Olivia Trusty, nominee for the open Republican Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) Commissioner position, appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Trusty has significant telecommunications experience on Capitol Hill and is a longtime protégé of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS). She is the Republican staff lead for the Senate Armed Services Committee, working with the Cybersecurity Subcommittee, where she has worked on issues related to spectrum allocated to military and national security uses. She was also a policy director for the Senate Commerce Committee, and specifically worked with the Communications, Media, and Broadband Subcommittee. Additionally, she was previously a legislative assistant to Sen. Wicker, focusing on matters related to communications, technology, innovation and the internet.
The hearing, presided over by Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ranking Member Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), highlighted a range of issues such as broadband access and affordability, military use of federal spectrum, spectrum auction authority, the current challenges with the Universal Service Fund (USF), investigations by the current Commission into broadcast entities and cooperation regarding international telecommunications standards. Trusty, in her opening remarks, detailed her main priorities if confirmed as: (1) working with Congress and the White House to expand access to high-speed internet for all Americans; (2) protecting consumers from illegal robocalls; (3) strengthening the security of domestic telecommunications networks; and (4) restoring U.S. leadership in technological development for communications technologies.