Republican opposition to liberal Biden FCC nominee intensifies

A left-wing Federal Communications Commission nominee who would be poised to implement President Joe Biden’s telecommunications and technology agenda faced intense criticism from Republicans during a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Senate Republicans strongly oppose Democrat Gigi Sohn’s confirmation, criticizing her as a left-wing ideologue who would favor heavy-handed regulation, as a threat to censor conservative speech, and for her alleged conflicts of interest.

Sohn would be the third Democrat on the commission, a five-member agency in charge of regulating the TV, radio, and telecommunications industries, along with ensuring broadband internet access.

“Gigi Sohn is not fit to serve at the FCC,” Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota said Wednesday. “She has deceived senators about business conflicts, recused herself from certain FCC matters, and called conservative outlets ‘state-sponsored propaganda.’”

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Republicans have called into question Sohn’s role as a board member of nonprofit TV streaming service Locast, which was forced to shut down last year after four major broadcast networks sued the organization for copyright infringement.

A court filing shows that the networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox — were awarded $32 million in statutory damages by Locast, but documents leaked afterward show that the networks agreed to settle for just $700,000. Republicans allege that Sohn unfairly helped Locast after becoming an FCC nominee.

If confirmed, Sohn voluntarily announced last month that she would recuse herself from certain matters involving retransmission consent and TV broadcast copyright because of her past relationship with Locast.

Republicans also cite Sohn’s advocacy for Sinclair Broadcasting Group to lose its FCC broadcasting license and her harsh criticism of Fox News as evidence of her willingness to censor conservatives.

Sohn has also, however, received some surprising support from conservatives who say she has championed their freedom of speech.

“As you know, I have significant concerns about your record, that you’ve demonstrated a hostility to conservative speech,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday.

“And the FCC is a very dangerous place for a regulator to have the authority to silence political views with which you disagree,” Cruz added.

Sohn is a prominent liberal activist and a former Democratic staffer at the commission who favors net neutrality, stronger government regulation of the broadband industry, and the breakup of Big Tech companies.

Sohn, who is a fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law and Policy and a former Democratic staffer at the FCC, is one of the most prominent liberal advocates for breaking up and regulating Big Tech companies. She is also strongly in favor of regulating internet service providers such as Verizon and AT&T as public utilities under what is known as Title II regulations.

“Let’s be clear about one thing: FCC nominee Gigi Sohn is an activist for her friends on Left, and she has been less than forthcoming to the American people about it,” Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said Wednesday. “Her inability to be impartial concerns me.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have largely rallied around Sohn.

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee considering Sohn’s nomination, said Wednesday that she would continue to push for Sohn to be confirmed despite Republicans’ allegations.

Cantwell said she expects fellow Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to support Sohn, a potentially critical vote if Republicans remain unified in their opposition to Sohn.

The Senate Commerce Committee is divided 14-14 between Republicans and Democrats. Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, another key vote that Sohn needs, was recently hospitalized after suffering a stroke and is unable to vote for the next few weeks.

Sohn vehemently defends her integrity and track record.

“I have been subject to unrelenting, unfair, and outright false criticism and scrutiny,” Sohn said during the hearing Wednesday.

“A deadlocked agency helps almost nobody, save for a few huge corporations. But most importantly, it hurts the American people, who need the FCC to make hard decisions,” she added.

The telecom and broadband industries are attempting to block Sohn’s nomination in order to delay Democratic-backed regulations.

Sohn is seen as key to implementing Democrats’ ambitious broadband and telecommunications agenda, which has been hampered by their lack of a majority despite Biden becoming president at the beginning of last year.

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If Sohn’s nomination is killed, Democrats would be unable to move their agenda forward until Biden nominated, and the Senate confirmed, another Democrat, a process that would take months.

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