Sen Grassley Still Plans to Block FCC Nominees

A day before the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to vote on the nominations of FCC commissioner nominees Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai, Sen Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) continued to pledge to block those nominations if they are approved and teed up for a full Senate vote, which otherwise could follow almost instantaneously.

Grassley's hold has nothing to do with the qualifications of the nominees, but instead with the FCC's refusal to turn over to him documents related to the waiver the FCC granted to LightSquared to launch a terrestrial wireless broadband network using satellite spectrum. A single senator can hold up nominations, and does not even have to make that public, though Sen. Grassley has made no secret of his. The Senator will likely release a statement about that hold after the vote Dec 8, according to his office, but "Sen. Grassley's planned hold stands," a staffer said.