Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Tuesday he’ll vote against confirming Gigi Sohn as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, potentially imperiling her nomination by President Biden.
Democrats since January 2021 have been unable to command a majority of the five-member telecom regulator, stalling the party’s efforts to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules revoked under Republican President Donald Trump. The open web laws seek to bar web service providers from blocking or slowing traffic or offering paid fast lanes.
Manchin said in a press release that the FCC needed a frontrunner who would “remain above the toxic partisanship that Americans are sick and uninterested in, and Ms. Sohn has clearly shown she shouldn’t be the person to try this.”
Sohn and the White House didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Democrats hold a narrow 51-49 majority within the Senate.
Sohn who was first nominated in October 2021, had her third hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee in February, telling lawmakers that industry opponents “fear a realistic, pro-competition, pro-consumer policymaker who will support policies that can bring more, faster, and lower-priced broadband.”
Republicans in February offered a sweeping denunciation of Sohn, a former senior aide to then FCC Chair Tom Wheeler, on a lot of grounds and accused her of misleading Congress, which she rejected.
Many Democrats said Republicans were doing the bidding of powerful telecom firms who didn’t wish to face regulation from the FCC, which stays divided 2-2 between Democrats and Republicans.
In July 2021, Biden signed an executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the open web net neutrality rules.
No less than two Democrats were undecided including Senator Jacky Rosen, who cited serious concerns raised by some law enforcement groups that she said gave “her pause” about Sohn’s nomination.
