President Joe Biden is set to announce the first female chair of the Federal Communications Commission, according to multiple reports.
Biden will nominate Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat and the current acting head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to chair the agency as soon as Tuesday, several outlets reported. If confirmed, Rosenworcel would be the first ever woman to serve as FCC Chair in the agency’s history.
Biden will also nominate Gigi Sohn, a former FCC official and founder of technology think tank Public Knowledge, to the open Democratic seat on the commission. Sohn served under former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler as an adviser during the Obama administration, and is a strong advocate of net neutrality rules.
The nominations come at a pivotal time for the Democratic communications agenda, as the agency is currently divided 2-2 along party lines. If confirmed, the Commissioners could oversee the expansion of broadband networks in rural and urban America due to provisions in the bipartisan infrastructure bill allotting over $40 billion in broadband funding.
Rosenworcel’s nomination is also in the nick of time if Democrats wish to remain the majority party in the FCC; her term as commissioner is set to end in January, leading to a 2-1 Republican majority in 2022 if she is not confirmed as chair.
Biden is also expected to nominate Alan Davidson, former adviser at the Mozilla Foundation, to head the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the outlets reported. Davidson also worked on government policy issues at Google.
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