Will Rosenworcel finally move and push Gigi Sohn into the FCC seat?

The deadlock over the still-unfilled Democrat place on the five-person board of the Federal Communications Commission seems likely to continue until after November’s mid-term elections and on into 2023 – or even longer. The situation is unprecedented and has lasted for so long (over 600 days now and counting) that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is, at long last, publicly contemplating using the powers she has to put an end to the impasse via her casting vote. The FCC is politically tied at 2-2 and the Senate has kicked the ratification of the nomination of Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] down the field time after time. Whilst she has been waiting, Sohn has endured relentless attacks from Republican senators, big technology companies and other vested interests. With the results of the mid-terms likely to redraw the political map, with the Republicans gaining a Senate majority, Sohn may never be confirmed in post and the whole process will have to begin all over again – or perhaps it won’t before another presidential election. It is even possible that the FCC could remain tied seemingly ad infinitum, and if that is the case, Rosenworcel will have to exercise her power to break the deadlock, something she has been curiously reluctant to do.