Washington – A diverse group of consumer rights advocates, businesses, associations and civil rights groups sent a letter to Congress asking them to vote by year’s end on the confirmation of Gigi Sohn, whom President Biden nominated in October 2021. Sohn would take the fifth seat on the Federal Communications Commission that has been vacant since the Democratic administration took office. The lack of a fifth Commissioner has impeded the work of the agency tasked with ensuring access to communications networks from phone service to the internet.
The nomination of telecom and technology law expert Gigi Sohn has sat for nearly a year without a vote due to cross-party differences on other issues. Sohn has spent 30 years advocating on access to telecommunications and high speed broadband.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association has advocated on expanding high speed broadband access for more than 25 years and joined the letter asking Senate leaders to schedule a vote on Sohn before Congress adjourns.
The following can be attributed to CCIA President Matt Schruers:
“Connectivity is too important to the economy for Congress to delay further in giving leadership to the agency in charge of broadband deployment, spectrum and a host of other issues. No one can dispute Sohn’s decades of telecom policy experience. Congress should not allow this nomination to be sidelined any longer.”