By Variety | Created at 2024-11-21 12:43:17 | Updated at 2024-11-21 16:52:02
4 hours ago
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced that she intends to depart the agency on Jan. 20, 2025, when President-elect Donald Trump assumes office.
Trump has picked Brendan Carr, the senior Republican commissioner at the FCC, as the agency’s new chairman. Trump first nominated Carr to the FCC in 2017. Rosenworcel’s exit will leave an opening for Trump to appoint a new FCC commissioner and establish a 3-2 GOP majority at the agency.
Rosenworcel in a statement Wednesday said: “Serving at the Federal Communications Commission has been the honor of a lifetime, especially my tenure as Chair and as the first woman in history to be confirmed to lead this agency. I want to thank President Biden for entrusting me with the responsibility to guide the FCC during a time when communications technology is a part of every aspect of civic and commercial life. Taking the oath of office on the street outside of the agency during the height of the pandemic, when so much of our day-to-day moved online, made clear how important the work of the FCC is and how essential it is for us to build a digital future that works for everyone.”
Rosenworcel, a Democrat, was originally nominated as an FCC commissioner by President Obama in 2012 and she was named the agency’s chair by President Biden in 2021.
“I am proud to have served at the FCC alongside some of the hardest-working and dedicated public servants I have ever known,” Rosenworcel said. She cited accomplishments under her tenure, including connecting more than 23 million households to broadband and connecting more than 17 million students caught in “the homework gap” to WiFi hotspots and other devices. under Rosenworcel, the FCC also launched the first-ever Space Bureau.
Trump, in announcing Carr as his nominee for FCC chair on Sunday, called him “a warrior for Free Speech” who has “fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy.” Observers expect Carr to pick up that mantle and use his perch at the FCC to bash the media and tech companies for allegedly silencing conservative views. “You’re going to see Carr amplify whatever media grievance Trump has,” Tim Hanlon, CEO of consulting firm Vertere Group, told Variety. “He’s going to be a loud mouthpiece.”
Rosenworcel is a native of Hartford, Conn., and a graduate of Wesleyan University and New York University School of Law. She lives in D.C. with her husband and two children. In her announcement Wednesday, Rosenworcel said, “I also want to thank my husband, daughter and son for their support throughout my time at the FCC. Public service is not without sacrifice, and I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and rescue pup in the days ahead.”
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