Democrats Seek to Break Stalemate on Biden Nominees for FTC and FCC
Republicans have blocked appointments of Bedoya and Sohn, leading Senate Democrats to try for an end run
WASHINGTON—Under pressure from progressive activists, Democrats are planning to employ a rarely used parliamentary maneuver to push through President Biden’s nominees for the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission, according to people familiar with the matter.
Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee have so far blocked the nominations of Georgetown University law professor Alvaro Bedoya to the FTC and consumer advocateGigi Sohn to the FCC, largely on grounds that they are too partisan.
That left both commissions deadlocked with a 2-2 split between Democrats and Republicans, denying agency leaders the majorities they needed to advance the Biden administration’s priorities.
In response, Senate Democratic leaders are preparing to use a parliamentary maneuver known as a discharge petition to allow a floor vote on both nominees, the people familiar said.
The vote for Mr. Bedoya could happen as early as this week, the people familiar said. But the maneuver could be difficult to pull off and could take weeks to accomplish.
A majority vote of the Senate is required to advance the discharge petition and bypass a committee vote. Without Republican support—and so far at the committee level there has been none—that means all 50 Democratic-voting members along with Vice President Kamala Harris must be present to support the petition.
Covid-19 exposures and infections have complicated the Democrats’ effort. In the latest holdup, Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), said March 22 that he had tested positive and would be isolated for five days.
But if Senate Democrats stay healthy this week, the discharge petition could be successfully deployed for Mr. Bedoya, the people familiar with the matter said.
The FTC is considered the higher-stakes vote by both parties. Under Biden-appointed chair Lina Khan, the FTC is expected to advance comprehensive consumer-privacy protections as well as detailed standards for judging whether industry competition is fair. FTC actions also could include new antitrust lawsuits challenging big companies’ dominance.
Many of the actions likely would target the tech industry, which Ms. Khan has criticized for years.
Mr. Bedoya’s work has focused on problems around facial recognition software and other technology that can disadvantage minorities. He declined to comment.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce—which receives backing from major tech companies—has been so concerned that it publicly declared “war” on the FTC and Ms. Khan’s agenda late last year.
“It feels to the business community that the FTC has gone to war against us, and we have to go to war back,” Suzanne Clark, the chamber’s president and chief executive, said at the time.
Republicans also have chafed over the way Ms. Khan was appointed. Mr. Biden named her FTC chairwoman only after her Senate confirmation as a commissioner. Typically an agency chair is designated as such at the time of nomination, leading some conservatives to label the move a bait-and-switch.
Allies say opposition to Mr. Bedoya has little to do with his qualifications and instead is aimed at derailing the FTC’s regulatory agenda.
“The Republicans are simply trying to keep the FTC deadlocked, without a fifth commissioner, for as long as they can,” said David Vladeck, a former head of the FTC consumer protection bureau during the Obama administration, who is also a Georgetown law professor.
Ms. Khan has said in the past that big internet platforms have helped to create addiction, discrimination and predatory advertising, which she has compared to environmental pollution.
She recently said that the FTC’s regulatory agenda for 2022 would focus on those problems stemming from big tech platforms and the surveillance-based internet economy they have helped build up.
“Among the many pressing issues consumers confront in the modern economy, the abuses stemming from surveillance-based business models are particularly alarming,” the commission wrote.
The chamber, meanwhile, has followed through on its threats, employing its lobbying resources to focus on defeating the FTC initiatives.
Its lobbying disclosures for late 2021 show that it lobbied on the “overall direction of the Commission,” as well as “policies and practices related to the FTC expanding its authority” and the agency’s strategic plans for coming years.
As Mr. Bedoya’s selection for the FTC was being debated in the Senate, the chamber also lobbied in late 2021 on “nominations at Federal Trade Commission,” according to its disclosures, without providing details.
Several Republicans have argued that Mr. Bedoya’s past tweets on political topics such as immigration show him to be a Democratic partisan who would further polarize the FTC.
“I remain concerned by the frequency with which he has publicly expressed divisive views on policy matters rather than using a more measured and unifying tone,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.), the Commerce Committee’s top Republican, argued before a vote on Mr. Bedoya’s nomination in early March.
“There has been a troubling trend of politicization at the FTC which we have not had in the past and I fear Mr. Bedoya would not bring the cooperative spirit that is so greatly needed.”
The vote was a tie, 14-14.
Democrats also hope to use the parliamentary maneuver to gain a floor vote on Mr. Biden’s nominee for the FCC, Ms. Sohn.
Ms. Sohn served as counselor to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and led Public Knowledge, a public-interest group that advocates for stronger antitrust enforcement.
The outspoken progressive consumer advocate has drawn GOP fire for tweets on political topics that conservatives view as partisan—for example, tweeting that Fox News amounts to “state-sponsored propaganda” because of a lack of opposing viewpoints.
Fox News parent Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal parent company News Corp share common ownership.
Ms. Sohn declined to comment. Progressives view her confirmation as important to a number of FCC priorities, including expanding access to broadband and re-establishing net-neutrality rules, which require internet service providers to treat all internet traffic equally. She also has drawn support from some conservative businesspeople and activists.
