Scoop: Dozen-plus Senate Dems place holds on Commerce nominees
Fifteen Senate Democrats are placing holds on President Trump's nominees for Commerce Department posts in protest of new restrictions on a $40 billion high-speed internet access program.
Why it matters: Senate Democrats across an array of committees have embraced holds on Trump nominees as a way to push back against administration policies they oppose.
The Democrats, led by Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), informed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick of the holds on Wednesday, according to a letter obtained by Axios.
They're objecting to the administration's imposition of new rules on a federal program aimed at closing the digital divide — which yanked approval from both Nevada and Delaware to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.
The expedited consideration of Commerce Department nominees overseeing broadband policy and "related nominees" will be blocked, the Democratic lawmakers wrote.
The big picture: Senate Democrats, rendered largely powerless against Trump's decisions to restrict funding from federal programs, have zeroed in on holds as one of the only tactics available to them.
Just one senator on a committee can object to the expedited consideration of department and agency nominees. Committees regularly report nominees out in bunches to prevent a backlog of pending appointments.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) last month placed holds on all political nominees at the Justice Department.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has placed holds on all State Department nominees, along with additional nominees for over a dozen different departments.
Zoom in: The new rules for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program have sent states that want funding back, essentially, to square one of the process.
They also ditch a preference for fiber, instead adopting a "technology-neutral" approach, aimed at cheaper alternatives. But fiber internet is generally considered the fastest internet option.
"Congress did not intend for this program to sell rural Americans short and provide them with unreliable, intermittent service at speeds they may already have access to today," the lawmakers said in the letter to Lutnick.
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