Nomination of Nathan A. Simington

Floor Speech

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Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I come to the floor today to urge my colleagues to vote against the nomination of Nathan Simington to be a member of the Federal Communications Commission.

We definitely want the FCC to focus on commonsense consumer protections, universal broadband, and the survival of our news and local journalism industry as it faces unbelievable and unfair competition and practices by the tech sector, and we also want to make sure that the next President of the United States also gets to choose their member and representation to the FCC.

The Senate has a tradition of confirming Commission nominees in pairs to ensure equality on both sides of the aisle. I think moving this nominee without that democratic paring is contrary to what we have usually operated under in good governance.

Every Member of this body should be concerned about setting a precedent and what it will mean in the future if we don't have essential consumer protections and oversight in this important institution.

We need high-quality, affordable broadband for the underserved and the unserved. That includes Tribal country.

We need to make sure that we are working hard as a result of the pandemic and for people to understand that broadband is now essential to our healthcare, to being able to work, and certainly to the education of our children. According to the AP, 16 percent of families with children have no access to broadband, and we need to make sure that all students have the tools for distance learning.

We need to make sure that Washingtonians have access to broadband for healthcare centers and clinics and to make sure that their initial contacts can be done online, just to help us in fighting the pandemic.

Especially, we need to preserve a free and open internet that is not divided into haves and have-nots.

The innovation economy is so important to my State, but it is important to the entire United States, and we need to have nominees who will fight for these policies, to get them implemented. That is why it is important that we look at FCC Commissioners.

Mr. Simington was before our Commerce Committee. We had another nominee whom the White House abruptly, unexpectedly pulled from its renomination--Commissioner O'Rielly--just days after the committee reported that nomination to the Senate, allegedly because he spoke his mind and because he did not agree with the President of the United States. Mr. Simington was nominated instead just a few weeks later, coming from NTIA, which asks the FCC to issue rules.

It raises questions in my mind about the White House's choice in Mr. Simington, particularly given these issues as it relates to the FCC and key responsibilities. I have questions about his neutrality and independence on issues before the Commission and about whether he aggressively and actively sought the media attention to personally and explicitly direct pressure onto the FCC. This involvement might sound insignificant or just partisan to some, but it is so important for the FCC to continue to play an important and independent role from the President of the United States.

So I hope we will not pass the Simington nomination. But I am emphasizing to my colleagues that the President will deserve his nominee as well, and I hope our colleagues will move quickly to confirm them once they are nominated.

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