Sullivan to Meet Pai Thursday on Rural Healthcare Concerns Amid Carr Hold
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, told reporters he will meet Thursday with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on the senator's concerns with commission handling of the USF Rural Health Care Program that led him to place a hold on Senate confirmation of…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Commissioner Brendan Carr to a term ending in 2023, as expected (see 1809120056). A planned October meeting between Sullivan and Pai was postponed after the Senate moved to adjourn early for campaigning (see 1810110062). “Hopefully, we'll get to a spot” where concerns about FCC handling of RHC are “resolved,” Sullivan said. Alaska-based GCI Communications appealed this week Wireline Bureau's reduction in its FY 2017 RHC support by 26 percent to $77.8 million (see 1811130040). “This isn't just about” GCI, Sullivan said. “This is about broader issues of predictability, transparency, how we're going to move forward on this writ large.” Sullivan's hold means the Senate must wait to confirm Democratic FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks because the intent is to advance the two as a pair (see 1809130059). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters he's “trying to work with” Sullivan and the FCC “to see if there's some arrangement that can be worked out or some way that we can get this resolved” to allow confirmation of Carr and Starks this year. The agency didn't comment.