The Senate Commerce Committee was to consider President Joe Biden’s nominee for the FCC, Gigi Sohn, and Alvaro Bedoya for the FTC, after the nominations did not advance out of committee last year, in a hearing this week.
02/01/2022 11:00 A.M.
2.5 minute read
Nominations to fill open seats on the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission remain pending on Capitol Hill after the U.S. Senate did not act on the nominations before the end of last year.
Federal Communications Commission
President Joe Biden nominated Gigi Sohn to serve in one of the Democratic seats on the FCC.
The Senate Commerce Committee—which did not act on Sohn’s nomination during its last hearing on the subject Dec. 1—was scheduled to discuss it in a Feb. 2 hearing at 10 a.m. EST.
According to Bloomberg, the votes were delayed due to the absence of U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., who is recovering from a stroke. (A subscription may be required to view the article.)
Before the nominations were delayed, Politico reported that it is not clear whether Sohn has enough Democratic votes on the committee to counter the GOP’s opposition to her nomination.
If Sohn is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the FCC will have a 3-2 Democratic majority. Geoffrey Starks serves in the remaining Democratic seat on the commission and Jessica Rosenworcel was confirmed as chair last year, ACA International previously reported.
Sohn is currently a distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Senior Fellow and Public Advocate. Sohn served as counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler from 2013-2016.
Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr was confirmed by the Senate to serve a five-year term starting in 2019. In August 2020, former President Donald Trump revoked his nomination for Republican Michael O’Rielly to serve another term after a dust-up about proposals for the regulation of social media.
Nathan Simington was confirmed to serve in one of the Republican seats on the FCC in 2020.
Federal Trade Commission
The Senate Commerce Committee, led by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was also slated to consider the nomination of Alvaro Bedoya to serve on the Federal Trade Commission during the Feb. 2 hearing. Bedoya was nominated in place of Rohit Chopra after he started his term as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The committee did vote on his nomination in December, but along party lines, according to Politico.
“The committee deadlocked along partisan lines when it voted on him in December, with every Republican siding against,” according to the article. “He could still advance to the floor with unified Democratic support, but Democrats would need to find the time for three roll call votes. (In addition to cloture and confirmation votes, Bedoya would need one simply to discharge him from the Senate Commerce Committee—and that adds up to a lot of floor time.)”
ACA will continue to provide updates on this story and the nominations.
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