Senate Votes on Trusty Seen Likely This Week After Thune Files Cloture
Lawmakers and lobbyists told us they expect the Senate will hold confirmation votes on Republican FCC nominee Olivia Trusty as soon as this week, after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture on her Thursday night (see 2506120097). Thune previously indicated he was likely to move up Trusty in confirmation priority after Republican FCC commissioner Nathan Simington abruptly departed the commission earlier this month (see 2506040073). Simington’s exit and the simultaneous departure of Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks left the commission in a 1-1 tie and lacking a quorum.
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Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us shortly before Thune filed cloture on Trusty that he expected the chamber would hold confirmation votes on the nominee “[this] week or the week after.” Wicker, who in November recommended then President-elect Donald Trump nominate Trusty to the FCC (see 2411220045), said he had “signed a cloture petition [for her] a day or two ago.” That confirmation timeline could allow for Trusty’s swearing in before the FCC’s planned June 26 meeting, potentially easing problems for Chairman Brendan Carr’s agenda, a former FCC official and several lobbyists said (see 2506060035).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us before Thune’s cloture filing he hoped the Senate would confirm Trusty before Congress' July Fourth recess and also believed there’s a “need to move swiftly” on NTIA administrator nominee Arielle Roth. “They are both excellent nominees, and they are needed, so I am urging our leadership to prioritize them” for floor action, Cruz said.
Lobbyists told us questions remain about the Senate timeline for Roth, as Cruz had a deal with Thune and Wicker that the chamber would act on her confirmation before holding votes on Trusty. Thune didn’t file cloture on Roth before the Senate left for the weekend. Thune sought cloture on Trusty's nominations to two terms -- one to finish out the term of Democratic former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, which ends June 30, and a subsequent full five-year term.
Democratic Opposition?
Most Senate Democrats appear likely to vote against Trusty if Thune seeks votes this week, given the Trump administration still hasn’t committed to picking a party-affiliated nominee to succeed Starks or made more moves in that direction, lobbyists told us. Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, two of the five Senate Commerce Democrats who voted to advance Trusty out of committee in May, indicated at that time they wouldn’t back the nominee’s final confirmation without that commitment (see 2504300047).
Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us earlier last week Trusty's confirmation process was still on her radar, but “we're really more focused right now” on opposing panel Republicans’ proposal for spectrum language in a budget reconciliation package (see 2506120084). “Obviously if they do try to move [Trusty] we'd want to replace [Starks too] in a pairing” akin to what the upper chamber has traditionally done, Cantwell said.
Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., noted that “when Republicans were in the minority [in 2023,] they insisted on pairing” Starks’ and Carr's reconfirmations (see 2309070081). That's good precedent for the Senate to follow now, but “I don't know that [Trump] is going to nominate anyone else” to the FCC, Lujan said. “I'm appalled [that Trump is] trying to dismantle all of these organizations. Not having a full composition over at the FTC and FCC is bad for the American people.”
The Senate is all but certain to confirm Trusty even if no Democrats vote for the nominee, given all 53 chamber Republicans are very likely to support her. But large-scale Democratic opposition to Trusty would illustrate their growing frustration with the Trump administration for not announcing party-affiliated nominees to independent agencies and firings at the FTC and other commissions, lobbyists said. “People like her, and normally she would get [Democratic votes,] but the temperature in the Senate has dramatically changed” since the beginning of the year, said one telecom lobbyist who follows Democrats’ deliberations. Many “are now on board for making a bit of a stink.”