Sohn blames ‘darkish cash’ for opposition to her becoming a member of FCC
Gigi Sohn, President Joe Biden’s nominee to fill the vacant fifth seat on the Federal Communications Fee, appeared Tuesday earlier than the Senate Commerce Committee for the third time as Republicans dug in for one more effort to scuttle her affirmation.
The Democrats’ pickup of 1 Senate seat this 12 months provides them a committee majority that might advance Sohn to the ground, a distinction to final 12 months, however Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., signaled his social gathering’s willpower to cease her, saying on the ground that she “is not any extra certified to be put in on the FCC than she was again in 2021 or 2022.”
Sohn, a counselor on the FCC for 3 years, ending in 2016, was first nominated by Biden for an open FCC seat in 2021. She has confronted stiff opposition from some trade teams and Republican lawmakers who accuse her of being a radical; being a leftist, as a result of she labeled Fox Information as a propaganda outlet; and interesting in unethical practices.
Sohn on Tuesday blamed the opposition on a broadband trade that fears competitors.
“My trade opponents have hidden behind darkish cash teams and surrogates as a result of they concern a realistic, pro-competition, pro-consumer policymaker who will help insurance policies that can carry extra, sooner and lower-priced broadband and new voices to your constituents,” Sohn mentioned in her opening assertion. “Regulated entities shouldn’t select their regulator.”
