Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has scheduled a second nomination hearing for Democratic Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn.
The hearing is slated for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 9.
Ranking member Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), had suggested another hearing was needed. The opportunity presented itself after the planned Wednesday (February 2) vote on Sohn's nomination was pulled because there were not enough Democratic votes to secure a favorable referral to the full Senate.
The committee cited the news that committee member Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) had suffered a stroke and would not be participating, though some have suggested Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) may still have had issues.
Sohn had a hearing December 1, 2021 in the Commerce Committee and took some tough questions about Twitter posts criticizing Fox News Channel, her support for network neutrality rules and her association with shuttered streaming service Locast.
But the committee did not hold a vote before the end of the year, so her nomination had to be resubmitted, which it was in early January. Cantwell, chairwoman of the committee, had not planned to hold the second hearing Wicker wanted, and scheduled this week‘s vote. Now the Republican senator will get his way. ■
