Week of April 24, 2023
It is a big week on Capitol Hill for the debate about how, and when, to raise the statutorily-imposed debt ceiling that is applied to Federal spending. The current debate centers around the question of how to do this, as the White House and congressional Democrats are advocating for a “clean” bill that simply raises the debt threshold that the government can accrue, while House Republicans are insisting that this debt hike also includes spending cuts and reforms.
The House is scheduled to vote this week on a legislative package that includes the latter: spending reforms along with a debt ceiling hike. This is a legitimate test for Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as the vote this week will be a strictly partisan exercise in a very narrow majority.
However, the “pay off” for McCarthy in this risky scenario is that a House-passed debt ceiling increase gives the Speaker more leverage as he attempts to force negotiations with the White House and Senate. If the vote in the House fails, it strengthens the hand of President Biden as he pushes for a clean debt hike.
And, while the high stakes poker of debt ceiling politics grabs all the headlines, the House and Senate will continue to grind away with another busy week of committee hearings, including discussions involving privacy reform, as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee marking-up three content moderation-related bills this week - two of which are focused on protecting children from exploitation.
What We’re Watching:
House Follows Senate Lead on Kids’ Online Protection Legislation: With Chair Durbin’s (D-IL) STOP CSAM Act and Ranking Member Graham’s (R-SC) EARN IT Act formally being introduced last week (and ready for markup this Thursday), the House is also taking action on expanded children’s protections online. Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Syliva Garcia (D-TX) introduced EARN IT’s companion legislation in the House, fueling the ongoing momentum of bipartisan willingness to act on protecting children online. Additionally, Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), a longtime advocate for children’s privacy, announced at last week’s Energy and Commerce hearing on data brokers that she would be reintroducing her Kid’s PRIVACY Act, which provides revisions to strengthen the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
More broadly, House Members continue to focus on legislative efforts for comprehensive privacy reform. Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) announced that they would re-introduce the Online Privacy Act, that would create user data rights, place limitations and obligations on the ability of companies to collect and use user data, and establish a Digital Privacy Agency (DPA) to enforce privacy laws. The Energy and Commerce Committee continues the privacy hearing drumbeat with another one this Thursday focusing on gaps in data privacy.
Dueling Digital Asset Hearings: Following last week’s grilling of SEC Chair Gensler in House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) along with the Digital Assets Subcommittee’s lack of consensus demonstrated in the stablecoins hearing, the House Agriculture Committee and HFSC Digital Assets Subcommittee will take a stab at digital assets regulation in the spot markets and general market structure. It will be interesting to see if tension remains over who shall be the sole crypto regulator; the CFTC or the SEC, both of which have been vying for the proverbial throne. The hearings will both be held on Thursday at 2:00 PM ET.
Biden Expected (Again) to Release Narrowed Outbound Investment Regs: After nearly two years of continued internal negotiations, the White House is expected to release rules to limit American investments in China in the coming weeks. The Administration is said to have recently been briefing certain industry groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce, on what to expect from the executive order. Additionally, U.S. officials have been briefing G-7 allies on the investment restrictions for high-tech industries, and are expected to cover semiconductors, AI, and quantum computing. The G-7 summit will commence in Japan on May 18, and it is likely that President Biden will release the regulations following international endorsement.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
House Oversight and Accountability hearing on GAO High Risk List - Wednesday, April 26 at 10:00 AM ET
House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee hearing on China money cartels - Wednesday, April 26 at 2:00 PM ET
Senate Judiciary markup on online kids’ protection and content moderation legislation - Thursday, April 27 at 10:00 AM ET
House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on FISA - Thursday, April 27 at 9:00 AM ET
House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on USPTO Oversight - Thursday, April 27 at 9:00 AM ET
House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on the future of digital assets - Thursday, April 27 at 2:00 PM ET
House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on FinCEN Oversight - Thursday, April 27 at 2:00 PM ET
House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on CISA - Thursday, April 27 at 2:00 PM ET
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on data privacy online - Thursday, April 27 at 2:00 PM ET
House Agriculture Subcommittee hearing on digital assets - Thursday, April 27 at 2:00 PM ET
House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing on strategic competition with China - Thursday, April 27 at 4:00 PM ET
Tech Events
The Center for Strategic and International Studies - "Open Source Investigation in the Age of Google" - Monday, April 24 at 1:00 PM ET
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - "Digital Authoritarianism: A Growing Threat" - Monday, April 24 at 2:00 PM ET
NIST Meeting of National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee - Tuesday, April 25 at 10:00 AM ET
The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development and the U.S. Council for International Business - "Advancing Implementation of the OECD AI (Artificial Intelligence) Principles Across Sectors" - Wednesday, April 26 at 9:00 AM ET
The Center for American Progress - "Cashing in Our CHIPS: Community Colleges and the CHIPS (creating helpful incentives to produce semiconductors) and Science Act" - Wednesday, April 26 at 11:00 AM ET
Brookings Institute - The Future of AI (artificial intelligence) - Wednesday, April 26 at 4:00 PM ET
SeedAI and Congressional AI Caucus event - 4th AI Primer - Wednesday, April 26 at 6:00 PM ET
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation - Conference on Reviving America’s Hamiltonian Tradition to Win the Economic Competition With China - Thursday, April 27 at 8:30 AM ET
Public Citizen Conference on AI - Thursday, April 27 at 10:00 AM ET
The Hudson Institute - "Achieving Spectrum Superiority with the Congressional Electromagnetic Warfare Working Group" - Thursday, April 27 at 4:00 PM ET
Washington Post Live - "Bridging the Digital Divide in Education, Finance and Health Care" - Friday, April 28 at 9:00 AM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
Adios CDs… On April 28, 2003, Apple Computer launched the iTunes Music Store, selling individual songs for 99 cents each, which could be listened to on an Apple iPod or iTunes software. Although not the first platform to sell digital music, it was the first to gain popularity by selling over one million songs in its first week alone!
