The Senate approved Anna Gomez to be a new FCC Commissioner, filling the open Democratic seat. The seat has been vacant since the beginning of the Biden Administration as the White House pushed forward with the nomination of Gigi Sohn. As previously noted, Commissioner Gomez is incredibly qualified to serve as a commissioner. She's served at the State Department addressing communications issues and in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Gomez is an FCC veteran and has also worked in private practice.
As we've previously reported, the confirmation of Commissioner Gomez will break the current FCC deadlock. It gives Chairman Rosenworcel a 3-2 democratic majority. We can now expect to see new democratic policies enacted. Most notably, there will likely be a move to reinstate the net neutrality regulations. However, it's unlikely that there will be a relaxation of the FCC ownership rules. We might see proposals that aim to tighten up the ownership regulations. There might also be new regulations governing political advertising.
It's worth noting that the White House nominated Commissioner Starks (Democrat) and Commissioner Carr (Republican) at the same time. These nominations haven't been confirmed. We anticipate that they will be acted on later in the year with other government nominations. One factor worth considering is that Commissioner Stark's term expires at the end of the year. If he's not confirmed, the FCC will return to a 2-to-2 deadlock.
You can see an informative article in Radio Ink here.