NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association today led a coalition of 12 communications industry, broadband, and public safety organizations in a letter to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Chairman Ted Cruz and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell urging the Committee to favorably report the nomination of Danielle Thumann Severs to serve as a Commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) so the full Senate can move swiftly to confirm her.
“We write in strong support of the nomination of Danielle Thumann Severs to serve as a Commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission and respectfully urge the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to report her nomination favorably so the full Senate can move swiftly to confirm her,” the coalition wrote. “Few nominees bring both a command of the Commission’s institutional record and firsthand knowledge of what it takes to permit, build, and maintain a network.”
The letter highlights three areas of Thumann Severs’ record: bridging the digital divide and expanding connectivity, delivering for consumers, and empowering American workers. On the third, the coalition wrote that she “has worked directly with tower and fiber builders—many of them small, family-owned firms—on the permitting, siting, and infrastructure policies that determine whether crews have steady work and whether infrastructure actually gets built,” and that she has supported the Commission’s push “to ensure that skilled, vetted, properly classified American crews build and maintain these networks, and that these workers are fairly compensated in line with the demands and hazards of the job.”
The signers also credited her record of building consensus, describing her as “a leading architect of the durable, bipartisan work that makes for smart and lasting communications policy” whose “focus on substance and results is what has earned her the trust of civil society, consumer groups, government officials, and companies across the communications landscape.”
“Danielle Thumann Severs has spent her career building consensus on the policies that get networks permitted, built, and maintained,” said NATE President & CEO Todd Schlekeway. “NATE is proud to stand behind her nomination alongside our coalition partners. The tower technicians, contractor firms, and broadband infrastructure workforce our member companies represent will benefit from having a Commissioner who understands what it takes to do this work in the field.”
“The breadth of this coalition says something,” Schlekeway added. “Contractors, fiber and wireless builders, rural broadband providers, cable, and public safety advocates do not agree on everything, but we agree on this. Danielle is ready on day one, and we urge Chairman Cruz, Ranking Member Cantwell, and the members of the Committee to report her nomination favorably and encourage the full Senate to confirm her promptly.”
Thumann Severs has served two tours in the FCC Chairman’s office, first as a Legal Advisor beginning in 2021 and now as Senior Counsel, with a policy portfolio spanning the Wireline Competition Bureau, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Between those tours she led state and local government relations for a nationwide communications infrastructure provider, and before entering public service she practiced communications law at Wilkinson Barker Knauer. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and her J.D. cum laude from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Earlier this year, NATE presented her with the Association’s 2026 Regulatory Champion of the Year Award.
In addition to NATE, the letter was signed by America’s Communications Association, the Connected Digital Infrastructure Association, the Fiber Broadband Association, INCOMPAS (The Competitive Communications and AI Infrastructure Association), NATE Wireless Industry Network (WIN), NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, NTCA: The Rural Broadband Association, the Power & Communication Contractors Association, the Safer Buildings Coalition, the Wireless Infrastructure Association, and WTA – Advocates for Rural Broadband.
The full text of the coalition letter is available HERE.
