OTI Urges Senate Panel to Advance FCC, FTC Nominees

On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to consider the nominations of Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission and Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission. Both are nominated to fill tie-breaking commissioner roles at their respective agencies, both of which are currently deadlocked 2-2. 

Gigi Sohn is a distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a senior fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. She previously served as counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and founded Public Knowledge in 2001. She has had a long career as a public interest leader and a devoted advocate for internet freedom, consumer protection, and digital equity. She was nominated by President Biden in October 2021. 

Alvaro Bedoya is the founding director of Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology. He previously served as the chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. His Privacy as a Civil Right lecture is widely recognized as the leading treatise on the subject. He was nominated by President Biden in September 2021.

The following quote can be attributed to Joshua Stager, deputy director of broadband and competition policy at New America’s Open Technology Institute:

“OTI strongly supports the nominations of Gigi Sohn and Alvaro Bedoya, and we urge all members of the Senate Commerce Committee to advance their confirmations at tomorrow’s markup. They are exceedingly qualified nominees with years of experience, commitment to the public interest, and the skills necessary to advance the missions of their respective agencies.

“The FCC and FTC lack a full slate of commissioners—in the case of the FCC, for more than a year. These agencies have critically important missions that require Senate-confirmed leadership to get the job done. The American people need the FCC and FTC at full capacity and cannot afford to wait any longer.

“Notably, none of the consumer protection agencies—encompassing ten Senate-confirmed leaders at the FTC, the FCC, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—have Latino or LGBTQ+ representation. It’s time for that to change. Confirming Sohn and Bedoya would break barriers and help the federal government better reflect the people it serves. The Senate should do so without delay.”