President Biden will nominate acting Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel as the first woman to lead the agency on a permanent basis, and also choose net neutrality advocate Gigi Sohn for an open seat on the commission, Politico and The New York Times report. The nominations could be announced as early as Tuesday. The FCC is currently deadlocked, with two Republican commissioners and two Democrats.
Rosenworcel, a commissioner since 2011, has been handling the deadlocked commission by focusing on politically noncontroversial initiatives, like fighting robocalls and weatherproofing wireless networks, the Times reports. A 3-2 Democratic majority would allow the commission to restore net neutrality rules enacted under former President Barack Obama and rolled back under former President Donald Trump, among other broadband policies important to the Biden administration.
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