Week of March 18, 2024
We’re in the final week leading up to the two-week Easter recess, and lawmakers are hustling to issue the final six federal spending bills before another partial government shutdown on Friday. The problem child, as expected, is funding for the Department of Homeland Security as Members grapple over specific spending amounts for a continuing resolution (CR) for the agency through September 30, rather than issuing a new FY24 spending bill. The five other bills, State-Foreign Operations, Defense, Labor-HHS, Legislative Branch and Financial Services-General Government, are all about ready to go. But without a resolution on DHS, Congress could be barreling towards a shutdown on Friday at midnight.
Other issues throwing a dash of chaos into the mix include the buzz around the House TikTok divestiture bill, which has made its way to the Senate for review. AI remains top-of-mind for lawmakers, too, with the House AI Task Force formally getting underway and the Senate’s imminent report on its AI work to-date. The House Oversight Cyber Subcommittee will also be examining President Biden’s AI EO, again. The House Financial Services Committee will be grilling the SEC this week on several overreach concerns, notably in a field hearing on its controversial climate disclosure rule.
What We’re Watching:
House Applies TikTok Pressure on Senate: The House overwhelmingly passed legislation last week to ban the social media app, TikTok, unless its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, sells the company. The bill passed with a vote of 352-65-1, and now moves to the Senate where Members are deciding whether to take up the legislation. It is unclear, however, if the legislation will make it through. Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) have expressed support for the legislation due to the national security issues TikTok presents. Other Members have not been as committal, but have expressed support for similar legislation to address TikTok, like Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). TikTok is pushing back on the bill through its efforts on the platform to encourage users to contact their Members of Congress to vote against the bill. If it does pass, there could be implications on the 2024 presidential election, as President Biden said he would sign the legislation, and Republican candidate Trump has said he does not support the bill.
House Oversight Questions Biden’s AI EO: The House Oversight Cyber Subcommittee is once again looking into the agency directives contained in President Biden’s executive order on AI. The Subcommittee held a hearing on the matter last December, but is back again to dive into progress on the EO since its release. The Committee will hear from trade associations and industry stakeholders on AI, similar to the last slate of witnesses. The focus will be on the Administration's “overreach” on AI, and whether or not the EO goes too far in repercussions to the private sector. The Committee has been very focused on AI in general, particularly around deepfake considerations, and the government’s use of AI as well.
House Financial Services Examines SEC Overreach: The SEC is the topic du jour for House Financial Services, as two subcommittees gear up for hearings to examine the agency's actions and whether they are outside of their jurisdictional authorities. The Oversight Subcommittee held a field hearing this morning in Lebanon, Tennessee, to hear from state officials, business owners, and academics on how the SEC’s final rule on climate disclosures would “harm Americans,” as the hearing title suggests. The rule has been a focus of the Committee since the SEC issued its proposed rule in 2022, and the final rule will likely garner more Committee attention as well. The Capital Markets Subcommittee will also be holding a hearing on SEC overreach, and whether reforms are needed to the agency’s enforcement authority. SEC overreach has been a largely partisan concern, with many Republicans arguing that the agency oversteps in several financial areas like crypto and digital assets, investor protections and disclosures, and capital market reforms.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
HFSC field hearing on SEC Climate Disclosure Rule - March 18 at 10:00 AM CT
House Oversight Cyber Subcommittee Hearing on White House AI EO - Thursday, March 21 at 10:00 AM ET
House Armed Services Cyber Subcommittee hearing on AI at the DOD - Friday, March 22 at 9:00 AM ET
HFSC hearing on global governance - March 21 at 10:00 AM ET
Tech Events
New America - "Trust, Resilience, and Transformation: A Digital Approach to Democracies" - Tuesday, March 19 at 11:00 AM ET
The Atlantic Council - "Using data for accountability: Lessons learned from the Oversight Board's impact" - Tuesday, March 19 at 12:00 PM ET
Axios - "What's Next" summit focusing on "AI, the future of work, the future of business and more and how these issues intersect and impact daily life" - Tuesday, March 19 at 2:00 PM ET
The Center for Strategic and International Studies - "Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Privacy and Civil Liberties Reforms" - Tuesday, March 19 at 2:00 PM ET
The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association - 42nd Annual Spring Intelligence Symposium, with the theme "Transforming Our Intelligence Advantage: The Pivot to Data Centricity" - March 19-20
Washington Post Live - "Future International Travel," including investments on artificial intelligence - Wednesday, March 20 at 9:30 AM ET
Washington Post Live - “Futurist Summit: The New Age of Tech" - Thursday, March 21 at 9:00 AM ET
Punchbowl - The Summit: The Digital Payments Economy - Tuesday, March 19 at 9:00 AM ET
The United States Energy Association - "Governance Policies and Procedures for Third-Party Cybersecurity Risk Management" - Thursday, March 21 at 10:00 AM ET
UCLA - “Can Congress Handle Regulating AI” - Thursday, March 21 at 3:30 PM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
X Marks the Spot…. On March 21, 2006, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the world’s first (non-automated) tweet: “just setting up my twttr”, soon to be followed by the just as engrossing “inviting coworkers.” Twitter has since undergone its rebrand to X…. which just isn’t quite as catchy.
