Grassley Releases Hold on FCC Nominees Pai and Rosenworcel
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released his hold on FCC nominees Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel Friday after a year-long row over the agency’s handling of the LightSquared wireless project. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would not say when he plans to schedule a vote on the nominees. It could come as early as the second week of May when lawmakers return from their April 30-May 4 recess.
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Grassley placed a hold on the nominees last year after complaining that the commission had not provided all the documents he requested related to LightSquared’s plan to offer terrestrial broadband service using satellite spectrum. On Thursday, Grassley told us the FCC showed a “good faith effort” by sending a batch of about 5,900 agency documents related to the commission’s decision-making on LightSquared to House Commerce Committee Republicans (CD April 27 p1). “The documents I've seen so far raise more questions than I had before,” Grassley said in a news release Friday. “However, since there is now a process in place to obtain all of the relevant documents from the FCC, I intend to lift my hold on the two FCC nominees.”
Grassley warned that his inquiry “is not over” and said he “looks forward” to receiving 11,000 more pages of LightSquared documents from the House Commerce Committee. Grassley slammed the FCC for what he said is its lack of transparency, calling the agency one of the “least responsive I've ever come across in 30 years of conducting constitutional oversight of the executive branch of government.” Commission staff who deal with document requests have been addressing the requests “diligently” and in a manner “consistent with our rules, consistent with congressional rules,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told reporters after Friday’s agency meeting. “We're working very hard on this.” Genachowski didn’t respond to a question about whether how the FCC has addressed the request has slowed Senate approval of the FCC nominees.
Grassley said the documents show that “rather than being an objective arbiter, the commission appeared to be enthusiastic about the LightSquared project and wanted to see it materialize. The prospect of a new broadband provider that could challenge current providers was appealing to the FCC, according to the documents. It’s impossible to draw a complete picture of the FCC’s considerations in green-lighting LightSquared because the documents available so far do not offer a comprehensive view. However, it appears the FCC wanted LightSquared to succeed.”
"The FCC badly mishandled LightSquared,” Grassley said. “Finding out exactly what went wrong is key toward preventing future debacles. I hope the pending nominees, and the rest of the commission, will use the LightSquared situation as a case study in what not to do."
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is glad Grassley lifted the “unreasonable hold” on the two nominees, he said. “I especially want to thank Leaders [Mitch] McConnell, [R-Ky.] and [Harry] Reid, [D-Nev.] for working cooperatively to advance these nominations in the face of stubborn delay tactics. That type of bipartisan cooperation bodes well for the success of Rosenworcel and Pai and I am anxious for the full Senate to vote on their nominations in May.” Rosenworcel is a Rockefeller aide; Pai has worked as a lawyer at the FCC and is now in private practice.