FCC to get Republican majority and plans to “delete” as many rules as possible

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks will resign from the Federal Communications Commission this spring. Starks' exit will give FCC Chairman Brendan Carr a Republican majority, as the FCC has had two Democrats and two Republicans since the January resignation of former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.  Even with a 2-2 deadlock, Chairman Carr has gotten to work on some of his priorities, such as investigating news stations accused of bias against President Donald Trump and dropping a Biden-era proposal to increase regulation of broadband providers. Commissioner Anna Gomez, who is staying at the FCC, has said that Carr's investigation of CBS is "politicizing our enforcement actions" and "sets a dangerous precedent that threatens to undermine trust in the FCC's role as an impartial regulator." Commissioner Starks also criticized Chairman Carr for launching investigations into media organizations and into the DEI practices of Verizon and Comcast. With a Republican majority, Chairman Carr can get aggressive in removing existing telecommunications regulations through his "Delete, Delete, Delete" initiative. Starks' departure has been anticipated since shortly after Trump's election win. In December, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reportedly urged Starks to stay at the FCC for awhile to delay the Republicans gaining a majority. There might be another Republican seat to fill sometime soon. Carr's fellow Republican on the commission, Nathan Simington, "has also wanted to depart to take on different work," a Bloomberg report said.