DeMint said he expected the full Senate to approve both nominees “before the holidays” before lambasting the FCC for interfering with free markets.
Despite the apparent goodwill at the hearing, a hold threatened by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, could still stall the nominees’ confirmation. Grassley’s hold isn’t about the nominees, but he won’t lift it until the FCC gives him documents he seeks on communications between the agency, the White House and LightSquared investor Harbinger. “The FCC hasn’t made any move to provide the information,” Grassley said in a statement Wednesday. He’s not on the Commerce Committee and wasn’t present at the hearing. “As a result, my intention to place a hold on the FCC nominees, should they reach the floor, stands. The FCC needs to make itself accountable to Congress and the American people. An agency with control over a major piece of the economy can’t be allowed to operate as a closed shop."
Rockefeller is “continuing to talk” with Grassley, Rockefeller told reporters after the hearing. “I'm confident that it'll be resolved.” The senators’ staffs opened discussions in November.
Pai was flanked by his family, including his wife, Janine, and his 3-month-old son, Alexander. Kansas Republican Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran introduced Pai. Pai discussed his upbringing in rural Kansas, the child of immigrants from India. He discussed -- somewhat fondly -- his family’s old satellite dish and the hurried phone conversations to relatives across the Pacific. “Needless to say, technologically, we're not in the Kansas of my childhood anymore,” he said. He confined himself to generalities in his statement, saying private industry deserves “the lion’s share” of the credit for the emerging technological revolution, but “it is also important to recognize the role that the nation’s premier communications agency” has played: “When it has prioritized competition and innovation, the FCC has allowed the private sector to deliver to the American people rapid, efficient, nationwide communications services at reasonable prices -- the very charge Congress gave the agency in the first section of the Communications Act of 1934.”
Rosenworcel was joined by her husband, Mark Bailen, and the couple’s two children, Caroline Frances, 5, and Emmet Joseph, 2. She said she saw the “challenge of the FCC is identifying how to inspire the best in communications in a world where change is a constant and innovation can invert what we think we know.”
Rockefeller asked each candidate whether they would support E-Rate reform. Both said they would. They also promised to work with Congress to come up with a national wireless broadband network for first responders. Hutchinson asked Pai whether he saw any conflict, having worked for Jenner. Jenner’s lawyers are part of the army of attorneys who have worked on AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. He said he knew he was a potential nominee “from his first day” and therefore had kept himself away from any potential conflicts.
Hutchinson asked Rosenworcel, then Pai, whether “there was any value” in keeping open the Title II reclassification docket. Each nominee said only that they would abide by any court decision as the matter works its way through litigation. Later in the hearing, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., revived the Title II question. Rosenworcel said it was “a new area of law” but she would abide by any court decision. Pai said that he thought that reclassification “ultimately might harm consumers.”
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., asked generally about how the two nominees planned to handle the immense responsibilities of their prospective new jobs. He also asked about spectrum policy. Both nominees agreed that more spectrum is needed for wireless broadband. Rosenworcel said spectrum shouldn’t just come from auctions, but policy makers ought to focus on getting “efficiency” out of existing spectrum.
DeMint asked Rosenworcel about wireless broadband and reminded her that “your answer is very important here.” He said he wasn’t sure that the FCC’s annual competition reports were accurate. Rosenworcel said the reports ought to reflect the reality of consumer needs and demands. DeMint then asked Rosenworcel if she thought the FCC has the authority to expand the Universal Service Fund contribution base to Internet service providers. She said the law would allow for it: “I think the challenge going forward is making sure the revenue base is strong enough” to support the recently approved Universal Service Fund order (CD Oct 28 p1). “The current system is supported by telecommunications services. I think the challenge going forward is to make sure that we have a system that can support telecommunications services particularly in rural areas,” she said. The best way might be to focus on connections, rather than on broadband services, Rosenworcel said.
Asked the same question, Pai said the FCC should take a “careful look” at the statute before levying fees on broadband providers. Both nominees promised to take a look at cable regulations. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., asked each nominee what they thought about the FCC’s decision to release a staff report on AT&T/T-Mobile. Pai said only that “to the extent it would aggravate” industry and the Hill, “I would take that into account.” Rosenworcel said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski had “the statutory authority” to release the staff report, “but I acknowledge that it is probably unprecedented."
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, asked each nominee about the need for a spectrum inventory. Rosenworcel said she wanted “a much more robust inventory” than the FCC’s current dashboard. She said the FCC has to keep a careful and continuing eye on spectrum: “We're going to have to operate on all fronts -- at the same time.”