GOP Nominees for FCC Appear Set

Republicans appear to have settled on two people to fill the GOP seats on the five-member Federal Communications Commission, paving the way for a confirmation hearing in June. Senate Republicans have agreed on Meredith Attwell Baker, the former head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration at the Commerce Department, and current FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell. Baker is the daughter-in-law of former Secretary of State James Baker. On the Democratic side, the White House has already nominated Julius Genachowski to be chairman of the FCC and Mignon Clyburn, a South Carolina public utilities commissioner and daughter of House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina. Senate Democrats have expressed some frustration at the delay in the Genachowski confirmation. The agency is supposed to help administration officials decide how to hand out some $7 billion in broadband stimulus funds and must write a national broadband plan. Senate Republicans said they wanted to pair Genachowski's nomination with a Republican FCC member, but until recently they hadn't settled on anyone. The holdup has also prevented FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein from moving to the Agriculture Department where he has been nominated to head an agency with a spotty record of handing out grants. The agency now has $2.5 billion in broadband stimulus money it must distribute, but Adelstein must remain on the FCC until new commissioners are in place. The FCC is currently being run by interim Chairman Michael Copps, who's been focusing most of his time on the transition to digital-only television. Though he has mostly acted as a caretaker, Copps has teed up a few issues, including studies on increasing diversity in media ownership and a new national broadband plan.