February, 14 2023, 01:59pm EDT

Public-Interest Champion Gigi Sohn Faces More False Attacks as Her Long-Overdue FCC Confirmation Moves Through the Senate
FCC nominee Gigi Sohn went before the Senate Commerce Committee for the third time to face down a coordinated smear campaign designed to keep this veteran public-interest advocate from being seated at the Federal Communications Commission.
While the deep-pocketed telecom and broadcast lobby has worked with right-wing operatives to falsely portray Sohn as divisive, her years of experience tell a different story — about a highly regarded expert who has reached across political divides to support policies that benefit the public.
During the confirmation hearing, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts submitted for the record documents demonstrating support for Sohn's confirmation from more than 400 groups and individuals. These include organizations from across the political spectrum, including businesses, consumer advocates, civil-rights organizations, educational groups, state and local elected officials, and community groups.
Sohn, who for more than 30 years has championed the public interest in communications policy, has faced a phalanx of opposition from powerful media and telecommunications firms seeking to deadlock the FCC at 2–2 and prevent a majority vote on a number of critical issues.
Free Press Action General Counsel and Vice President of Policy Matt Wood said:
“Confirming Gigi Sohn to serve at the FCC is the best thing the Senate can do to ensure media, tech and broadband policy actually serves the public. No other nominee in the FCC’s history has had to wait so long for a confirmation vote. She is obviously and supremely qualified to serve as a watchdog for ordinary people across the country.
“As commissioner, Sohn will fight on behalf of working families trying to pay their high monthly phone and internet bills. She will work to ensure that the benefits of broadband reach everyone, and to curb the runaway media consolidation that has decimated local journalism and harmed Black and Brown communities in particular. Without Sohn’s crucial fifth vote at the agency, the FCC cannot fully accomplish its mission.
“Sohn’s impeccable credentials are the very things that have compelled the telecom and broadcast industry to hold her nomination in limbo. We've had to wait for far too long — with endless delays and bigoted attacks that have prevented the deadlocked agency from adopting some crucial policies that would help people connect and communicate.
“Senator Cruz even went so far as to falsely claim that Sohn had lied about her record and campaigned to censor conservative speech. His trumped-up claims are simply aiding and abetting the smear campaign designed to benefit the massive communications firms subject to FCC oversight.
“The Commerce Committee and then the full Senate should advance this nomination without further delays, which only benefit those big companies orchestrating this impasse. If the Senate genuinely wants to improve the lives of internet users, cellphone customers, TV watchers and radio listeners — aka, everyone — it can start by confirming this excellent public servant to the FCC immediately.”
Free Press was created to give people a voice in the crucial decisions that shape our media. We believe that positive social change, racial justice and meaningful engagement in public life require equitable access to technology, diverse and independent ownership of media platforms, and journalism that holds leaders accountable and tells people what's actually happening in their communities.
(202) 265-1490LATEST NEWS
Baltimore Blocks EPA Plan to Dump Toxic Wastewater From East Palestine
"Too often cities with high rates of concentrated poverty and environmental degradation are asked to shoulder the burden for corporate malfeasance," said a Democratic City Council member. "East Palestine and Baltimore deserve better."
Mar 28, 2023
A local Democratic lawmaker in Baltimore on Tuesday credited community members and clean water advocates for helping to secure an environmental victory, as the City Council unanimously approved a resolution to block shipments of contaminated wastewater from East Palestine, Ohio.
Days after water treatment company Clean Harbors informed Baltimore and Maryland officials that it intended to receive 675,000 gallons of contaminated wastewater containing vinyl chloride and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the site of a toxic train derailment in February, Councilmember Zeke Cohen introduced a resolution on Monday to stop the shipment.
The treatment facility where the wastewater would be going, the resolution noted, has been operated by the state since March 2022 "due to catastrophic failures at the facility that led to illegal releases of partially treated sewage."
"Ongoing sludge management issues" have also been identified as a cause of a recent explosion at the plant, which treats water that ultimately flows into the Chesapeake Bay, and the neighborhoods surrounding the facility "have an air toxics risk in the 80th-100th percentile and wastewater discharges in the 90th-100th percentile, nationally."
"The decision to send at least 675,000 gallons (that's at least 20 train cars) of contaminated water to an already environmentally overburdened community is reckless," tweeted Cohen on Monday as he introduced the resolution. "We stand in solidarity with the people of East Palestine. We understand all too well the long-term costs of environmental injustice."
"But now is not the time, and our city is not the place to clean up Norfolk Southern's mess," he added, referring to the rail company responsible for the derailment in East Palestine.
Environmental justice group Blue Water Baltimore demanded to know last week why U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials "believe it is appropriate to send the toxic waste that is too dangerous for East Palestine to the shores of Baltimore."
"It is entirely inappropriate to further stress-test this facility by adding even more toxic contaminants to the waste-stream from wastewater produced outside of the watershed," said the group.
