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Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. Madam President, I always strive to treat each and every nominee--regardless of party affiliation--with dignity and respect. I evaluate their credentials and make a decision on whether to support them based on their qualifications, their temperaments, and whether they will serve the interests of all of the American people.

That is actually why, in my role on the Judiciary Committee, I have voted for almost half of President Biden's nominees. In my judgment, some were qualified and deserved confirmation, and in my judgment, some weren't. Again, I evaluate each nominee on an independent and fair basis. With this in mind, I hope my colleagues will take seriously what I have to say today.

I rise to speak in opposition to, perhaps, one of the most radical nominees the President has put forward to date. I am talking about the nomination of Gigi Sohn to be an FCC Commissioner.

Ms. Sohn is exactly the type of radical activist we should avoid confirming to lead any Agency, especially an Agency as critical as the FCC. Her radical activist track record and her out-of-the-mainstream views on everything from free speech to intellectual property indicate to me she will weaponize the FCC against the American people.

Ms. Sohn has made no secret of the fact that she loathes Republicans, conservatives, and any media organization that doesn't share her world view. One need look no further than her deeming FOX News as ``state- sponsored propaganda.'' She has supported State governments and used their power to destroy conservative news outlets. When California's liberal legislature tried to pressure broadcasters into dropping conservative news organizations, she supported--yes, she supported-- their effort.

It doesn't stop there. If confirmed, she will have the power to censor conservative media and retaliate against any view that is different from her own.

Worse than her disdain--probably even hatred--for conservative news media, she has also made it clear that she simply detests Republicans as people. She has claimed Senate Republicans are a threat to ``our Republic'' and claimed their ``ideology has overtaken their duty to serve their constituents.'' She even claimed that Republicans can only win elections by ``suppressing the vote'' and destroying democracy.

As someone who won reelection in a State with a nearly 80-percent turnout in the last election, I can tell her that that isn't the case.

As if her disdain for conservative media and Republicans isn't enough, she has also demonstrated she is a radical, anti-copyright activist who will use every lever of power at her disposal to harm America's content creators.

For years, she dismissed the economic harms that our outdated copyright laws have caused content creators. She belittled their demonstrated pain and suffering, and she opposed efforts to fix the failed copyright system. During her time at the FCC as a senior adviser to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Sohn championed the FCC's attempt to unlock pay-TV set-top boxes.

This disastrous policy would have destroyed the intellectual property rights of copyright owners to the benefit of big tech companies like Google, and these big tech companies have conveniently funded Sohn over the years.

She has never apologized for this disastrous policy. In a 2016 op-ed, Sohn downplayed any concerns with this proposal by proposing only a hypothetical solution to address them.

Finally, anyone who doubts her radical views on intellectual property need look no further than to the fact that she literally served on the board of directors of a company named Locast, whose sole purpose was to engage in illegal copyright infringement.

Let that sink in.

Gigi Sohn, a longtime anti-copyright activist who worked on policies at the FCC to destroy copyright owners' rights, then subsequently served on the board of a company that made money by infringing on copyright and likely made money from the illegal activity in the process and, not only that, I have real concerns that she appears to be hiding relevant information to the lawsuit. She failed to disclose the fact that the amount of money exchanged by Locast was much lower than the reported $32 million settlement. As an explanation, she stated that she answered the questions within the confines of the settlement agreement.

Playing ``hiding the ball'' while seeking a position of public trust is not acceptable. I believe her nomination would undermine public confidence in the FCC and our government.

If this were any other nominee, especially a Republican nominee, any one of these issues would be enough for my colleagues on this side of the aisle to stand up and ask the President of our party to withdraw the nominee. I hope my Democratic colleagues will review Ms. Sohn's record, just like I have, in a fair and impartial manner, and reach the only reasonable conclusion; that she cannot and must not be confirmed.

I again call on President Biden to withdraw the nomination of Gigi Sohn. If he won't, I hope I can count on 51 Senators to stand with me and make it clear that we won't allow such a radical activist to be confirmed to the FCC.

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