Harris White House Not Seen Making Big Telecom Policy Turns From Biden Administration

A Harris administration would try to move quickly to have a full FCC, if Rosenworcel
were to step down, as has been the tradition, Jonathan Cannon, R Street Institute
technology and innovation policy counsel, said. A Harris FCC, Cannon added, presumably
wouldn’t let court challenges dissuade it. SCOTUS decisions limiting agencies’ statutory
interpretations wouldn’t seem to be a deterrent to agencies moving forward with
rulemakings, he said. “They are going to try a lot” and see what sticks.

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Harris as vice president has seemed to take a moderate policy approach while also
trying to distinguish herself from Biden, so it’s unclear what her stance would be as
president, R Street’s Cannon said. As such, affordability and USF reforms could be tech,
media and telecom area priorities for the White House, he said. The FCC hasn’t been a
Biden White House priority, evidenced by how long it took to get a permanent chair and
the relative lack of attention the White House has paid to broadband issues, he said.
Harris potentially could be more vocal in those areas and a champion of digital divide
issues.