Senate Committee Hearings Set For Biden Nominees

Sohn, Rosenworcel

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the nomination of privacy expert Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, and the re-nomination of Jessica Rosenworcel to the Federal Communications Commission, where she currently serves as chair, reports MediaPost.

Bedoya -- who is founding director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law -- is best known for proposing curbs on the use of facial-recognition technology

Dozens of advocacy groups -- including Accountable Tech, the Center for Digital Democracy and Demand Progress -- have urged the Senate to confirm Bedoya to the agency.

Bedoya has also criticized the commercial use of surveillance technology -- including tracking software that can monitor people's television use by embedding audio beacons in TV ads.

Bedoya's confirmation would also give the FTC three Democratic commissioners and two Republican ones, which could position Chair Lina Khan to move forward with her agenda.

Rosenworcel, first appointed to the FCC nine years ago, has long supported net neutrality rules. In 2015, she voted in favor of the Obama-era open internet regulations -- which prohibited broadband providers from blocking or throttling traffic, and from charging higher fees for prioritized delivery.

She currently presides over an agency that is deadlocked on a partisan basis, with two Democratic members and two Republicans. Rosenworcel is unlikely to be able to move forward with plans to restore net neutrality rules until a fifth commissioner is approved.

The Senate has not yet scheduled a hearing on Gigi Sohn, President Biden's pick for the fifth seat. Sohn previously served as counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who led the agency during President Obama's second term. She also co-founded the advocacy group Public Knowledge in 2001. Last week, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said he would attempt to block Sohn's appointment.

“Gigi Sohn is a complete political ideologue who has disdain for conservatives. She would be a complete nightmare for the country when it comes to regulating the public airwaves,” Graham tweeted. “I will do everything in my power to convince colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject this extreme nominee.