Congress Can Score Mobile Now Win Despite Reid's Senate Hold, Walden Says

A spokeswoman for Reid confirmed to us Wednesday that Reid placed a hold on the bill. She attributed the hold to what she said was Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., not keeping “their word from a 2014 agreement to confirm” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, whose reconfirmation is pending before the full Senate and faces GOP holds. The Reid hold was widely rumored Tuesday but Reid’s office didn’t comment then. Reid took to the floor in April demanding a floor vote on Rosenworcel’s new term and by early May was believed to be signaling his potential obstruction plans for Mobile Now and other telecom measures such as the FCC Reauthorization Act (S-2644) (see 1605060062). The 2014 deal involved advancing the reconfirmation vote on Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, a Republican, last Congress in exchange for moving Rosenworcel, a Democrat, in this Congress. Thune told us Tuesday there are multiple Democratic holds on Mobile Now, which he wrote and Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., co-sponsors.

McConnell spokespeople didn’t comment Wednesday on Reid’s hold. Thune’s office pointed to Reid’s April remarks saying Thune has done all he can to advance Rosenworcel’s renomination. Thune previously told us he suspects Rosenworcel’s renomination will advance this year at a time when “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” (see 1604210066). Both McConnell and Thune say Rosenworcel’s renomination faces multiple GOP holds, and Thune said the renomination would face an easier path if FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler committed to stepping down from the FCC at the end of the Obama administration. Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, has countered that this condition was never part of the deal to advance Rosenworcel (see 1605130057). Wheeler's term ends July 1, 2018.

“Yeah, he should, he should,” agreed Walden in an interview, saying Wheeler should commit to step down. “That would be the right thing to do.” Walden doesn't see these complications as fatal for Mobile Now, despite a tight legislative calendar with few days left in 2016. “Senator Thune’s working it, he’s doing a great job, and they’ll work out their issues in the Senate and then when it gets here, we’ll start doing our work on it,” Walden said.

Walden didn’t dwell on the possibility of the Senate failing to clear Mobile Now due to an impasse: “We’ll see,” Walden told us. “Let’s not give up hope. Hope springs eternal! I don’t know. We’ll get it done. The Senate’s a more complicated body. They have a tougher set of wickets and hurdles to get through and over and they’ll get there. It’s important legislation. I don’t think that’s the underlying issue here. I think it has more to do with the situation involving Commissioner Rosenworcel, and frankly, Chairman Wheeler’s comments before the committee when he said he might not leave at the end of the year, that he might hang around. I think that just threw everything into a cocked hat and really caused problems for Jessica, which is unfortunate. She’s a good commissioner and does good work.”

Congress is in session for the rest of June and part of July before beginning a long recess period for much of July and all of August. Lawmakers will return for some of September but be gone for October due to the election season. They may return for a lame-duck session following the election. Many point to September and the lame-duck period as a potential time of action.

“The problem’s procedural -- you’ve got to get it out of the Senate,” Walden’s counsel David Redl said Wednesday during an FCBA lunch at Mayer Brown. He said the only industry stakeholders that seemed concerned about Mobile Now were the C-band satellite industry officials, and they seem to have accepted the legislation at this point.

Democratic counsel David Goldman, who works for House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., pointed out during the same FCBA event that Mobile Now contains some provisions, particularly infrastructure-focused ones, that House lawmakers already have dealt with in one form or another. The dig once proposal, for instance, appears in the Senate Mobile Now version and House lawmakers, led by Walden and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., had pressed for similar legislation.

Walden said before he may want to “upgrade” Mobile Now during the House consideration (see 1603230042). He has told us for months that the House is awaiting receipt of the bill following Senate approval (see 1605090046).