South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Senate adds hurdle to Biden plans, OKs Trump FCC pick
WASHINGTON — The Senate has narrowly approvedPresidentDonald Trump’s lame-duck nominee to become amember of the Federal Communications Commission, setting up the agency for a stretch of partisan gridlock likely to stymie President-elect Joe Biden’s policies.
The vote Tuesday was
49-46 along party lines to confirm Nathan Simington as one of five commissionersoftheindependentregulatory agency.
Simingtonisnowa senior adviser at the Commerce Department agency that advises the president on telecommunications and information policy. He played a role in the plan by the Republican-majority FCC, announcedbefore last month’s election, to reexamine the legal protections enjoyed by social media companies like Facebook and Twitter for content that people post on their platforms.
The FCC plan came in response to Trump’s executive order in May challenging the long- held protections for socialmedia companies from liability, which have served as the foundation for unfettered speech on the internet.
“Mr. Simington’s key qualification seems to be that he supports President Trump’s desired changes to Section 230, a law that regulates internet speech,” Senate Democratic Leader ChuckSchumerD-N.Y., said on the floor before the vote.
The shield from liability for social media companies has been grounded in Section 230 of a landmark
1996 telecommunications law
Trump and Republican lawmakers have persistently accused the social media companies, without evidence, of suppressing conservative
viewpoints, and Trump portrayed his executive order as a remedy for bias.
Democratic lawmakers, and Biden, also have supported limiting the liability protections of online platforms. But they believe it’s solely up to Congress, not the FCC, to make changes.
Consumeradvocate organizations have opposed Simington’s confirmation, saying his joining the FCC brings deadlock that will block actions to foster the online access critically needed by consumers, workers and students during the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking against Simington’s confirmation, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said some 16 million students nationwide are effectively locked out of classrooms because they lack access to the internet.
He called Simington “unprepared and unqualified” for theFCCposition.
But FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Trump appointee, noted that Simington was raised in a ruralcommunity and said in a statement his confirmation “ensures that this important perspective will continue to be represented on the commission for years to come as the FCC continues its work on bridging the digital divide.”
Pai is stepping downJan. 20 when Biden is inaugurated.
Wi t h Simington confirmedto thefive-member FCC, there will then be a 2-2 split between Democratic and Republican commissioners. That likely will stymie Biden’s agenda until he’s able to get a fifth, Democratic FCC memberconfirmed, withan extended delay possible if theRepublicans continue to control the Senate after the two Georgia Senate runoff elections Jan. 5.
Democratswant theFCC to restore Obama-era net neutrality rules, revoked under Pai’s tenure, which barred internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T from favoring some types of online traffic over others. An FCC under Democratic control also likely would focus on narrowingthedigitaldivide, by getting internet services to people who don’t have access because the services aren’t available or they can’t afford them.
Under the current FCC regimen, schools can use federal pandemic relief funds tobuyWi-Fi hot spots andcomputers for students to use at home, but they aren’t allowed to dip into anFCCpot ofmoney.
Before joining the government, Simington was an executive at Brightstar Corp., awireless distribution company based in Miami. He also hasworked in private lawpractice.
When he nominated Simington in September, Trumpcitedhis experience with broadband and security for 5G, the next-generation wireless standardthat promises faster speeds.
During Pai’s tenure, the FCC worked to free up spectrum for cellphone companies to enable them to rollout5G. It also cracked down on Chinese telecom companies deemed as threats to U.S. national security.