The Parents Television Council is applauding the nomination of Jessica Rosenworcel to a new five-year term on the FCC, and asking the President to fill the remaining open seat with an advocate for kids and families.
"While Jessica Rosenworcel’s renomination to the FCC should have happened several months ago, we applaud the President’s move and we urge the Senate to immediately confirm her to the FCC position in which she served previously," said PTC President Tim Winter. "During her years of service at the Commission and on Capitol Hill, Rosenworcel has been a stalwart advocate for protecting children from harmful media content and supportive of enforcement of the broadcast indecency law. A signed copy of the Child Safe Viewing Act even adorned the wall in her FCC office."
Winter added: "We call on the President to fill the remaining slot on the Commission with a nominee who understands, appreciates, and will advocate for the needs of children and families."
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The PTC chief also put a plug in for a la carte cable offerings, which PTC has long pushed as a way to provide families more choice over the content that comes into their homes.
The White House earlier this month sent Rosenworcel's nomination to the Senate.
Rosenworcel, who had served on the commission between 2012 and the end of 2016, was forced to exit at the end of last year after Congress failed to bring her renomination to a vote despite unanimous approval by the Senate Commerce Committee and support from both Democratic and Republican legislative leaders after Senate Republican leadership would not schedule a vote.
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President Donald Trump withdrew President Barack Obama's renomination of Rosenworcel, which if she had been seated would have left the FCC at a 2-2 political divide once FCC chairman Tom Wheeler exited.
Rosenworcel will likely need to be paired with a nominee for the Republican seat—the Administration would not want to create a 2-2 tie, which would be the case unless Mignon Clyburn exited. That Republican choice is said by numerous sources to be Brendan Carr, currently the acting FCC general counsel and formerly a staffer in the office of current chairman Ajit Pai.
