Gigi Sohn has withdrawn her nomination to serve on the Federal Communications Commission amid a bruising battle on Capitol Hill.
Republicans โ and some Democrats โ had voiced concerns about Sohn, Biden's pick for FCC telecommunications regulator. Critics painted her as a partisan activist, not the type of impartial figure who should oversee the nation's airwaves.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told her explicitly that he had significant concerns about her record and that she โdemonstrated a hostility to conservative speech.โ
Biden first nominated Sohn in October 2021. He tried three times to secure her nomination.
On Tuesday, West Virginia's Joe Manchin confirmed he would vote against her.
It was the final straw, as Roll Call explained:
Manchin's opposition left only the narrowest of paths for Sohn to get through the Senate.ย
โThe FCC must remain above the toxic partisanship that Americans are sick and tired of, and Ms. Sohn has clearly shown she is not the person to do that,โย Manchin, D-W.Va., said in a statement.
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Sohn, a counselor at the FCC for three years ending in 2016, was first nominated by Biden for an open FCC seat in 2021. She has faced stiff opposition from some industry groups and Republican lawmakers who say she is too radical and accused her of unethical practices.
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The Democrats' pickup of one Senate seat this year gives them a committee majority that could advance Sohn to the floor, a contrast to last year, but Minority Leaderย Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has signaled his party's determination to stop her, saying on the floor last month that she โis no more qualified to be installed on the FCC than she was back in 2021 or 2022.โ
Senate Republicans are now urging Biden to nominate an impartial and fair nominee, someone capable of gaining broad bipartisan support.
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7 Comments
So Biden wanted another unqualified idiot and unamerican to get a job . No surprise there. No one in Biden’s administration is qualified to hold any job. But the democrats would still vote her. Stupidity reins in the government.
reigns
Good catch. However, stupidity should “rein” in the government, i.e., cause it to lose power. Yet, it seems the opposite is occurring. ๐
This is good news, but sadly when I first saw this headline I wondered WHICH nominee had withdrawn. There are so many biased, corrupt, and unqualified people Biden has nominated.
Every single one.
“Senate Republicans are now urging Biden to nominate an impartial andย fairย nominee, someone capable of gaining broad bipartisan support.”
I hope nobody is holding their breath waiting for the conniving, power-mad Demmunists to appoint ANYBODY who is “impartial and fair, and capable of gaining broad bipartisan support” for ANY position!
Ah, the host of disreputable things the Left labels as ‘democracy!’