{"id":27458,"date":"2023-01-04T04:39:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T04:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/04\/gigi-sohns-fcc-future-looking-brighter-as-biden-plans-renomination\/"},"modified":"2023-01-04T04:39:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T04:39:37","slug":"gigi-sohns-fcc-future-looking-brighter-as-biden-plans-renomination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/04\/gigi-sohns-fcc-future-looking-brighter-as-biden-plans-renomination\/","title":{"rendered":"Gigi Sohn\u2019s FCC Future Looking Brighter As Biden Plans Renomination"},"content":{"rendered":"

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from the dysfunction-junction<\/i> dept<\/h3>\n

Several sources familiar with the nomination process tell me that the Biden Administration is not only planning to re-nominate Gigi Sohn to the FCC in 2023<\/a>, but that Sohn still has the full support of the Administration and<\/strong> of Biden personally. <\/p>\n

At points in 2022 it wasn\u2019t entirely clear that team Biden had the political backbone to continue one of the sleazier fights in modern policy history (this recent Verge breakdown<\/a> is a great read if you need catching up). But this renomination puts that debate to rest, and the reconstituted Senate in the wake of Warnock\u2019s win in Georgia suggests that Sohn should have a far more promising 2023. <\/p>\n

The telecom and media industry used every dirty trick in the lobbying playbook<\/a> in 2022 to prevent Sohn from getting the 50 Senate confirmation votes needed. The result: the longest delay in seating an FCC Commissioner in U.S. history, despite<\/strong> Sohn\u2019s bipartisan popularity and experience. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s in stark contrast to the late 2020 nomination and seating of Trump FCC pick Nathan Simington, which took less than 30 days from start to finish<\/a> despite Simington having virtually no telecom experience.<\/p>\n

Unlike the bullrush approach used to nominate and promote reformer Lina Khan to the FTC, Sohn wasn\u2019t even nominated by the Biden administration until October of 2021<\/a>, nine months into his first term. I\u2019m told by several sources there was some (baseless) concern by key advisors that the \u201ccontroversy\u201d surrounding Sohn\u2019s nomination would interfere with efforts to get the infrastructure bill across the finish line. <\/p>\n

The delayed nomination gave the telecom industry ample runway to develop a coordinated smear campaign<\/a> (pushed through a variety of industry-linked nonprofits) falsely accusing Sohn of being a radical enemy of cops<\/a>,\u00a0rural America<\/a>, Hispanics<\/a>, and\u00a0free speech<\/a>. The sleazy attacks were bipartisan, and included some help from former Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The accusations were gibberish to anybody that actually knows Sohn, who in reality is popular across both sides of the aisle<\/a>. But they functioned as intended: they provided the entire GOP with the flimsy rhetorical cover needed to do the telecom industry\u2019s direct bidding. Which, contrary to a lot of pretense in the press and DC, is generally the position the GOP always<\/strong> takes on any issue of telecom and media policy (see: net neutrality, media consolidation, consumer rights, consumer privacy, etc.). <\/p>\n

But the attacks provided the same flimsy cover for several key Senate Democrats, including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Mastro, and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. Several sources tell me Kelly and Mastro will likely support Sohn with their contentious election battles in the rear-view mirror, though it\u2019s equally likely Manchin will remain in stubborn, noncommittal opposition. <\/p>\n

Enter Senator Rafael Warnock, whose election victory in Georgia should provide the 50 votes necessary to get over the hump\u2026 provided there\u2019s no surprises. If Sohn backers can\u2019t get Mastro and Kelly lined up, Sohn\u2019s fate would require flipping a key Republican vote like Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. <\/p>\n

The catch: with the renomination, the entire process needs to start over, meaning additional contentious hearings where GOP Senators get to pretend Sohn is an unhinged radical<\/a>. If everything goes well, Sohn could still be seated by February or March. If everything doesn\u2019t go well, and industry has its way, Sohn will face a gantlet of entirely new hearings where captured lawmakers push entirely new attacks. <\/p>\n

That would give the Biden FCC a very short runway to push numerous policies (policies that can take up to 9 months to fully cook) ahead of the 2024 Presidential election. That means stuff like restoring net neutrality or media consolidation rules will likely be sidelined in favor of other more recent, politically safer priorities like improved broadband mapping<\/a>, which looks to be an ugly mess in the making. <\/p>\n

Again all of this dysfunction was by design: the telecom industry enjoyed a fully captured regulator for four years under Trump. Now, thanks to a few thousand dollars and some ethically-dodgy nonprofits, they successfully gridlocked the FCC for another two years.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s six straight years<\/strong> in which the nation\u2019s top telecom and media regulator was either directly representing the interests of industry<\/strong><\/a> or mired in partisan gridlock because of industry lobbying<\/strong>. That\u2019s six years of the FCC being unable to explore any<\/strong> policy considerations deemed even remotely controversial by industry giants and their GOP allies.<\/p>\n

It may come as a surprise, but that\u2019s not how healthy Democracies function. Holding telecom monopolies accountable has massive, bipartisan public appeal, yet corruption ensures it happens very rarely. So rarely, we can\u2019t even field a fully staffed FCC because it might piss off Comcast. <\/em><\/p>\n

Again, you\u2019d be pretty hard pressed to find a more qualified and popular candidate to the FCC than Sohn. The problem is that unlike so many political DC animals, she\u2019s an actual reformer genuinely interested in fixing problems. That\u2019s a cardinal sin for telecom monopolies, who\u2019d prefer to keep the FCC as feckless as humanly possible, for as long as humanly possible. Forever would be their preference. <\/p>\n

\nFiled Under: broadband<\/a>, consumers<\/a>, fcc<\/a>, gigi sohn<\/a>, high speed internet<\/a>, joe biden<\/a>, monopoly<\/a>, telecom<\/a>
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