White House Said Close to Naming O'Rielly Replacement; Reinstatement Push Continues
President Donald Trump’s administration is believed nearly ready to name NTIA senior adviser Carolyn Roddy as President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, potentially as soon as the next few days, communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. Behind-the scenes wrangling between the Trump administration and Senate GOP leaders over O'Rielly's revoked renomination continued this week, with prospects for a resolution uncertain, officials and lobbyists said. Trump withdrew the renomination last week (see 2008030072). Senate Majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota and other Republicans have pressed Trump to reinstate O'Rielly (see 2008060062).
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Roddy joined NTIA in early June, an official told us. Her portfolio at the agency has focused on broadband, spectrum and international issues, the official said. Roddy briefly worked at the FCC in 2017 as part of an administration “beachhead team" during the Trump administration's transition and has previous commission experience (see 1708140035). She was a regional regulatory counsel for Sprint, counsel for Troutman Sanders (now Troutman Pepper) in Atlanta and director-regulatory affairs at the Satellite Industry Association. Roddy and the White House didn't comment.
Thune and other Senate Republicans want Trump to reinstate O'Rielly, though officials we spoke with believe they're unlikely to succeed. The GOP senators have their own preferred candidates for a GOP vacancy, though it’s unclear whether they're advocating for them to be an alternative to Roddy, lobbyists said. Their primary candidate is Senate Commerce Committee Deputy GOP Staff Director Crystal Tully, but others have also been discussed, lobbyists said. They suggested other scenarios in which either Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democrats’ presumptive 2020 presidential nominee, names O’Rielly to an FCC seat during the next Congress.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., actively urged Trump to nominate Roddy for the vacancy, officials and lobbyists said. Roddy backed Gingrich’s unsuccessful bid for the GOP’s 2012 presidential nomination. Gingrich didn’t comment.
American Enterprise Institute Visiting Scholar Jeffrey Eisenach, who worked with Roddy on the Trump FCC transition team, told us she was “a very good member of the transition team” and “she certainly has lots of great experience” in telecom policymaking. Eisenach believes Roddy “certainly is qualified” to take on an FCC role, though he wouldn’t speculate on whether Trump will nominate her.
White House officials want to fast-track Roddy, though officials and lobbyists we spoke with believe it remains very difficult for the Senate to complete the confirmation process for an O’Rielly replacement this year (see 2008040061). Thune and other senators pushing for O’Rielly’s reinstatement will have sway over the confirmations process, officials said. It’s also likely Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., will seek to place a hold on any new FCC nominee until that person commits to vote to overturn FCC approval of Ligado’s L-band plan, lobbyists said. Inhofe blocked O’Rielly over that issue (see 2007280039).