‘Wholly unqualified’: Ted Cruz says Biden’s wasting his time with FCC nominee Gigi Sohn
Virginia Aabram
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Federal Communications Commission after she proved too controversial to be confirmed in the last session of Congress.
The Senate Commerce Committee held its third hearing for Gigi Sohn on Tuesday, the first since Democrats expanded their Senate majority by one seat. Biden first nominated her for the position in 2021 and renewed that nomination on Jan. 3.
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Her addition would give Democrats a 3-2 majority on the panel.
“I think she is wholly unqualified to be on the FCC,” Cruz told the Washington Examiner following the hearing. “Her record demonstrates extreme partisan bias, multiple conflicts of interest, and I don’t think she has the votes to be confirmed. I don’t know why the White House is wasting its time with the nomination.”
Biden’s decision to renominate Sohn indicates he has confidence she will be confirmed, especially after politically vulnerable senators such as Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) won reelection in 2022. Republicans and centrist Democrats are concerned with her record of partisanship, including campaign donations to several sitting senators.
Yet her confirmation is far from guaranteed, and despite his election, Kelly continues to have reservations about Sohn.
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“It’s one of those that I continue to look at and have concerns about,” Kelly told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
Sohn’s campaign contributions went to Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, John Fetterman (D-PA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Michael Bennet (D-CO). Watchdog groups have said the recipients should recuse themselves from the vote. If confirmed, Sohn would become the first LGBT commissioner, which prompted her allies to say her opponents are homophobic.