Where are President Biden’s telecom picks?

Nearly eight months into his presidency, President Biden has yet to pick permanent leaders for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which together oversee and set policy for the broadcast and Internet service industries. Pivotally, Biden has yet to nominate a fifth commissioner at the FCC, a set that would give Democrats a 3-2 majority on the five-seat commission and enable them to advance more controversial items with a party-line vote. That includes a surefire Democratic effort to reinstate the Obama-era net neutrality rules, which dictate that Internet providers should treat all Web traffic equally. "At the FCC, the chair really has the predominant role in setting the agenda, setting priorities, and while an acting chair can do that to some degree, over the long term, you don't know the priorities of whoever the permanent chair is going to be,” said Samir Jain, director of policy at the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology. The vacancies are likely to hamper the agencies as they prepare to disburse funding aimed at boosting Internet connectivity nationwide that is expected to come from the bipartisan infrastructure package making its way through Congress. And they could bog down initiatives to make broadband more affordable and expand subsidies at a time when the pandemic has laid bare the US's connectivity gaps.