Sen Grassley to hold up Obama's nominees to FCC over LightSquared documents

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) will place a hold on the two nominees to the Federal Communications Commission that will take effect once the nominations reach the Senate floor.

"I will object to proceeding to the nomination because the FCC continues to stonewall a document request I submitted to the FCC over six months ago on April 27, 2011, regarding their actions related to LightSquared and Harbinger Capital," Sen Grassley said. "It not only sets a dangerous precedent for a federal agency to unilaterally set the rules on how it engages with Congress — it also prevents any meaningful ability for the vast majority of Congress to inform themselves of how an agency works." "I strongly believe that it is critical for Congress to have access to documents in order to conduct vigorous and independent oversight. It is unfortunate that this administration, which has pledged to be the most transparent in history, disagrees," Sen Grassley said. "As long as they continue to do so, I will be forced to take steps like this in order to ensure that Congress receives a complete picture of this administration’s actions."