President Joe Biden intends to select veteran government lawyer Anna Gomez to serve on the Federal Communications Commission and give the agency its first Democratic majority of his presidency, a person briefed on the matter said.
Gomez’s arrival would poise the FCC, after more than two years of partisan deadlock, to act on matters including restoring net neutrality rules that bar broadband providers from interfering with web traffic.
Gomez’s selection may be announced soon, said the person briefed on the matter, who declined to be identified because the matter hasn’t been made public. The White House declined to comment.
The FCC has been split 2-to-2 along party lines since Biden’s inauguration in 2021. An earlier nominee withdrew amid opposition from Senate Republicans.
The partisan deadlock has left Democratic allies impatient for more action by the FCC. A previous nominee held out hope that “the FCC can move past recent gridlock and pursue a pro-civil rights agenda” the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights told lawmakers in February.
“The FCC needs all five commissioners” to redress broadband shortages and take on other issues, more than 230 national organizations said in a Feb. 13 letter to lawmakers.
Free Press, a policy group, in January said the FCC “has been unable to tackle key issues on its ever-growing list of things it needs to accomplish in the next two years.”
Gomez, with a long resume of Washington jobs including private law practice and work at two agencies, needs to win confirmation from the Senate where Democrats wield a narrow majority.
Democrats including FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel have said they support restoring net neutrality rules that bar broadband providers from unfairly manipulating web traffic. The FCC under Republican leadership in 2017 gutted rules adopted earlier by the agency.
The agency is considering whether to loosen rules on broadcast consolidation, and how to spread broadband to places that lack good service.
Gomez in January joined the US State Department to lead preparations for the International Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference 2023, to be held in Dubai.
From from 2009 to 2013, Gomez was deputy assistant secretary at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a Commerce Department branch involved in communications policy. Gomez led policy on international telecommunications and satellite spectrum, and efforts to expand broadband access.
She earlier served for over a decade in various management positions at the FCC, and on the White House staff under President Bill Clinton, according to a biography by the NTIA.
After leaving the NTIA, Gomez was a partner at Wiley, a Washington law firm.
Gomez is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and earned her law degree from George Washington University in Washington, DC.
The FCC has five commissioners when fully staffed. They serve staggered terms, and no more than three can be members of the president’s party.
Gomez would be the first Latina to sit on the FCC since 2001, according to the National Hispanic Media Coalition, a non-profit policy group. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus in a March 22 letter urged Biden to appoint a Latino to the FCC.
--With assistance from Justin Sink.
(Updates with comments from Democratic allies)
