Rosenworcel Renomination Mired in Reid's Outrage on Floor, Another GOP Hold

Thune, when asked about rumored holds on the renomination from Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said another GOP hold now exists. Thune again blamed in part FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for his refusal to say he would step down at the end of the Obama administration. One media industry lobbyist told us Thursday that Lee apparently dropped a hold but that, as Thune told us, another hold has been placed. A Lee spokesman wouldn't comment or confirm whether Lee ever had a hold.

“Yeah, and now there’s another one,” Thune said in an interview Wednesday when asked about Lee and Cruz. “But it makes it pretty difficult for us to be able to get it moving. I think it would have helped -- and I’ve conveyed this to Senator Reid, too -- had Chairman Wheeler agreed when asked the question about whether or not he would step aside in a new administration, if he’d have answered that affirmatively, I don’t think that necessarily removes all the objections people might have, but I think it would have helped.”

“I spoke with [McConnell] yesterday on the telephone, again urging him to move her forward,” Reid said on the Senate floor Thursday. “And he said to me, we’ll do it next year. Mr. President, next year, she’s out of a job. Her term expires at the end of this year. Her career will basically be over because of my accepting my counterpart’s word. I told the Republican leader, I told Senator Thune, I wouldn’t remain silent on this.” He said he alerted McConnell and Thune Wednesday he would come to the floor on this topic after waiting for months.

Reid invoked a deal he struck with McConnell and Thune last Congress to reconfirm Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, a Republican, in a year-end package of nominees. “My heart said do it, my head said no,” Reid said of the deal, citing the usual preference for pairing Republican and Democratic nominees. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., first publicly mentioned such a deal last month, shocking telecom industry lobbyists and observers due to the messy visible conflict over the renomination (see 1603020056).

McConnell, Thune Not Pleased

A spokesman for McConnell disputed the terms of the deal as Reid and Nelson described them. “Actually, the Chairman committed to moving the nomination out of committee, and he did,” the McConnell spokesman said. “Once the nomination was reported, there was a hotline; there were, and remain, a number of objections from Senators. But since Rosenworcel is already serving on the commission and she can continue to serve until the end of the year, today's remarks were disappointing.” The hotline was believed to have occurred in December but wasn't public due to the holds. The McConnell spokesman was unfamiliar with a Reid-McConnell phone conversation where the idea of waiting until next year came up and couldn't confirm or deny Reid’s claim.

“I don’t think it’s helpful,” Thune told us Thursday of Reid’s floor remarks. “I wish he wouldn’t do that. I know it’s something he feels strongly about. But we’ve got holds on our side, and members objecting, so it’s going to make it a little bit more complicated. I think eventually she’ll get confirmed but I don’t know the timing and exactly when that might happen.”

"I was pleased to see Senator Reid's comments today on the floor​," Wheeler said in a statement. "Jessica Rosenworcel is an integral part of this Commission and should be confirmed. All nominees, no matter their party affiliation, deserve an up or down vote."

“It’s pitiful,” Nelson said in an interview Thursday. “There was an agreement when the Republican commissioner was extended, there was a commitment. Harry Reid can tell you the specifics, or Mitch McConnell, that Rosenworcel would be brought up soon and pass. Well here it is, it’s not soon. … You’ve got to be able to go on somebody’s word around here.” He told us he didn’t know the source of the GOP holds.

Thune attributed the latest GOP hold to similar reasons motivating earlier ones. “I think it’s some of the same issues, a combination of things that have been voiced before,” Thune said in the interview. “It’s not necessarily new, I think it’s one of a number of issues that people have. And part of it, I think, too, is just issues people have with the FCC. And I’m not sure we’ll be able to solve or fix those. But it certainly would help if it was clear that at the end of the year, if there’s a new administration, that you’d have a new chairman.”

New Hold Unknown

Several GOP senators or their spokespeople denied responsibility for the latest hold. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, didn’t place it, his spokeswoman said, nor did Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a spokeswoman for him said. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has no hold, a spokeswoman said. A spokesman for Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., doesn’t believe Boozman placed the hold. Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, doesn't have a hold on her renomination, an aide said. Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., also didn't object, they told us. Fischer lauded Rosenworcel in general. “I haven’t been part of that discussion, so I can’t answer that question,” Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said when asked about the renomination. “We don’t comment on holds, sorry,” said Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

“Effectively, it’s McConnell,” one Republican industry official said about the real obstacle for Rosenworcel. “When it gets to this point, where the leaders are playing it out on the floor, then it can be resolved by the leaders.”

“There’s just a lot of ground clutter right now swirling around out there,” Thune told us Wednesday, discussing the holds. “But I hope that that gets done. We moved her through the committee. I’ve said I support her. But when you’re talking about 100 senators, all of whom have their own ideas, any one of them can decide to make it difficult. But there’s I suspect, yeah, at some point, there’ll be a lot of stuff that moves in the nomination front, and probably with some things that Republicans are going to want as well, and maybe that eventually is how it gets packaged. … I can’t predict what any of our members are going to do on this. All I can do is what we’ve done, and that is our part -- which is move her through the committee and report her out.”

“To his credit, Senator Thune did everything he could to fulfill the commitment,” Reid said on the floor. “He was having pressure not to do anything, I’m sure. … It’s now Senator McConnell’s problem, I guess. But a year went by. She still wasn’t sent to the floor.” He referred to repeated entreaties to both McConnell and Thune in recent months. In December, Reid was told the reconfirmation would happen in 2016, he said. “Before we left for the Presidents Day recess, I spoke again with Senators McConnell and Thune about Rosenworcel’s nomination,” Reid said. “February passed with no movement. March passed. Here we are 21 days into April, and no confirmation. I’ve waited. I’ve waited patiently for my friend to do the right thing. I’ve held off for months, coming to the floor. What else would I do? What else could I do?”

GOP holds are no reason for backing out of the deal, Reid argued. “Dysfunction in his caucus” is “no excuse” for not keeping his word, he insisted. McConnell could always file cloture on Rosenworcel’s renomination, Reid said. “He could do this in many different ways. ... To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. This commitment was made to me a year and a half ago. We have to keep our trust. … What I’m concerned about is what it means for the Senate and what it means for a human being, a woman who works every day very hard trying to do the right thing for a very important part of our country.”

“I urge Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to keep his commitment to Democratic Leader Reid and quickly confirm Jessica Rosenworcel to the FCC,” Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said in a statement, citing what he considered her many accomplishments.