The February 3 derailment involved several train cars carrying vinyl chloride and has so far led Norfolk Southern to remove more than eight million gallons of wastewater from the town, shipping it to facilities in states including Michigan and Texas.
Residents of East Palestine have reported symptoms including headaches and vomiting since leaders told them the town was safe to return to following a brief evacuation. Soil near the crash site has been found to contain levels of dioxin that far exceed the cancer risk threshold recommended by scientists.
Democratic Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said late Monday that following the City Council's unanimous adoption of Cohen's resolution, city lawyers concluded he could legally modify a sewage permit and halt City Harbors' plan, which was overseen by the EPA.
"Thank you to Mayor Scott for taking bold and decisive action to deny Clean Harbors from discharging toxic water from East Palestine into our wastewater collection system," said Cohen.
The council member said the victory "was made possible because elected officials listened to voices on the ground."
Residents of the Houston area spoke out last month about plans to inject toxic wastewater from East Palestine into the ground in a suburban area, and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, blocked a shipment of contaminated soil earlier this month.
"Too often cities with high rates of concentrated poverty and environmental degradation are asked to shoulder the burden for corporate malfeasance," said Cohen on Monday. "East Palestine and Baltimore deserve better."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'We're Not Gonna Fix It,' Says GOP Congressman After Nashville Mass Shooting
Rep. Tim Burchett's response to the leading killer of U.S. children stands in stark contrast to his zeal for banning drag shows: "Dadgummit, we don't put up with that crap in Tennessee."
Mar 28, 2023
U.S. Congressman Tim Burchett was accused of saying "the quiet part out loud" after the Tennessee Republican responded to the massacre in Nashville on Monday by arguing there's not much Congress can do to prevent mass shootings.
Speaking to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol Monday afternoon following the murder of three 9-year-old children and three staff at the Covenant School in Nashville, Burchett lamented the deaths and said "it's a horrible, horrible situation."
But "we're not gonna fix it," he added, referring to U.S. mass shootings. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have already been 130 such shootings this year.
"Criminals are gonna be criminals," Burchett continued. "My daddy fought in the Second World War, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese, and he told me, he said buddy... if somebody wants to take you out and doesn't mind losing their life, there's not a heck of a lot you can do about it."
When asked if there is anything Congress can do to curb gun violence, Burchett replied: "I don't see any real role that we could do other than mess things up, honestly... I don't think you're gonna stop the gun violence. I think we've got to change people's hearts."
"As a Christian, as we talk about in the church, and I've said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country," he argued.
Asked what could be done "to protect people like your little girl," Burchett said, "Well, we homeschool her."
Burchett's nihilistic stance on gun violence stands in stark contrast to his ardent support for banning public drag shows—which Tennessee did, with a bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee earlier this month.
"A grown man dressed up like a woman... dadgummit, we don't put up with that crap in Tennessee, and we shouldn't," Burchett said during an appearance on Newsmax earlier this month. "And the rest of the country should follow suit."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Ted Cruz AUMF Amendment Would Authorize War With Iran
One observer called the Texas Republican's proposal "pernicious."
Mar 28, 2023
The U.S. Senate is set to vote Tuesday afternoon on a Republican amendment that would explicitly authorize the president to take military action against Iranian forces.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the amendment's author, is looking to attach the measure to a resolution that—if passed—would repeal the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for use of military force in Iraq.
The amendment's text contends that Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution "empowers the president to use force against forces of Iran, a state responsible for conducting and directing attacks against United States forces in the Middle East and to take actions for the purpose of ending Iran's escalation of attacks on, and threats to, United States interests."
Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the Crisis Group's U.S. program, called the Cruz amendment "pernicious" and warned that it would "have Congress endorse broad Article II authority for POTUS to use force against Iran, [without] even a caveat about actions amounting to 'war' in the constitutional sense."
The amendment's prospects for passage are unclear, but the Senate is chock-full of Iran hawks—including some on the Democratic side. The amendment needs 60 votes to pass.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a statement on Tuesday voicing opposition to "sunsetting any military force authorizations in the Middle East."
"Our terrorist enemies aren't sunsetting their war against us," McConnell said. "Tehran wants to push us out of Iraq and Syria. Why should Congress make that easier?"
Cruz has introduced virtually identical amendments in the recent past. In 2021, the Texas Republican unsuccessfully pushed an amendment that would have empowered the president to "use force against forces of Iran."
Ryan Costello, policy director of the National Iranian American Council, warned at the time that the Cruz amendment would "pre-authorize war with Iran."
The vote on Cruz's new amendment will come just days after President Joe Biden authorized—without congressional approval—airstrikes targeting groups in Syria that the Pentagon said were "affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps," heightening concerns over what's become a dangerous proxy war.
Following the airstrikes, which were launched in response to an attack in northeast Syria that killed an American contractor, Biden said that "the United States does not, does not, I emphasize, seek conflict with Iran."
"But be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people," the president added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular
SUPPORT OUR WORK.
We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100%
reader supported.
reader supported.