Senate Commerce Eyes Softening Blow of Delay on Sohn

Senate Commerce Committee Democratic leaders hope to blunt the impact of delayed consideration of FCC nominee Gigi Sohn by resetting a vote to advance her as early as January. The committee moved Wednesday not to include Sohn on the docket for its Dec. 15 executive session (see 2112080078) amid continued wavering among a handful of panel Democrats. Commerce Republicans are eyeing whether to press the committee to go through the entire confirmations process again on Sohn. The delay could lengthen the amount of additional time the FCC will remain in a 2-2 stalemate; the Senate confirmed Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel this week on a bipartisan 68-31 vote (see 2112070071).

NTIA administrator nominee Alan Davidson will get a vote during the markup, as expected (see 2112030058). Also on the docket: undersecretary of commerce-economic affairs nominee Jed Kolko, Consumer Product Safety Commission nominee Mary Boyle and the Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act (S-3309), Senate Commerce said. The markup will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.

Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters earlier this week the Dec. 15 meeting’s agenda was in flux. “We want to move" Sohn, Cantwell said. "We’ve just got to figure out a few things." Committee members are continuing to urge Sohn to commit to recusing herself from some proceedings, including those touching on her involvement with shuttered sports rebroadcaster Locast as a board member for its operator Sports Fans Coalition (see 2111290060), Cantwell said: “Some people have mentioned some of the issues the FCC could decide on, and I think sometimes people have standard practices of a year or two” anyway. Sohn said during her confirmation last week she would abide by what the FCC’s ethics professionals decide (see 2112010043).

Cantwell agreed to delay the vote on Sohn at the request of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, a key Commerce Democratic swing vote on the nominee, lobbyists told us. President Joe Biden would have to renominate Sohn in January. Sohn “is extremely qualified for the position, and the White House continues to strongly back her nomination,” a Biden administration spokesperson emailed.

A Sohn renomination would leave the door open for committee members to seek a complete rehash of the confirmations process, including an additional hearing on the nominee, lobbyists said. Commerce Democrats hope they can move straight to bringing Sohn up for a committee vote at the next executive session in 2022 but will have to gauge whether Sinema and all 13 other panel members from their caucus are ready to back the nominee, lobbyists said. Committee Democratic aides question the feasibility of requiring Sohn to recuse herself from some FCC business before confirmation, believing doing that now would open the door for many communications sector entities to seek similar commitments, lobbyists said.

A Senate Commerce spokesperson confirmed “some members asked for more time to meet with” Sohn, but didn’t mention specific names. Sinema’s office didn’t comment. Her concerns about Sohn involve the nominee’s views on bringing back net neutrality rules of equal or wider scope than the FCC’s rescinded 2015 order, which Sinema brought up during Sohn’s confirmation hearing.

Questions

Other Senate Commerce Democrats also still have questions about Sohn.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said earlier this week he's undecided, telling us his decision whether to support Sohn would depend on how she responded to his written questions following up on her confirmation hearing. Tester didn’t say what concerns he has about the nominee. Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada remains a Commerce Democratic swing vote over Sohn’s position on IP and media ownership diversity, lobbyists said. Rosen also has qualms about Sohn’s Locast role. Other potential non-Commerce Democratic swing votes include Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune of South Dakota said a Sohn commitment to specific recusals would “help with some” fellow Republicans, but “I don’t think she gets any” GOP votes on or off Commerce regardless. “Anything that she can do to demonstrate a level of objectivity that she would bring to the job … would be helpful to her,” especially given Republicans’ concerns about her past tweets critical of Fox News and other conservative media outlets, he told us: “She’s trying to walk back from some of the positions that she had when she was” a public advocate, “but it’s hard to see how somebody changes their stripes on some of these core issues.”

Thune said he will have to look further at Davidson’s testimony and follow-up responses before deciding whether to vote for the nominee. Davidson has always been “obviously less controversial” and likely has an easier path toward a swift confirmation, Thune said. Davidson drew some Senate Commerce members’ interest during the confirmation hearing, but far less than Sohn.

Republicans are likely to be more willing to allow Davidson’s confirmation before the Senate leaves next week, potentially as part of a package of nominees the chamber may clear by unanimous consent, lobbyists told us. Senators in both parties are eager to get Davidson in office quickly due to the perceived need for a permanent NTIA head as the agency grapples with distributing $48 billion in connectivity money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, lobbyists said.

“There’s an interesting juxtaposition of folks in the conservative media world” supporting Sohn, including One America News Network President Charles Herring (see 2111100078) and Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, Thune said: “I guess they think she does damage to Fox or something.” OAN owner Robert Herring, Charles’ father, said during an appearance on the network earlier this week the company as a whole doesn’t back Sohn and said, “She shouldn’t be anywhere near the FCC.” Charles Herring’s statement endorsing Sohn is no longer available on OAN’s website.

Latino-owned Fuse Media CEO Miguel Roggero told Senate leaders Thursday Sohn has his “full support." He said, "Her commitment to diversity of ownership and viewpoints, along with her support for independent voices, will allow entertainment providers and companies of all sizes to be on a more level playing field."

The pushback Sohn faces over her Twitter posts is “an unfair critique” that’s drawn a disproportionate level of media interest, said Free Press co-CEO Jessica Gonzalez in an interview. “Time and again she’s shown that she’s able to approach the issues before” the FCC “from an objective standpoint, examine the facts before her and the law and uphold what’s expected of her” under statute. Sohn “has a long record of that” both at the FCC and as a public interest advocate, Gonzalez said: “I thought overall” Sohn’s hearing “went very well and she … showed that she’s ready to serve” as a commissioner.