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The nominations for President Joe Biden's Democratic appointments to the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission advanced at the committee level Thursday, bringing them closer to help implement Biden's technology and telecommunications agenda.

The Senate Commerce Committee deadlocked 14-14 along partisan lines to advance the confirmation of FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, a prominent liberal activist and a former Democratic staffer at the commission, and FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya, a Georgetown University law professor and prominent privacy advocate. Still, their nominations will move to the Senate floor, where Vice President Kamala Harris can provide the tiebreaking vote for Democrats if necessary.

The shortage of personnel at both agencies has hampered Democrats from moving forward with their ambitious antitrust, broadband, and telecommunications agendas.

Sohn and Bedoya are expected to face hurdles and procedural difficulties getting confirmed on the Senate floor because of Republican opposition to their nominations, causing the deadlocked vote Thursday.

Senate Republicans strongly oppose Sohn's confirmation, criticizing her as a left-wing ideologue who would favor heavy-handed regulation threatening censorship of conservative speech and for her alleged conflicts of interest.

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Sohn also favors net neutrality, stronger government regulation of the broadband industry, and the breakup of Big Tech companies.

She would be the third Democrat on the commission, a five-member agency regulating the TV, radio, and telecommunications industries and ensuring broadband internet access. Democrats have lacked a majority despite Biden becoming president at the beginning of last year.

Biden's FTC nominee, Bedoya, who founded the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown, has been at the forefront of research into how facial recognition technology and other surveillance tools have been used by the government and tech companies to discriminate against immigrants and minorities.

Bedoya previously worked as a staffer for Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law.

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If confirmed, Bedoya would strengthen the Democratic majority at the FTC by giving a 3-2 advantage during commission votes related to the regulation of Big Tech companies and on questions related to antitrust, data privacy, and security.

Original Location: Democrats closer to full control of tech regulators as Biden nominees advance

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