Senate expected to act quickly on FCC nominations

FCC nominees Deborah Tate and Michael Copps are expected to receive U.S. Senate approval this week after yesterday’s nomination hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee.

Multiple news reports indicated that Tate, a Republican Tennessee state regulator, and Copps, a Democratic FCC commissioner who will have to leave the agency next year if his term is not extended, successfully navigated questioning during the hearing. In fact, the normal committee vote will be bypassed to let the full Senate vote on the nominations—possibly as early as today, according to one report.

With the March resignation of former FCC Chairman Michael Powell and last week’s resignation of Republican Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, Kevin Martin is in the unusual position of being in the partisan minority while serving as FCC chairman. Confirmation of Tate would return the commission to a 2-2 split between Republicans and Democrats, with another Republican slot yet to be filled.