Senate committee approves Biden’s FCC nominees
Despite apparent opposition to the Biden nominees by Republicans, the Senate committee involved has approved the three FCC nominees and moved that the process proceed to a vote in the full Senate.
The article also includes these paragraphs, describing absurdities that could only occur in Congress:
[Ted] Cruz [R-Texas] moved that all the nominations, including Damelin and a nominee for the National Transportation Safety Board plus a list of Coast Guard promotions, be favorably reported. There were no objections and the motion was agreed to.
Immediately thereafter, however, Cruz and other Republicans asked to be recorded as no on Gomez and/or Starks and two Democrats as no on Carr. It’s not possible to discern from the webcast who was speaking in all instances, but the bottom line is that all the nominations were approved and now can go to the floor for a vote by the full Senate. The requests to be recorded as no are a signal that the rest of the confirmation process will not be easy.
Cruz moves the nominees should be “favorably” reported, but then announces he and others are against some.
All in all, this appears to be another example of Republican failure theater. Make it sound like you are trying to block Biden’s policies, but then do whatever is necessary to let them to go into effect. Considering that the Democratic Party appointees at the FCC have been pushing for regulatory power beyond the commission’s statutory authority, it seems absurd for any Republican senator (or Democrat senator for that matter) to okay any Biden nominees who would continue that power grab. And yet, the Republicans appear willing to go along.
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Despite apparent opposition to the Biden nominees by Republicans, the Senate committee involved has approved the three FCC nominees and moved that the process proceed to a vote in the full Senate.
The article also includes these paragraphs, describing absurdities that could only occur in Congress:
[Ted] Cruz [R-Texas] moved that all the nominations, including Damelin and a nominee for the National Transportation Safety Board plus a list of Coast Guard promotions, be favorably reported. There were no objections and the motion was agreed to.
Immediately thereafter, however, Cruz and other Republicans asked to be recorded as no on Gomez and/or Starks and two Democrats as no on Carr. It’s not possible to discern from the webcast who was speaking in all instances, but the bottom line is that all the nominations were approved and now can go to the floor for a vote by the full Senate. The requests to be recorded as no are a signal that the rest of the confirmation process will not be easy.
Cruz moves the nominees should be “favorably” reported, but then announces he and others are against some.
All in all, this appears to be another example of Republican failure theater. Make it sound like you are trying to block Biden’s policies, but then do whatever is necessary to let them to go into effect. Considering that the Democratic Party appointees at the FCC have been pushing for regulatory power beyond the commission’s statutory authority, it seems absurd for any Republican senator (or Democrat senator for that matter) to okay any Biden nominees who would continue that power grab. And yet, the Republicans appear willing to go along.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
The favorable/no thing isn’t hard to understand or failure theater at all. Cruz and the other republicans voted no, but they don’t hold a majority, so the vote went for approval, as expected. Cruz made the motion, because that’s his job on the committee..
I’m not a huge fan of the senate republicans in general, they are far more collegial and old guard than the current house makeup, and I’d like to see them back up their promises with actual action, but this isn’t really a case of them not doing what they can.
David Eastman: You may be right, but history suggests otherwise. Republicans love to claim they did all they could, but were unable to succeed. Democrats meanwhile routinely manage to do more, even when they hold exactly the same amount of power.
We shall see how the vote goes in the full Senate. Wanna bet a number of Republicans fold and vote for the Biden appointees?
David Eastman: Also, how is it Cruz’s job to make the motion of “favorable?” The Republicans don’t hold a majority, and because of the 50-50 split the VP (a Democrat) gives the Democrats just a little more control. Thus, the Democrats hold the leadership roll in the committee, even if the votes are split evenly. It should up to their leadership to make the motion, not Cruz.
“… because of the 50-50 split”
That was last session. The Democrats managed to get Fetterman in last year, so now they have a 51-49 majority.
Call Me Ishmael: Good point. According to the Senate itself, the breakdown is 49 Rs and 48 Ds, with three independents. Since those independents I think are all really Democrats in sheep’s clothing, that suggests you are correct.
Which makes Cruz’s actions even more shameful.
David Eastman wrote: “Cruz made the motion, because that’s his job on the committee..”
I don’t understand something here. It sounds to me as thought Cruz is at a control point but failed to take control and let a bad decision go through. It sounds as though the checks and balances system failed to check or to balance.
However, motions are allowed by anyone, so Cruz could have refused to violate his belief, his ethics, his morals, or whatever it was and forced someone with less morals do make the motion.
When I was on boards of directors, I didn’t make motions I didn’t believe in, and I didn’t second motions I didn’t believe in. I don’t want my representatives in Washington, my state’s capitol, or my local town to make or second motions that I don’t believe in, either.
Cruz is the ranking member of the committee. Which just means the longest serving member from the minority party, it’s not a “leadership” position, but in many committees, and particularly sub-committees, that member is the one that actually manages the minutiae of calling for motions, making sure things run to schedule, etc. I admit I’m assuming that it’s the case for this particular committee, but the last time I ran into one of these “why in the world is member xx calling for…” and did the research, that was exactly the case. They were just the person responsible for calling for the motions, whether the motion went the way they wanted to or not.
I should also clarify that my defense of Cruz is very tepid. He’s an excellent example of “the louder he’s screaming about something, the less chance there is that he actually intends to do anything about it.”
David Eastman
“They were just the person responsible for calling for the motions, whether the motion went the way they wanted to or not.”
Still confused. It sounded as though he made the motion, not called for someone to make it.
Well what was the vote total. If the majority voted in favor, then what other outcome was possible?