The Daily Dot: Progressives want Joe Biden to go big for FCC chair. Does Joe Biden?

After Joe Biden was elected president, the fate of the Senate was still up in the air, which meant it was a very open question as to how exactly the incoming president would be able to fill out the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Republicans seemed to be banking on winning the Georgia Senate runoff elections and by doing so, controlling the upper chamber and Biden’s nomination process. Before the end of the last Congress, Republicans even pushed through the nomination of Nathan Simington, a Trump pick, to try and deadlock the FCC in a 2-2 partisan tie, with the goal of controlling how long the agency would be at a standstill.

But that gambit failed when Democrats won both of the Georgia elections, giving the party control of the Senate—and the fate of the FCC.

Without the fear of Republican obstruction, tech and public interest advocates have begun pushing for Biden to act quickly to fill out the FCC. They say the president has come at a “critical opportunity” to pick a “bold” choice. …

Aaron, of Free Press Action, said an example of the public advocate model for a commissioner pick would be Michael Copps, who served at the FCC from 2001 to 2011.

Copps opposed a 2002 FCC rule where it classified cable modems services as an “information service” and not subject to Title II common carrier regulation. Copps has been a vocal supporter of net neutrality since leaving the agency.

Copps is now a board member for Free Press Action and Public Knowledge and is a special adviser to Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative.

“When I think about the potential of that seat, it’s somebody like Michael Copps—who was there for a decade and really put the ‘public’ in ‘public servant,'” Aaron said, adding that he was “one of the few commissioners to depart and go into the public interest.”