Senate Will Proceed to Pai Nomination Vote

By
( )
published

The Senate as expected voted to invoke cloture (limit debate) on the renomination of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to a new, five-year term on the FCC retroactive to the end of his term, which was June 2016 (commissioners can serve through the end of the next Congress, which is the end of this year).

The vote was 55 to 40 along primarily partisan lines and followed Democrats calling for the "firing" of Pai and Republicans saying the FCC was in good hands under Pai's stewardship.

The vote means the Senate can proceed to a vote on the underlying nomination. An earlier vote was blocked by Democrats. That vote is expected by Monday (Oct. 2) and will almost certainly result in a new term for the chairman.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.