FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will step down on January 20

[TomDaisy]

buh bye.

I guess he wants to get a jump on scooping up that sweet quid pro quo $$$$ from Verizon and AT&T.

Link to tweet

[louis-t]

1. Buh bye.

[ResistantAmerican17]

2. Take that silly coffee mug with you fascist.

[shenmue]

3. Thanks be!

[tymorial]

4. Would have been replaced anyway.

The guy is putrid.

[onenote]

12. He would have been replaced as chairman. But his departure from the FCC is not required.

However, it is standard operating procedure for the chairman to leave the FCC effective inauguration day. For example, Tom Wheeler, who was Chairman at the end of the Obama administration, resigned not only as chairman, but also as a commissioner, effective January 20, 2017, even though his term on the FCC did not expire until June 2018.

[C_U_L8R]

5. Joe Biden's awesome new boot

strikes fear into their shrunken little hearts. Slink away you fuckers.

[LPBBEAR]

6. Good riddance

to a rotten corporate shill who was responsible for screwing with Net Neutrality. Hopefully Biden's FCC can quickly repair the damage this moron has done.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

7. Probably back to Verizon where he came from

[gratuitous]

8. So he's available for a subpoena from a House committee for 18 days?

He'll blow it off, of course, but I'd still like to see the House try once more to get this sell-out under oath.

[LowerManhattanite]

9. Yes. Quit 24 hours before you're fired...

...you grifting stooge.

[onenote]

10. The president can't "fire" Pai -- he can only replace him as Chairman

It is tradition for the Chairman to leave the FCC as of the date on which a president of a different party is inaugurated. For example, Tom Wheeler, who was chairman at the end of the Obama administration, stepped down on January 20, 2017.

Pai's term as an FCC Commissioner doesn't expire until June 30 and in theory he could stay on as a member of the Commission until then. Michael O'Rielly, one of the other Republicans on the Commission can't stay on the Commission past January 3, 2021. A successor to him has been nominated by Trump, but it is unclear whether the Republicans will be able to push through that nomination.

[tritsofme]

11. This is actually good news, and will guarantee a Democratic FCC majority

on day one of Biden’s administration, instead of potentially this summer when his term expired.

[onenote]

13. Hopefully a majority. But it could be a 2-2 tie on day one.

It has always been expected that, consistent with tradition, Pai would leave the FCC effective inauguration day. One of the other Republican seats, currently held by Michael O'Rielly, will become vacant as of the end of the year. However, between now and then, the Senate could confirm O'Rielly's replacement. If that happens, the FCC will have two Republicans and two Democrats until such time as a Democrat is confirmed to fill Pat's remaining term.