What To Expect From the New Trump FCC

With President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory and the Republicans gaining control of both houses of the legislative branch, significant policy shifts at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are expected, setting the stage for an agenda focused on deregulation and other measures designed to encourage investment, relieve industry from onerous regulatory oversight, and eliminate rules and policies disfavored by the new administration. To help determine what actions the new Trump FCC may take, we examined the dissenting statements issued by the two current Republican members of the Biden FCC, Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, under the assumption that any FCC actions adopted over their objections will likely be revisited by the new Trump FCC. This Update provides a summary of our findings based on our review of the FCC commissioners’ prior dissenting statements. In addition, this Update discusses possible legislative actions by the new Republican-controlled Congress and in the courts related to the FCC.