Senate Action on Bedoya, Sohn Delayed Until at Least April 25

The Senate gaveled out Thursday for a two-week Easter/Passover recess, meaning further floor action on FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya and FCC nominee Gigi Sohn will be delayed until at least April 25, as expected (see 2204050064). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture Thursday on Bedoya but hadn't scheduled a vote at our deadline. The chamber voted 51-50 last week to discharge Bedoya from Senate Commerce Committee jurisdiction and must hold a similar vote on Sohn because the committee cast tied votes on both nominees last month (see 2203030070). Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us before the chamber voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court (see 2204070058) that she doubted further pre-recess action on either nominee was likely unless the chamber stayed in session past Thursday. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, continued to believe Sohn’s confirmation prospects are dimming amid chatter about potential Democratic holdouts on the nominee (see 2203300069). “That’s why Schumer's not bringing her to the floor” before the recess, Sullivan said. Democrats who are facing tough re-election battles this year who might vote in Sohn’s favor would be delivering their GOP opponents “a campaign ad on a silver platter.” The Chamber of Progress, CompTIA, Computer & Communications Industry Association, Consumer Technology Association, Incompas, Internet Infrastructure Coalition and NTCA pressed the Senate Thursday to “move expeditiously” to confirm Sohn. “The absence of a fifth Commissioner hamstrings the agency when U.S. leadership on technology policy is most needed,” the groups said in a letter to Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “As authoritarian regimes around the world move to supplant U.S. leadership and restrict access to an open and free internet, we must ensure the U.S. government is well positioned to thoroughly consider and advance policies that promote democratic values.”