Senate Commerce Committee Advances FCC and FTC Nominees
deadline.comThe Senate Commerce Committee moved the nominations of Gigi Sohn to the FCC and Alvaro Bedoya to the FTC, but it came in a tie vote that sets up a more complicated path to their ultimate confirmations.The 14-14 vote for each nomination means that the committee will “report” the tie to the Senate floor.
That means more legislative maneuvering by Democrats to clear each nominee, but there is pressure to secure the confirmations and allow the party to gain the majority at each agency.The nominations were delayed last month after Sen.
Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) suffered a stroke, costing Democrats the votes they needed to keep the Sohn and Bedoya nominations alive.But on Thursday, Lujan returned to a standing ovation.“It’s an absolutely honor to be back,” he said.Senator Ben Ray Luján receives a standing ovation upon his return to the Senate..@SenatorCantwell: "Senator Luján, so good to see you."@SenatorLujan: "It's an absolute honor to be back!" pic.twitter.com/3q2rYR1eIk— CSPAN (@cspan) March 3, 2022There also was some question as to how another Democrat on the committee, Sen.
Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), would vote, but she ultimately gave her approval to both nominations.At stake for each agency is the ability to act on more controversial items like net neutrality at the FCC and new competition and merger regulations at the FTC.
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