This week could prove to be a pivotal one for the FCC as efforts to bring to a vote the nomination of Anna Gomez hit overdrive. Supporters hope to have the Democrat confirmed before the Senate breaks for its month-long August recess at week-end. The decision will be up to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) who is also under pressure to get the 2024 military spending bill completed before lawmakers leave town.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, who heads the panel that overseas the FCC, said the nomination of Democrat Gigi Sohn to fill the key fifth seat on the commission faced an issue of timing when asked if the Senate would take up the nomination before the end of December. The FCC has been divided 2-2 between Democrats and Republicans since January 2021. “It’s all about the queue of are we doing legislation or are we doing nom(inations) and my sense is right now we’re trying to get the omnibus done,” Cantwell said.
One year ago today, President Biden nominated Gigi Sohn to the empty spot on the FCC. Sohn, a longtime consumer advocate who worked for the Obama-era FCC, would have given Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel the tiebreaking vote needed to reverse Trump-era deregulation of the broadband industry, restore net neutrality rules, and pursue other rulemakings opposed by the commission’s Republicans. But Sohn is still waiting for the Senate to vote on her nomination. With Senate elections happening in two weeks, it’s not clear that a vote on Sohn will ever happen.
Twitter investors backed Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover that the billionaire is trying to abandon on the day a whistleblower who leveled charges of widespread security failures at the social-media company testified at a Senate hearing Tuesday. Former Twitter security executive Peiter Zatko, who was fired by the company in January, told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday that Twitter executives’ “incentives led them to prioritize profits over security,” echoing his whistleblower complaint.
Exclusives
It’s official. Dr. Oz is running for Senate in Pennsylvania. The celebrity TV doctor made the announcement Tuesday in a Washington Examiner op-ed and is rolling out a video to be shared with his millions of followers on social media. The spot will be featured on television in a “multimillion dollar ad buy” across Pennsylvania, said campaign manager Casey Contres.
The Senate has passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) (formerly the Endless Frontier Act), which, among many other things, attempts to diversify and better secure the 5G supply chain by backing alternatives to Chinese tech suppliers Huawei and ZTE. It now heads to the House. Among those other things would be investment in the telecommunications workforce, improve STEM education and promote agency coordination on R&D.
The two Senate elections, with the U.S. Senate’s balance of power at stake, attracted media attention that recalled the days after the presidential election, including breathless wall-to-wall coverage on cable news networks. “It’s beyond nail-biting time,” CNN’s John King said. Above, two women pray during a Republican election-night watch party, Tuesday, Jan. 5, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
