Enlarge / Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai arrives for his confirmation hearing with the Senate Commerce Committee on July 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla )

Pai would have had to leave the FCC at the end of 2017 if the Senate hadn’t approved President Donald Trump’s request to give Pai a new term. Pai, who has proposed deregulating broadband providers and eliminating net neutrality rules, received a new five-year term retroactive to July 1, 2016.

The vote split mostly along party lines, with Republicans supporting Pai’s re-nomination and Democrats in opposition. The tally was 52-41, as not all 100 senators voted.