Common Cause said Wednesday that the "slow walk" to the nominations of FCC chair Tom Wheeler and Republican Michael O'Rielly are just more evidence of the need for reforming the filibuster rules, including "stripping" the power of one Senator to hold up a nomination.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) put a hold on Wheeler's nomination vote, which then held up O'Rielly's, until he got an acceptable answer from Wheeler on political ad disclosures, which he appeared to get since he lifted the hold and the nominations were voted in Oct. 29.
"The protracted confirmation process illustrates everything that is wrong with Washington," said Michael Copps, special adviser to Common Cause's Media and Democracy Reform Initiative. Copps is himself a former FCC commissioner and acting chair.
"It's a sad state of affairs when a minority of the minority party in the Senate can paralyze government," said Copps.
