Jessica Rosenworcel, pictured last year, began serving as a commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission in 2012.
Photo:
Jonathan Newton/Zuma Press
WASHINGTON—The White House is expected to nominate
Jessica Rosenworcel
as chair of the Federal Communications Commission as soon as Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter, installing an advocate of tighter telecommunications regulation in a key oversight post.
A lawyer by training, Ms. Rosenworcel has been serving as acting chair of the commission during the Biden administration. A Democrat, she began serving as a commissioner in 2012 after stints as an FCC and Senate staffer.
Representatives of the White House and the FCC declined to comment.
“She would bring I think an unprecedented breadth and depth of experience to the commission, perhaps superior to that of anyone who’s ever been appointed chair,” said
Michael Copps,
a former FCC Commissioner for whom Ms. Rosenworcel worked as a staffer, pointing to her career working at the agency and Capitol Hill.
One of the issues currently before the agency is whether to restore so-called net-neutrality rules requiring internet service providers to treat content crossing their networks equally.
The rules were established under the Obama administration but repealed under the Trump administration. Ms. Rosenworcel has favored such rules and opposed the Trump-era repeal.
A Senate-passed infrastructure bill, now pending in the House, would also push the FCC to develop rules around how internet providers disclose information about their offerings, much like nutrition labels.
The agency is also playing a crucial role in expanding broadband service to millions of Americans who don’t have it, including by developing maps of where service is currently needed, doling out billions of dollars in subsidies for new networks and administering a federal broadband benefit for low-income Americans.
Write to Ryan Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com
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