The White House formally proposed her in October of 2021.
The White House said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s candidate to lead the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has withdrawn her name from consideration.
In response to what she called “unrelenting, dishonest, and violent attacks” from cable and media industry lobbyists, the Washington Post reported that White House candidate Gigi Sohn has quit.
The Senate never voted on whether or not to confirm Sohn because of her contentious statements and stances on several urgent topics that she articulated on social media. When working for the Obama administration, Sohn helped establish “net neutrality,” a cornerstone of progressive telecom policy that was later dismantled by the free-market types who ran the FCC during the Trump administration.
According to Sohn, the attacks had an “enormous toll” on her and her loved ones.
As Sohn put it, “ironically, the 2-2 FCC would be shelved at the most crucial period for broadband in our lives.” Sohn has devoted her whole professional life to advocating for universal high-speed Internet access. Because of this, “your broadband will be more costly due to a lack of competition, minority, and underrepresented voices will be silenced, and your private information will continue to be misused and sold at the whim of the internet provider,” as the article puts it.
In light of the panel’s partisan composition, it is unlikely that they will vote to approve any regulatory initiatives that are opposed by both major political parties. If Sohn were admitted, the decision would have gone to a second ballot.
West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin stated earlier on Tuesday that he would not support Sohn’s nomination because she has shown she cannot administer the agency fairly due to her prior activities.
As the FCC needs to get beyond the partisan rancor that has worn many people down, Manchin says that Ms. Sohn is not the ideal person to run the agency at this moment. Because of the aforementioned concerns, I am unable to support her nomination to the FCC and instead ask the Biden administration to put up a nominee who will bring us together rather than drive a wedge between us.
As a member of the Republican Party in Texas, Ted Cruz hailed Sohn’s decision to withdraw his nomination as a “tremendous victory,” saying it showed “strong bipartisan consensus that we need a fair and unbiased nominee” who would win enough votes for confirmation.
Cruz says the First Amendment right to free speech precludes the FCC from serving as a gathering place for political activists. The moment has come for the Biden administration to provide a nominee who will get unanimous Senate confirmation and impartially fulfill the role of regulator.
A statement released by the White House on Tuesday said that Sohn “would have offered significant expertise and experience, which is why the president nominated her in the first place.”
“We also recognized her enthusiasm for public service, her talent, and her years of work as one of the nation’s top public champions for American consumers and competition,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.