Week of September 18, 2023
We’re back for another busy week on Capitol Hill. Congress continues to hash out negotiations to avert a government shutdown at the end of next week. Some House Republicans have reached a compromise on a short term funding deal that would keep the federal lights on through October 31st and slash certain agencies’ budgets by eight percent. Even if the House can find the votes on such a deal, which is yet to be seen, it is dead on arrival in the Senate. So it remains to be seen if the two Chambers will come to an agreement by Sep 30 and the heated negotiations are sure to ramp up this week.
On our radar this week is lawmakers’ focus on U.S. supply chain innovations, hearings to discuss more AI topics of concern, like cybersecurity and financial services, as well as what to expect at the House Judiciary’s oversight grilling of the Department of Justice.
What We’re Watching:
House E&C Tackles Supply Chain Concerns: Supply chain resilience has been top of mind for many lawmakers, and will come into focus this week as the House Energy and Commerce Innovation Subcommittee hears from industry and academic experts on ways to bolster the resilience of the U.S. supply chain with innovative technologies like blockchain, AI, and “Internet of Things.” The hearing will likely focus on U.S. competitiveness concerns against China, but will look to zero in on how industries are harnessing emerging tech to do so. Other committees, like the Senate HSGAC Emerging Threats Subcommittee, will look towards innovative capabilities in areas like national security and how to better apply advanced technologies.
Committee AI Drum Beat: AI continues to hold its weekly placement on several committee agendas, with this week committees focusing on the intersection of cybersecurity and AI in the House Judiciary IP Subcommittee, as well as intersection of financial services and AI in the Senate Banking Committee. The hearings follow Senate Majority Leader Schumer’s insight forum last week, in which there did not appear to be any real consensus from industry leaders on how the federal government should regulate AI. Committees are continuing to dig into specific issues around AI, and, while there are several legislative proposals to tackle certain AI problems, there are no comprehensive bills to provide a regulatory framework around AI.
House Judiciary’s Grilling of the DOJ: Attorney General Merrick Garland will testify to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday in what is expected to be a tough grilling from Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH). As indicated from the hearing charter, members “will examine how the Justice Department has become politicized and weaponized under the leadership of Attorney General Merrick Garland.” Several issues are likely to arise including the committee’s inquiries on combatting disinformation initiatives from the Administration, as well as other claims about politicization from the agency.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
House Science hearing on CHIPS and Science Act in Review - Tuesday, September 19 at 10:00 AM ET
House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on CISA’s Federal Civilian Executive Branch - Tuesday, September 19 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate HSGAC Subcommittee hearing on Emerging Threats - Tuesday, September 19 at 2:30 PM ET
Senate Intel Committee hearing on AI and National Security Implications - Tuesday, September 19 at 2:30 PM ET
House Armed Services Cyber Subcommittee hearing on Defense Innovation - Wednesday, September 20 at 9:00 AM ET
Senate Commerce hearing on FTC noms - Wednesday, September 20 at 10:00 AM ET
House Judiciary hearing on DOJ Oversight - Wednesday, September 20 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Banking hearing on AI in financial services - Wednesday, September 20 at 10:00 AM ET
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing on supply chain innovation - Wednesday, September 20 at 10:30 AM ET
House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on IP and Strategic Competition, focusing on cyber and AI - Wednesday, September 20 at 3:00 PM ET
Tech Events
Washington Post Live - Future of Work and AI - Thursday, September 21 at 9:00 AM ET
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research - "Revising the Horizontal Merger Guidelines: The Path Forward" - Tuesday, September 19 at 1:00 PM ET
Red Hat and Intel - "An Interoperable Future for the Intelligence Community" - Monday, September 18 at 2:00 PM ET
U.S. Chamber of Commerce - Global Artificial Intelligence Forum - Wednesday, September 20 at 8:30 AM ET
National Science Foundation - Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure for updates on the Office of Advanced Cybersecurity wide NSF activities - September 21-22
What’s Interesting This Week:
Don’t Steal That Code!.... On September 22, 1986, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that computer code is protected under copyright law. The ruling stemmed from the case NEC Corp. v. Intel Corp, which was basically a battle over who had the right to produce x86 processors. The ruling, while finding that Intel had copyright protection for the code in their processors, also found that reverse-engineering code was also legal and therefore NEC did not violate Intel’s copyright in producing their own x86 processors. This ruling that code could be copyrighted changed the landscape, for better or worse, of software and computer development.
