Confirming Olivia Trusty, Senate Gives GOP Majority Control of FCC
Trade group executives, public interest groups, and company executives responded to the Senate vote by lavishing praise on Trusty.
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FCC: Senate staffer Olivia Trusty just got a nice promotion. She’s now FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty after the Senate voted yesterday afternoon to confirm her nomination transmitted to that body by President Trump on February 11. The Republican’s arrival will give FCC Chairman Brendan Carr fresh momentum to drive his agenda forward across the communications landscape, including broadcast modernization, spectrum utilization, China and national security, the space economy, and smashing what he calls the Big Tech-led “censorship cartel.” Carr also has a pack of mergers before him or coming soon, including Skydance Media-Paramount Global, Charter-Cox, AT&T-Lumen, and T-Mobile-UScellular, plus separate UScellular spectrum deals with AT&T and Verizon. As soon as she is sworn in, Trusty will give Republicans a 2-1 majority, dominance Carr has lacked since moving into his leadership role 149 days ago.
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“Olivia will be a great addition to the Commission. Olivia brings years of valuable experience to the agency, including her public service on Capitol Hill and time in the private sector. I am confident that her deep expertise and knowledge will enable her to hit the ground running, and she will be an exceptionally effective FCC Commissioner,” Carr said yesterday in an email that landed moments after the Senate’s 53-45 party line vote. (Only one Senate Democrat crossed over to vote for Trusty – Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.) Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who will find herself in the minority slot for the first time since her arrival in September 2023, issued a gracious statement welcoming Trusty to the agency. “I have known Olivia for years and have been very impressed with her strong background in communications policy and deep understanding of the technical aspects of this job, which will be a great asset to this agency,” Gomez said. Not surprisingly, trade group executives, public interest groups, and company executives responded to the Senate vote by lavishing praise on Trusty, an aide to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) on the Senate Commerce and Armed Services Committees, where she developed a solid background in telecom and national security issues. Yesterday’s Senate vote was for Trusty to fill the 12 days remaining in the term of former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The Senate is scheduled to vote today on Trump’s second Trusty nomination that will give her a full five-year term beginning July 1. Trump has not nominated anyone to replace Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks or Republican FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. The fact that Trusty’s vote occurred without a Democratic nominee in view prompted Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) to vote against her on the Senate floor despite backing her in committee. “Although I respect the nominee’s professional background, when I spoke in support of Ms. Trusty’s nomination in Committee on April 30, I explained that my support was not absolute. Since then, the Trump Administration has pursued a series of concerning policies, leading me to oppose Ms. Trusty’s nomination,” Cantwell said in a June 16 letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). Cantwell said she was also concerned Trump might “illegally terminate” Gomez, though doing so prior to the arrival of a fourth commissioner would deprive Carr of a quorum needed to conduct agency business.
Cantwell Letter to Thune, 2-page PDF141KB ∙ PDF file Download
