The Senate today voted to confirm Democrat Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker, a Republican, to serve on the Federal Communications Commission, filling the last two open spots on the five-person panel.
Both confirmations were expected.
Clyburn and Baker join the FCC at a time when the agency is headed for what many critics hope will be a sweeping reform. Throughout the confirmation hearings for each of President Obama’s nominees, members of the Senate Commerce committee pointed out some of the past shortcomings of the agency, focusing on its secretive climate and cozy relations with members of the industry it regulates.
One of the biggest tasks ahead of the commissioners is a national broadband plan due to Congress next February.
“I challenge both to show us that the American people can have access to first class communications, no matter who they are or where they live,” Commerce Chairman John Rockefeller said in a statement.
On the subject of reform, recently confirmed Chairman Julius Genachowski has pledged to launch a Web site, Reboot.FCC.gov, soliciting input from the agency’s employees and eventually opening it up to the general public.