Ted Cruz Takes On the FCC

[Commentary] Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), who helped engineer the recent government shutdown, has a new target for his obstructionism: the Federal Communications Commission.

Last week, Sen Cruz blocked the Senate from considering the nomination of Tom Wheeler to lead the commission -- a candidate who leaders from both parties had agreed would be put up for a vote without delay. Sen Cruz has put a hold on the nomination, his spokesman told reporters, to find out if Wheeler would vote to require greater disclosure about political ads on television and radio bought by independent groups. Such groups can currently keep donors secret even as they spend hundreds of millions of dollars to influence elections. Sen Cruz says he is trying to get more information and to make sure the FCC does not exceed its authority. But the FCC clearly has the authority to require disclosure of who pays for commercial and political speech on public airwaves under communications laws dating back to the 1930s. Sen Cruz knows that Congress will not repeal federal laws granting the FCC power to require disclosure, so he is trying to bully Wheeler into agreeing not to exercise the agency’s authority. The fact is, neither he nor supporters of Republican candidates and conservative causes want disclosure of spending on commercials by groups like Americans for Prosperity, which is backed by the billionaire Koch brothers.

Sen Cruz will not easily give up his misguided crusade, so other Senate Republicans need to pressure him to drop his hold.