Making Government Work

"We urge the Senate to quickly confirm Ms. Sohn so the agency can fully advance the public interest and create a communications ecosystem that serves all of us.”

The U.S. Supreme Court heard our case, Moore v. Harper, on December 7. Their decision, expected next June, could change democracy forever, and not for the better.

Today marks the one year anniversary of Gigi Sohn’s nomination to serve as FCC commissioner. Ms. Sohn was first nominated on October 6, 2021 and has yet to receive a confirmation vote. The delay in her confirmation has kept the vacancy open and the FCC deadlocked in a 2-2 split. A deadlocked FCC is unable to adopt meaningful reforms that address communications needs of our communities.

Common Cause is urging every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on the Ensuring a Fair and Accurate Census Act (H.R. 8326) to ensure that future censuses are not subjected to the unprecedented level of malfeasance and politicization that plagued the 2020 Census count. The letter emphasizes the critical importance of conducting a transparent and accurate count of everyone in the United States each decade as our Constitution requires, because that count shapes the nation’s government, public policy, and budgets for a full decade.

Not every member of my generation has given up on democracy. Motivated by the turmoil of present day American politics, we have taken to political activism. Protests are a peaceful way to express concern or disagreement. However, activism can only push the political agenda so far. While protests bring attention to issues, they don’t always force politicians to enact the change citizens want. We’ve got to follow up our protests with informed voting in every election and persuade our peers to do the same.

Yesterday, Axios published an article detailing how the clock is running out for the Senate to confirm Gigi Sohn, President Biden’s nominee to be a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. President Biden nominated Ms. Sohn over six months ago and the vacancy has been open for over a year, keeping the FCC deadlocked in a 2-2 split. A deadlocked FCC is unable to fully address broadband affordability or move forward on a host of other communications reforms vital to our democracy.