FCC Commissioner O'Rielly Nomination Advanced to Full Senate

The nomination of Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly for a new, five-year term on the FCC has been favorably reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee and now moves to the full Senate for a vote. Commissioner O'Rielly's term expired at the end of June 2019, but commissioners can continue to serve until the close of the next Congress. The new term would date from July 1, 2019. Wednesday's action came by voice vote, but with Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) voting no, even though, procedurally, she was the one to propose that it be reported favorably. Also asked to be recorded as "no" on the O'Rielly nomination were Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Brian Schatz (D-HI).  

In explaining her no vote, Sen. Cantwell pointed out that in 2018, the US Office of Special Counsel concluded that Commissioner O'Rielly had violated the Hatch Act with political comments made at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) conference. Commissioner O'Rielly was issued a warning letter saying that a repeat of such statements could incur more than a warning. Commissioner O'Rielly countered that he disagreed that an offhand remark was a violation, but said he took the warning seriously. Ranking Member Cantwell also said that O'Rielly "had recently injected, I believe, politics into part of the spectrum issue," which she said she found "disturbing." She did not elaborate. In contrast, Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) said he looked forward to advancing Commissioner O'Rielly's nomination. He said he appreciated O'Rielly's commitment to the speedy deployment of broadband, particularly given the pandemic and the greater reliance on connectivity, as well as his commitment to insuring it was targeted to areas that need it most.