The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee voted today to approve the nominations of William Kennard and three other new members of the Federal Communications Commission. The full Senate will likely hold a confirmation vote later this week.
Kennard, President Clinton's choice to succeed FCC chairman Reed Hundt, faces one last hurdle before gaining his new position: Senator Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina), who could try to block the confirmation on the Senate floor. Helms reportedly opposes Kennard because of dissatisfaction with the FCC's treatment of a North Carolina businessman, Zebulon Lee, who has tried unsuccessfully to obtain licenses for several local radio stations. Kennard has acted as general counsel of the FCC for the past four years.
Helms, who is not a member of the Commerce Committee, passed questions to Kennard about the matter through Senator Conrad Burns (R-Montana), chairman of the telecommunications subcommittee. Burns spokesman Matt Raymond said Burns only acted as a "facilitator," and that he passed on "hundreds if not thousands" of questions to the nominees from other members of Congress, industry leaders, and state regulators. Repeated calls to Helms' office were not returned.
The three FCC commissioners confirmed today were Harold Furchtgott-Roth, now chief economist for the House Commerce Committee; Michael Powell, chief of staff of the Justice Department's antitrust division and son of former General Colin Powell; and Gloria Tristani, member of the New Mexico State Corporation Commission.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Kennard's confirmation by the Commerce Committee was the issue of universal service. In the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Congress directed that new rules be set up to support service to rural and other areas where the cost of providing telephones and other telecom technology is high. So-called "farm team" legislators from rural states have complained about the FCC's approach to the issue, which they see as limiting services available to their constituents. The agency has deferred action on the toughest part of universal service, coming up with a new rate scheme to support the fund.
Kennard told members that the rules were by no means final, but also said that one of the largest problems with implementing the sweeping telecom reform act was vague language and the ongoing debate among members of Congress over what universal service is and who should pay into the fund.
Kennard and other nominees faced tough questions by committee chairman Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), who voted against the Telecom Act and believes it is the wrong path to deregulating the snarled telecommunications industry.
"I have to say in the strongest terms, the results [of the Telecom Act] have not met the expectations of Congress," McCain said at Kennard's Commerce Committee hearing last week.
