President Biden’s FCC and FTC picks make final pitch to Senate

Ahead of the December 1 vote in the Senate Commerce Committee, Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who’s been re-nominated to another term as commissioner, and Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya answered questions from lawmakers on topics ranging from broadband and spectrum use to social media use and antitrust. Rosenworcel told senators point-blank that she had no plans to regulate broadband rates — a concern prompted after she previously seemed open to the option as a way to increase broadband access. She added that the FCC needed to be “more forward-looking” in terms of its broadband speed benchmark, pushing for download speeds of at least 100 Mbps. Rosenworcel threw her support behind revising a memorandum of understanding on spectrum coordination between the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which has been in place since 1993. In his written responses to senators’ questions, Bedoya expressed “regret” over previous social media posts in which he criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement and compared the 2016 Republican National Convention to a “white supremacist rally," and pledged to “set aside all of my personal political beliefs and work across the aisle to protect American consumers and businesses” if confirmed. He would also “plan to make antitrust enforcement on Big Tech a top priority.”