Friend,

A year into the Biden administration, we still don’t have a fully functional FCC.

We've been working for over a year now to push President Biden to nominate FCC commissioners who would serve the interests of communities of color, the LGBTQIA+ community and everyone else who’s been systematically sidelined and marginalized — and to get those nominees seated as quickly as humanly (well, Congress-ly?) possible.

There’s no time to waste and so much to get done at the FCC. The agency needs to ensure that the billions being invested in high-speed internet actually reach those who need it most. It also needs to restore Net Neutrality and the FCC’s authority over broadband, reckon with its shameful history on race and repair the damage of the Trump years.

Urge your senators to confirm Gigi Sohn to the FCC without delay. We’ve worked alongside Sohn for years. She’s long championed Net Neutrality, strong rules to hold ISPs accountable, media diversity and consumer protections.

There are a lot of people to blame for us going into the second year of the Biden administration without a fully functional FCC. The White House took an unprecedented amount of time to nominate both a permanent chair and a person to fill the agency’s fifth and final seat. Then the Senate failed to confirm Gigi Sohn before the end of 2021.

I’ll spare you the boring Senate process details, but right now it’s up to the Senate Commerce Committee to vote on Gigi Sohn next. After that, Sohn will go to the floor of the Senate for a final vote. Only after clearing those hurdles will she be able to get to work.

The Senate has a lot to do, and we need to make sure getting a fully functional FCC is at the top of the January to-do list for Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla. Urge them to confirm Gigi Sohn.

We at Free Press Action couldn’t do our work without you, so thank you for all that you do. Be on the lookout for more from me tomorrow about other ways you can take action to ensure the Senate confirms Sohn as quickly as possible.

Heather
freepress.net

P.S. We’ve already lost at least a year of time for the FCC to take action on a host of crucial issues. The Senate cannot delay further. Urge your senators to confirm Gigi Sohn ASAP.