D.C. Memo: FCC's Starks Resigning Soon. Who Will Get Democrat's Job?
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FCC: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s timetable to assume majority control likely got a boost yesterday after FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks announced he is resigning “this spring.” Starks’s departure would leave the agency with two Republicans (Carr and Nathan Simington) and one Democrat (Anna Gomez.) Starks, nominated by President Trump in 2018 and confirmed in January 2019, did not promise to stay at the FCC indefinitely in order to sustain the current 2-2 split between Republicans and Democrats and thereby frustrate Carr’s efforts to move forward with his agenda – which includes reining in Big Tech, reviving broadcasters’ public interest obligations, and helping energize the space economy. Trump has nominated Olivia Trusty, an aide to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) to fill the third Republican seat.
(Who will replace Starks? See the names Policyband is hearing after the paywall.)