SB QST @ ARL $ARLB010
ARLB010 Senate Approves Two New FCC Commissioners, Commission to Be
at Full Strength

ZCZC AG10
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 10  ARLB010
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  May 10, 2012
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB010
ARLB010 Senate Approves Two New FCC Commissioners, Commission to Be
at Full Strength

Six months after President Barack Obama nominated Jessica
Rosenworcel and Ajit Varadaraj Pai to the Federal Communications
Commission, the Senate confirmed their appointments on Monday, May
7. Rosenworcel, a Democrat, fills the seat vacated by Michael Copps
who retired from the Commission earlier this year; her term runs
through June 30, 2015. Pai, a Republican, replaces Meredith Attwell
Baker, who left the FCC in June 2011; his term runs through June 30,
2016. Once Rosenworcel and Pai are sworn in, the FCC will be at its
full complement of five Commissioners.

According to various reports, the two will be sworn in by the end of
this week. Their nominations had been held up since December in an
unrelated dispute between the FCC and Senator Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa) over agency approval of LightSquared's wireless
application. When Grassley received the sought-after documents two
weeks ago, he lifted a hold on the nominations.

The FCC has been down two commissioners since Baker and Copps left
the Commission, leaving the agency with only three commissioners:
two Democrats and one Republican. Only three sitting Commissioners
may be members of the same political party. At present, Chairman
Julius Genachowski and Mignon Clyburn are Democrats while Robert
McDowell is the lone Republican on the Commission.

"I want to congratulate Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel on their
Senate confirmation and welcome them to the Commission," said FCC
Chairman Genachowski in a written statement. "They bring deep
knowledge of our sector and proven track records of accomplishment.
President Obama made an outstanding choice in their nominations, and
I look forward to working with them."

Rosenworcel is the Senior Communications Counsel for the United
States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
working for Senator Jay Rockefeller IV since 2009, and previously
for Senator Daniel K. Inouye from 2007-2008. Before joining the
Committee, she worked at the FCC from 1999-2007, serving as Legal
Advisor, and then Senior Legal Advisor to Commissioner Copps
(2003-2007), Legal Counsel to the Bureau Chief of the Wireline
Competition Bureau (2002-2003) and as an Attorney-Advisor in the
Policy Division of the Common Carrier Bureau (1999-2002). From
1997-1999, Rosenworcel was a communications associate at Drinker
Biddle and Reath. She received a BA from Wesleyan University and a
JD from New York University School of Law

Pai is a partner in the Litigation Department of Jenner & Block LLP.
Immediately prior to joining Jenner & Block, he worked in the Office
of the General Counsel at the FCC where he served as Deputy General
Counsel, Associate General Counsel and Special Advisor to the
General Counsel. Previously, Pai served as Chief Counsel to the US
Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil
Rights and Property Rights, and as Senior Counsel at the Office of
Legal Policy at the US Department of Justice. Pai also served as
Deputy Chief Counsel to the US Senate Judiciary Committee's
Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, and as
Associate General Counsel at Verizon Communications. He began his
career as a law clerk to Judge Martin L.C. Feldman of the US
District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and then as an
Honors Program trial attorney in the Telecommunications Task Force
at the US Department of Justice's Antitrust Division. Pai holds a BA
from Harvard University and a JD from the University of Chicago.
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