Senate approves Biden’s FCC nominee, giving him a Democrat majority on FCC
The FCC, now controlled by the
power-hungry Democratic Party
Failure theater: The Senate yesterday voted 55 to 43 to approve Biden’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) nominee, Anna Gomez, thus giving the Democrats a 4 to 3 majority on the Commission.
This was Biden’s second nominee to the commission, with the first withdrawn when it was clear the Senate opposed the nominee.
Biden tried again in May with the nomination of Gomez, a State Department digital policy official who was previously deputy assistant secretary at the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) from 2009 to 2023. A lawyer, Gomez was vice president of government affairs at Sprint Nextel from 2006 to 2009 and before that spent about 12 years at the FCC in several roles.
Gomez got through the confirmation process with relative ease, though most Republicans voted against her. Both parties seem to expect the FCC to reinstate net neutrality rules now that Democrats will have a majority.
Imposing net neutrality is essentially socialism/communism for the internet. It will squash competition, cost a fortune, and eventually be used as well to squelch dissent online (which translates into silencing conservatives).
From the perspective of space, the majority on the FCC is likely very bad news as well, for several reasons. On a global scale, it means the commission can now go full throttle on the effort by the Democrats on the commission to establish new regulations on the lifespan of satellites and how they will subsequently be removed from orbit. While some of these regulations might make some sense, none of them are within the FCC’s statutory authority. The Senate’s endorsement of this new Democrat majority means it is essentially endorsing this grab for power, once again ceding is legal power to the unelected administrative state in Washington. No longer do the legislators write laws. Bureaucrats do it, and do it at will.
On a smaller scale, this new majority of Democrats at the FCC will likely further squelch new launches. For years the FCC — led by the Democrats on the commission — has been working to expand its role in giving the communications licenses needed by launch companies when they do launches, above and beyond the launch license responsibility of the FAA. Expect it to do so more and more, denying communications licenses for launches when it considers a rocket unready for launch, two things that have nothing to do with each other.
For SpaceX and Starship/Superheavy in particular, this additional power now in the hands of the Democratic Party bodes very ill. Just as the FAA is slow-walking launch license approvals for the rocket, expect the FCC to do the same in issuing future communications licenses for any future test launches. The FCC commissioners have become entirely political in recent years, doing things based on partisan politics, not on the laws that regulate the commission. With that in mind, we should expect the Biden administration to apply political pressure on the Democrat FCC commissioners to block SpaceX, and further expect them to willingly go along.
Finally, this vote only occurred because the Republicans once again folded like a house of cards, with five Republicans — Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Todd Young of Indiana — joining the Democrats to approve the nominee. Republicans are fighting a party aimed at shutting down all opposition, including the use of political kangaroo trials and heavy prison sentences and SWAT raids for those who publicly dissent against them. Such actions require strong opposition. Instead, the Republicans are weak.
No wonder Trump leads so strongly in all polls. He represents an outsider who is seen as someone who opposes the administrative state that both Democrats and the establishment Republicans love so much. Expect that establishment in Washington to use all its power to block him from winning in 2024. Expect also that it will succeed.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
The FCC, now controlled by the
power-hungry Democratic Party
Failure theater: The Senate yesterday voted 55 to 43 to approve Biden’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) nominee, Anna Gomez, thus giving the Democrats a 4 to 3 majority on the Commission.
This was Biden’s second nominee to the commission, with the first withdrawn when it was clear the Senate opposed the nominee.
Biden tried again in May with the nomination of Gomez, a State Department digital policy official who was previously deputy assistant secretary at the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) from 2009 to 2023. A lawyer, Gomez was vice president of government affairs at Sprint Nextel from 2006 to 2009 and before that spent about 12 years at the FCC in several roles.
Gomez got through the confirmation process with relative ease, though most Republicans voted against her. Both parties seem to expect the FCC to reinstate net neutrality rules now that Democrats will have a majority.
Imposing net neutrality is essentially socialism/communism for the internet. It will squash competition, cost a fortune, and eventually be used as well to squelch dissent online (which translates into silencing conservatives).
From the perspective of space, the majority on the FCC is likely very bad news as well, for several reasons. On a global scale, it means the commission can now go full throttle on the effort by the Democrats on the commission to establish new regulations on the lifespan of satellites and how they will subsequently be removed from orbit. While some of these regulations might make some sense, none of them are within the FCC’s statutory authority. The Senate’s endorsement of this new Democrat majority means it is essentially endorsing this grab for power, once again ceding is legal power to the unelected administrative state in Washington. No longer do the legislators write laws. Bureaucrats do it, and do it at will.
On a smaller scale, this new majority of Democrats at the FCC will likely further squelch new launches. For years the FCC — led by the Democrats on the commission — has been working to expand its role in giving the communications licenses needed by launch companies when they do launches, above and beyond the launch license responsibility of the FAA. Expect it to do so more and more, denying communications licenses for launches when it considers a rocket unready for launch, two things that have nothing to do with each other.
For SpaceX and Starship/Superheavy in particular, this additional power now in the hands of the Democratic Party bodes very ill. Just as the FAA is slow-walking launch license approvals for the rocket, expect the FCC to do the same in issuing future communications licenses for any future test launches. The FCC commissioners have become entirely political in recent years, doing things based on partisan politics, not on the laws that regulate the commission. With that in mind, we should expect the Biden administration to apply political pressure on the Democrat FCC commissioners to block SpaceX, and further expect them to willingly go along.
Finally, this vote only occurred because the Republicans once again folded like a house of cards, with five Republicans — Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Todd Young of Indiana — joining the Democrats to approve the nominee. Republicans are fighting a party aimed at shutting down all opposition, including the use of political kangaroo trials and heavy prison sentences and SWAT raids for those who publicly dissent against them. Such actions require strong opposition. Instead, the Republicans are weak.
No wonder Trump leads so strongly in all polls. He represents an outsider who is seen as someone who opposes the administrative state that both Democrats and the establishment Republicans love so much. Expect that establishment in Washington to use all its power to block him from winning in 2024. Expect also that it will succeed.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I do hope ARRL kicks their lobbying into high gear. These guys would give away the spectrum without a pause, should their Chinese overlords desire it.