D.C. Memo: GOP Control of the FCC Starts Today
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FCC: Brendan Carr – seven years a regular Commissioner – will step into his new role of FCC Chairman after Noon EST today. Job one for Carr, 46, is likely to help with restoring the FCC's authority to auction spectrum. "There's not even spectrum auction authority for the FCC right now, which is incredible when you think about wireless innovation being a leader of economic growth," former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told CNBC last week. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he wants to help Carr by slipping auction authority into the pending reconciliation bill. Over in the House, an early reconciliation blueprint would call on Carr to lay the foundation to raise $60 billion from spectrum auctions over the next 10 years. "I think Brendan Carr is going to be a superb Chairman. I worked very closely with him for many years and I know that he has both deep expertise in all of the issues as well as a determination to work hard to advance the ball in terms of American innovation and investment," Pai said. President-elect Trump designated Carr his FCC Chairman last Nov. 17. For now, Carr can control the FCC’s agenda but he won’t have voting control in a policy making sense until Republican Senate aide Olivia Trusty, nominated last week by Trump, is confirmed by the Senate. In stepping into the top job at the FCC, Republican Carr from his time in the political minority can point to one achievement that no other FCC Commissioner in modern agency history can even come close to matching: Passing a novel communications law that disrupted U.S. superpower relations with China. Carr years ago identified an issue – TikTok and U.S. national security – and used social media and traditional media channels to amplify his concerns. In November 2021, Carr told Axios he supported an outright U.S. ban on TikTok. "I don’t believe there is a path forward for anything other than a ban," he said. Last April, a politically divided Congress (a Democratic Senate and Republican House) took up Carr's cause and passed a law forcing TikTok to divorce its China parent or exit the U.S. market. President Biden, a Democrat, was all too happy to sign Carr’s bill into law amid threats from Beijing. (See BBC’s “China says TikTok ban would 'come back to bite' the U.S.”) In part because of Carr's work on this issue, TikTok shut down in the U.S. Saturday night, only to come back about 18 hours later after President Trump intervened and proposed a deal that would give a U.S. entity 50% ownership of TikTok. "Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations,” Trump said Sunday on TruthSocial. Trump, who joined 170 million U.S. TikTok users last June, has said TikTok helped him connect with young voters in his 2024 election victory. Surprises are certain to greet Carr, but some may create an opportunity or two to advance his long-held policy goals. Take the Universal Service Fund. If the Supreme Court effectively torpedoes the USF funding mechanism later this year, Congress would face the task of designing a new USF. Carr has been on record for years in support of requiring Big Tech to contribute revenue to the USF to expand the contribution base beyond tariffs on telephone bills. The Supreme Court just might create the opening Carr and allies have been looking for. "Big Tech has been enjoying a free ride on our Internet infrastructure while skipping out on the billions of dollars in costs needed to maintain and build that network," Carr said in a May, 2021 essay in Newsweek. "Yet Big Tech derives tremendous value from these high-speed networks."