Sohn to Face Strong GOP Pushback, Democrats' Praise During Confirmation Hearing

Senate Commerce Committee members’ treatment of Democratic FCC nominee Gigi Sohn during her Wednesday confirmation hearing is likely to sharply divide along party lines, in sharp contrast to a potential overwhelming bipartisan panel vote to advance commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s reconfirmation to the full chamber (see 2111300064), lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. NTIA administrator nominee Alan Davidson may also get some senators’ attention during the hearing but is likely to avoid harsh questioning due to expectation that Sohn will be the main focus. The hearing will immediately follow the 10:15 a.m. Senate Commerce executive meeting in 253 Russell.

Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said she hasn’t gauged whether all panel Democrats currently support Sohn. “I haven’t talked to too many” Commerce Democrats about their opinions of Sohn since “we just had the [Thanksgiving] recess,” but “we’ll see” where Democrats stand once the hearing happens, Cantwell said.

Many observers are tipping Democratic Senate Commerce member Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona as a bellwether for whether the Democratic caucus’ centrist wing will back Sohn. Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are considered swing votes on the nominee, but a handful of other Democrats are also believed to be undecided, lobbyists said. Senate Democratic leaders are likely going to need to count on all 50 caucus members’ support for Sohn in the full chamber, given expectations that few or no Republicans will back her, lobbyists said. Sinema’s office didn’t comment.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune of South Dakota and other Republicans confirmed they will use the hearing to criticize Sohn over her policy stances, including her support for the FCC potentially adopting net neutrality rules that go further than its 2015 order, as expected. Some observers see a possible increased focus on Sohn’s involvement with shuttered sports rebroadcaster Locast as a board member for operator Sports Fans Coalition. NAB said Monday it believes the FCC ethics agreement Sohn submitted to the Senate doesn’t accurately reflect “the inherent conflict presented by” her Locast work (see 2111290060).

Tweets

A group of communications sector stakeholders opposed to Sohn circulated a list of her past tweets critical of major telecom and media companies to Senate Commerce members’ offices before the hearing in hopes that Republicans and a handful of Democrats press her on the comments. They hope Sohn’s social media presence will get the same scrutiny Democratic FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya faced last month from Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska. Tweets from Sohn’s account that are circulating include several from as far back as 2010 criticizing Fox News, Sinclair and major telecom companies. Sohn didn’t comment.

The email listing Sohn’s tweets in part cited a 2020 post saying Fox News “has had the most negative impact on our democracy” and calling it “state-sponsored propaganda” that warranted Hill scrutiny amid lawmakers’ concerns about Facebook. Congressional examination “of big tech is essential, as is scrutiny of big telecom, cable & media,” she tweeted in 2019. “And trust me, the latter have played their own role in destroying democracy & electing autocrats.” Sohn said in the same thread that she would “love to see an enterprising journalist dig just a little bit to see how telecom, cable & media companies are opening their wallets to lawmakers & NGOs to keep the heat on tech.”

“What nominees have said in their private capacities is always part of the process,” Cantwell said. She cited Senate Judiciary Committee hearings involving judicial nominees “who are pretty prolific in saying things” in past roles as law professors “that they wouldn’t be able to say if they were on the bench.”

Social media posts have frequently been a “problem for a lot of nominees these days because if they’ve got other lives, and they’re active” on those platforms, “it can create some interesting questions during the confirmation process,” Thune said. He’s more likely to focus on his concerns that Sohn is “very much in favor of heavy-handed regulation” of the communications sector, when Republicans “think the light touch is the right approach.” Thune noted that her support for “going even farther” than former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler did in 2015 on net neutrality is a certain discussion focus.

“I don’t think” Davidson “will be a controversial nominee” and shouldn’t face much in the way of Senate Commerce headwinds during the Wednesday hearing, Thune said. “I’m not getting” negative feedback from Republicans yet. Bedoya “will be more” problematic and is unlikely to get much Republican support, Thune said. Lobbyists expect Davidson to get questions on his view on the $48 billion in broadband money the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act tasks NTIA to disburse, along with substantial interest in his views on federal spectrum coordination.

Other Senate Commerce Republicans largely demurred from listing specific issues they want to ask Sohn about. Sohn’s nominated to “a pivotal position” given the FCC’s role in “rural broadband deployment,” so “my questions will likely focus on that,” said Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. “As you well know, I’ve had an ongoing conversation with [Sohn] on different issues for a very long time,” including “privacy and retransmission” matters, said Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Sullivan said he generally wants to know more about Sohn’s views “on the free market.” He “was supposed to meet” with Sohn Monday but plans to reschedule. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said she hasn’t “made a decision” about where she stands on Sohn but intends to question her at the hearing.

Policy Focus

Cantwell and other Commerce Democrats intend to hew their questioning of Sohn strictly to policy matters, including issues that could be net positives for the nominee. Broadband “is probably at the top of the list” in part because of the $14 billion the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocates for an extension and expansion of the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, Cantwell told us. The FCC has been "ineffective as heck” on broadband mapping “and it’s held us back as a nation because we haven’t been able to give the right allocations in the right places. Finding out [Sohn’s] perspective on that would be helpful.”

Senate Communications Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., plans to emphasize “the importance of a full functioning FCC with five members” and “working closely with NTIA” to ensure broadband buildout and improved spectrum policy coordination. “That should really be a priority for both” the Commerce Department and FCC, he said. “We need to ensure we’re able to provide consumer protections and holding” broadband providers “accountable.”

Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., plans to “ask [Sohn] about the whole range of issues that are at the forefront,” including “consumer protection and broadband” matters and “how we can stop” robocalls. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., plans to “talk to” Sohn about her “tremendous” track record “advocating for competition, consumers and children. She has always been a great leader on every aspect of telecommunications policy.” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, plans to focus his questions to Sohn on privacy issues.

Recent Senate confirmation hearings like Bedoya’s “have demonstrated that members are looking at” nominees’ “tweets and social media posts and raising” concerns, Public Knowledge Government Affairs Director Greg Guice told us. “We’ve been focused more on policy, which I hope” Senate Commerce members will also largely focus on Wednesday. “These tweets are often good political fodder, but it doesn’t tell us much about what a nominee would do” in office, he said.

Guice expects Sohn “just like Rosenworcel will get questions about her position on net neutrality,” along with queries about spectrum coordination given Davidson is also testifying. “The FCC and NTIA both have a lot to do on broadband deployment, so I think members will likely try to feel them out on how they envision those programs moving forward,” Guice said. “I think USF contribution reform could come up again” to gauge where Sohn stands.

That Sohn “wants to go back” to something akin to the 2015 net neutrality rules is “regressive, not progressive,” said American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow Shane Tews in an interview. “We don’t have problems with throttling and paid prioritization” anymore. “I’m hoping [Sohn] will not make spectrum management” a government-run “command and control capability,” Tews said. She noted the federal government continues to use free-market principles to “make more efficient use of spectrum” possible, in contrast to what other countries do to achieve the same goal.