Week of May 16, 2022
Pennsylvania voters head to polls this week where the Republican primaries will provide another chance to measure former President Donald Trump’s ability to sway elections, as the GOP determines its nominees for the Governor’s race, as well the US Senate seat of retiring incumbent Pat Toomey. Meanwhile, Congress is looking towards a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, which the Senate hopes to send to the President’s desk this week and the continuing work of the conference committee on the China competition package. co and the continually escalating political tensions in the House of Representatives where the January 6 Committee has issued subpoenas to Republican Members, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
What We’re Watching:
The Lina Khan FTC: Now that Chair of the FTC Lina Khan officially has a working majority on the FTC with Alvaro Bedoya’s confirmation, execution of her agenda could become reality and the focus on the technology industry will be intense. The FTC has begun the rule-making process for implementing consumer privacy data protections on tech companies, which could be executed in the coming months. At the same time, the Commission will further intensify its scrutiny of deals, starting with the rewrite of its merger guidelines. The FTC’s new look starts this week with a public meeting where it will consider a new policy statement prioritizing enforcement of the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) as it applies to education technology.
The Crypto Fallout: Last week was a tough one in the world of digital assets. It will be interesting to see how regulators and lawmakers react. One of the constant challenges for digital assets, and to a larger extent the blockchain, is policymakers’ fundamental lack of understanding of this technology. This challenge was nicely captured at a hearing last week, when a Member of Congress admitted that he “doesn’t understand the whole crypto thing.” It can be easy to give an exasperated eye roll to this, but we take it as more of an instructive reference point following a week when stablecoins seemed to be inappropriately named.
Semiconductor Tax Incentive in USICA Conference: One of the core components of the USICA/COMPETES conference committee negotiations is funding of the CHIPS Act, a domestic semiconductor manufacturing grant program. But beyond the grant program, discussion has now turned to the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors FABS Act, a tax incentive for domestic semiconductor manufacturing that has bipartisan support in the House and Senate. The FABS Act was not included in either USICA or COMPETES; however, conferees have begun to publicly advocate for additional provisions to be included in the final package. House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) and Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) have expressed their support for inclusion of the FABS Act. The appetite amongst conferees for “air dropping” new items into the negotiations is not clear; but, now that the conferees are meeting, there will be a more clear picture of how a final product might look.
What’s Happening This Week:
Hearings
Tech Events
The Hudson Institute - , "The Disinformation Governance Board: Friend or Foe to Freedom?"- Monday, May 16 at 12:00 PM ET
The R Street Institute - "Antitrust Law and Big Tech: Present and Future." - Monday, May 16 at 1:00 PM ET
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) - "The Future of Quantum – Driving Innovation and Security from the Government." - Monday, May 16 at 3:00 PM ET
The Fed Summits - "Building Trustworthy Pipelines for AI and Analytics" - Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 11:30 AM ET
U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) - "Tech Forward: Into the Metaverse" - Tuesday, May 17 at 2:00 PM ET
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) - "Regulation and the Future of Crypto Assets: A Conversation with Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)" - Tuesday, May 17 at 3:30 PM ET
The Bipartisan Policy Center - "Defining AI Impact Assessments; Industry Perspectives" - Wednesday, May 18 at 11:00 AM ET
America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) - "Building a Platform for Fraud Detection Leveraging Artificial Intelligence" - Thursday, May 19 at 1:00 PM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
The Internet is Born: On May 17, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee launched the first “web-server” in history, marking what many consider the birth of the World Wide Web.
