Bedoya Confirmation Timeline Questioned After Senate Party-Line Discharge Vote

The Senate voted 51-50 along party lines Wednesday to discharge Alvaro Bedoya’s nomination to the FTC. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote. Democrats are hopeful he can be confirmed to the commission before the Senate leaves for recess at the end of next week. The Senate appeared likely to delay a discharge vote on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn until at least next week, lawmakers and aides told us Wednesday.

The Senate's timeline for confirming Bedoya depends on how much floor time leaders need for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters: “Next week, the Supreme Court kind of locks down some of the schedule. Hopefully soon.”

Republicans criticized Bedoya for what they see as partisan views on policy issues. He’s “going to be a disaster” on the commission, said Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Wicker supported Chair Lina Khan during her confirmation hearings but changed his tone after she took office and Republican commissioners began criticizing her approach (see 2108040071).

Bedoya’s policy views seem “hyper, hyper partisan,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told us: “I can’t support that. I would hope that no president would nominate someone who has that kind of record. This should be a policy-focused body.” During Bedoya’s confirmation hearing, Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, targeted his Twitter activity (see 2111170059). Bedoya is a “radical nominee, who would be profoundly dangerous on the FTC,” which is “precisely why” President Joe Biden nominated him, Cruz told us Wednesday. Asked about his previous plans to place a hold, Cruz said that would only slow a nomination down for a period of hours. He noted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., can force a vote, and the discharge petition is “a pretty strong indication that he’s willing to devote substantial floor time to putting a radical in office.”

Republicans will make Democrats use all the time necessary given Schumer will inevitably force the nomination through, Sullivan said: The majority will need to “burn precious Senate floor time."

Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he’s hopeful Bedoya will be confirmed to the FTC before the recess. “I don’t know if before the recess, but I’m hopeful,” Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., told us. “Everyone understands the importance of a fully functioning FTC if you want to keep consumers safe. We’ve got to get this one done.” Bedoya would become the deciding vote for a commission that’s currently locked at 2-2. He didn’t comment.

Sohn Uncertainty

Uncertainty about the Senate’s timeline to act on Sohn fueled chatter on and off Capitol Hill about whether there are Democratic holdouts who could endanger the nominee’s confirmation prospects.

“I don’t think they will” bring Sohn up for a discharge vote “unless they have the votes” to clear that hurdle, meaning “I don’t think they’ll bring her up” this week, Senate Minority Whip and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters. Sohn will likely need unanimous support from all 50 Senate Democrats to clear the discharge hurdle since all 50 Republicans are expected to oppose her. Harris would be expected to again cast the tiebreaker in Sohn’s favor in a 50-50 tie.

Senate GOP aides noted chatter that Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and a handful of Democratic senators facing tough re-election fights this year, including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, remain undecided on Sohn amid the Fraternal Order of Police’s opposition to the nominee. FOP opposes Sohn because of her role as an Electronic Frontier Foundation member (see 2201040071). The group cites EFF’s backing of end-to-end encryption and “user-only-access.”

Spokespeople for Cortez Masto and two other Democratic senators considered potential Sohn holdouts -- Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Mark Kelly of Arizona -- didn’t comment. The National Republican Senatorial Committee criticized the trio last week, along with Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, for considering backing Sohn on the floor because of the FOP concerns. Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R), who’s challenging Cortez Masto, also previously cited the FOP concerns (see 2203230071).

“I understand there’s concerns” from FOP about Sohn, but “we haven’t gone into it that much with them,” Manchin told us Wednesday. His office didn’t comment further.

Cantwell told us Senate leadership hadn’t fully ruled out holding a discharge vote on Sohn this week, as of Wednesday afternoon. “We’re busy and there are so many things we’re trying to get done,” particularly before anticipated floor action next week on Jackson, Cantwell said. “If we had more cooperation from our colleagues, it would be an easier thing” to accomplish. She insisted she’s “not going to speak” about any other Democratic senator’s position on Sohn.

“These votes are becoming more and more difficult for Democrat senators,” said Sullivan. Sohn “looks like she might go down even with some Dems against.”

“We certainly hope” senators up for re-election this year think twice before backing Sohn, but there’s been no firm commitments among Democrats to oppose the nominee, FOP Executive Director Jim Pasco said in an interview. “We’ll find out” whether any of them vote against Sohn “the way people normally find out” when Senate margins are tight, “once the votes are counted.” FOP doesn’t “discard our right to hold those who vote for” the nominee “accountable,” including potentially withholding endorsements for those incumbents, he said. The group has “reached out to numerous senators individually as well as to the Senate as a whole” to raise concerns about Sohn.

Sohn’s supporters called into question chatter about Democratic holdouts. They believe any delays in Senate consideration of the nominee now reflect competing priorities for floor time. “There aren’t any holdouts” on the Democratic side “we’re aware of,” said Public Knowledge Government Affairs Director Greg Guice. “It’s really about how much time there is on the floor and” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “having to manage that.” The "hope is that" the Senate holds a discharge vote on Sohn "next week, but they've got a lot on their plate" and leaders are aiming to confirm Jackson before the chamber goes on a two-week recess that's set to begin the week of April 11, Guice said.