Republican, Democratic FCC commissioners stepping down this week

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Source: Yahoo! News/Reuters

Wed, June 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM EDT


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two members of the Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday they plan to resign this week giving President Donald Trump two more seats to fill on the U.S. telecom regulator.

Republican Nathan Simington was confirmed in December 2020 to the five-member FCC after he led a regulatory effort during Trump's first term in office seeking to rein in social media companies, and could have stayed on until the end of the year. Democratic FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who could have stayed until 2028, said he plans to step down this week.

Meanwhile the Senate has not yet voted on the nomination of Senate aide Olivia Trusty to serve on the panel. That could temporarily leave the FCC with one Republican and one Democratic commissioner. Turnover at the FCC is common during changes in presidential administrations.

The departures come as Trump has pressured Republican FCC Chair Brendan Carr to strip CBS of its broadcast licenses after Trump sued CBS News seeking $20 billion over its editing of a "60 Minutes" interview in October 2024 with then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Trump has fired Democratic commissioners on other independent agencies including the Federal Trade Commission.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/republican-fcc-commissioner-simington-step-164241574.html

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1. Until the pending nomination is confirmed, the FCC will lack a quorum needed to act.

Last edited Thu Jun 5, 2025, 09:10 AM - Edit history (1)

By statute, three members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum. As of the end of this coming week, there will only be two Commissioners, which means the Chairman, who is a Trumper, will be somewhat limited in what he can do until the pending Repub nominee, Olivia Trusty, is confirmed. Moreover, even after Trusty is confirmed, the FCC will only have three members for a while, which may stop Trump from firing the lone Democrat on the Commission, Anna Gomez. It has been speculated that she was likely to be fired given that she's a Latina woman and an outspoken critic of the Trump administration's attack on freedom of speech.