Sen McConnell Delays Starks FCC Confirmation

Geoffrey Starks, who sailed through a Senate Commerce Committee confirmation vote with unanimous backing, had seemed poised June 28 to assume a vacant Federal Communications Commission seat in a Senate vote by unanimous consent, paired with current-FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s nomination for a second term. But despite optimism from Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD), the nominations didn't go through. The apparent reason: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who is apparently looking to move the FCC nominees in a broader package of nominations. Senate Democrats cleared the FCC nominees before the recess. McConnell spokesman Don Stewart disputed that the majority leader caused any stall and said Democrats weren’t ready to move before the recess. How could both be true? A different Senate staffer says that Democrats were advancing only the pair of Starks and Carr while McConnell was unsuccessfully seeking to advance a broader package of nominees (including Starks and Carr) for consideration. One source mentioned judicial nominees being of possible interest for Majority Leader McConnell and said the goal seems to be moving the broader package in the next month.