Sullivan Maintaining Carr Confirmation Hold Ahead of Pai Call on Rural Healthcare
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, told us he had a phone call set for later Wednesday or Thursday with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on his concerns about FCC handling of the USF Rural Health Care (RHC) Program that led Sullivan to…
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place a hold on Commissioner Brendan Carr’s reconfirmation to a full five-year term ending in 2023 (see 1809120056). Sullivan worries the FCC's handling of RHC negatively affected Alaska constituents, and says Pai didn't adequately respond (see 1809130059). Sullivan is maintaining his hold but “certainly would hope” the call with Pai results in progress. “I've only been talking to these guys about [RHC] for seven months now,” Sullivan said. The Senate Commerce Committee's August FCC oversight hearing showed the commission is “running a really important program in a haphazard way that nobody seems to understand,” Sullivan said in a late September interview. The FCC didn't comment. Confirmation of Carr and FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks has stalled repeatedly since Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., first tried to fast-track the two in June (see 1808230040).