Trusty Confirmation Hearing Likely Next Week; Democrats Rethink GOP Nominee Cooperation
Top Senate Commerce Committee Democrats told us they are considering, but aren't yet committed to, scaling back or ceasing cooperation in advancing Republican nominees to federal entities ahead of a likely imminent panel confirmation hearing for GOP FCC nominee Olivia Trusty. Democrats are eyeing the tactic shift in response to President Donald Trump’s disputed March firing of Democratic FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter (see 2503190057) and other actions against independent agencies. Any roadblocks Democrats place against GOP picks would be largely symbolic and likely only delay Senate confirmations, given Republicans' 53-47 majority in the upper chamber, observers said.
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Senate Commerce Republicans are likely to set a confirmation hearing next week for Trusty, several lobbyists told us. The panel originally considered bringing up Trusty along with NTIA nominee Arielle Roth (see 2503060066) but couldn't because of delayed receipt of vetting paperwork for the FCC nominee, lobbyists said. Roth appeared before Senate Commerce last week (see 2503270065). The panel didn’t comment Tuesday.
Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was vague in a recent interview about how far she will go in reducing cooperation on moving Republican nominees. Democrats are continuing to evaluate their options, but concerns about the FCC’s independence from the executive branch will “probably” be a major factor in how party-affiliated Senate Commerce members evaluate Trusty, Cantwell said. She and seven other Senate Commerce Democrats “didn’t support” Republican FTC nominee Mark Meador during a committee vote last month (see 2503120069), which preceded Trump firing the commission’s Democrats.
Cantwell said she's factoring in concerns that Trump may seek to fire the FCC’s two Democrats or not name someone to replace party-affiliated Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who plans to resign this spring (see 2503180067). “When it comes to this administration, you worry about everything,” she said. The Communications Act requires “the maximum number of commissioners who may be members of the same political party shall be a number equal to the least number of commissioners which constitutes a majority of the full membership of the Commission,” so a three-member commission of two Republicans and one Democrat would satisfy the statute.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told us that he hopes Democrats don’t go down the road of ceasing all cooperation on moving GOP candidates for independent agencies, given the bipartisan pairings that the chamber has traditionally used to fast-track such nominees. “My assumption is there will be some of those pairings” absent widespread Democratic resistance, he said. “Historically that’s the way it worked, and I wouldn’t expect that to change” during the second Trump administration.
Schatz: 'Zero Cooperation' Possible
“Nothing would surprise me in terms of obstruction from Democrats right now,” Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a brief interview. “Congressional Democrats, as best I can tell, have no agenda other than anger and hate.” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., emphasized that Trusty is “nationally renowned as one of the leading experts” on communications policy from her tenure as a Senate Commerce aide during his time leading that panel, and she's “evenhanded” in working with members of both parties.
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., told us he wouldn’t be surprised if Trump tried to “make himself an FCC commissioner.” His “administration doesn't really care about keeping” agencies like the FCC independent, Lujan said. Trump “wants to be in charge of everything.” Lobbyists said Democrats are particularly wary about whether Trump will follow tradition by picking a nominee to replace Starks whom Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., might recommend. Most Democrats are unlikely to back fast-tracking Trusty without a guarantee on Starks’ successor, lobbyists said.
Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, the former Senate Communications ranking member who some observers see as a future contender for the chamber Democratic leadership, told us that Republicans generally “should expect zero cooperation from us” on Trump nominees amid a perceived lack of GOP support for bipartisan pairings. He acknowledged he didn't “have an answer” about how Democrats can find more leverage to force Trump to pick minority party nominees to the FCC and other commissions.
Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said Democrats face “a lot of pressure … to make even just a symbolic showing that they are fighting the Trump administration on moves that stray from established norms.” Whether “Trump nominates a replacement Democrat” for Starks “is really of questionable importance,” since the president feels emboldened to fire confirmed commissioners in a direct challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1935 Humphrey's Executor v. U.S. precedent, Feld said.
Faith Williams, director of the Project on Government Oversight's Effective and Accountable Government Program, told us it's not surprising Democrats are considering “procedural tactics,” even if they only slow Trump's nominees. “It's hard to force the [White House] to do something” on nominations, but what the minority party “can do is stop everything” on Capitol Hill, she said. The initiating party could face blowback for such a tactic, but “you might see some success in just grinding everything to a halt and then prioritizing what you want to happen” in exchange for renewed cooperation.