The congratulations are rolling in after the Senate today confirmed Julius Genachowski as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The Senate also confirmed Robert McDowell for his second term, leaving only two spots remaining to be filled on the five-member commission.
The confirmation by the full Senate came one week after the Commerce Committee held hearings at which the FCC was excoriated, accused of not being transparent enough and a tool of the telecommunications industry, rather than a voice for consumers.
The full-on approval came more than three months after Genachoski was nominated for the position. Given that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is set to issue the guidelines informing people how it plans to dispense of $4.7 billion in stimulus funds for broadband before the end of the month, and could use some FCC guidance, Genachowski can’t get on the job fast enough. Also today, President Obama nominated Meredith Attwell Baker to one of the two open FCC spots. The administration had earlier nominated Mignon Clyburn to fill the other open spot. Both are expected to be confirmed later this summer.
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[...] chairman, Julius Genachowski. He managed to carve out a few minutes from what has been a very busy first month on the job. As head of the FCC, Chairman Genachowski hopes to revive the telecom and broadband sectors by [...]
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