Week of December 12, 2022
The Heisman Trophy has been awarded, NFL playoff berths are being clinched, year-end “thank you” events for political donors are jamming the calendar, and the Federal government’s funding appropriation is set to expire – all indicators that it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Washington, DC. And while we are a week away from the conclusion of the World Cup and not hearing much about soccer for the next four years, Congress seems no closer to reaching a deal on an omnibus bill to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year.
The current Continuing Resolution (CR) is set to expire this Friday, December 16, and a year-long CR extension seems more and more likely as Democrats and Republicans cannot reach an agreement on topline funding numbers. Congress will almost certainly need to pass a short term CR this week to allow for another week of negotiations.
Showing that bipartisan compromise is still achievable, Congress is set to clear the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which passed the House last Thursday and will pass the Senate this week. The legislation will then head to the President’s desk for his signature, and Members can cross this off the “must do'' list.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) announced that she will leave the Democratic Party and run as an Independent. In the short term, there won’t be a major impact on the Senate. Democrats will retain their 51 seat majority, which is important for Majority Leader Schumer running the floor and organizing committees. The real impact will be felt when Sinema runs for re-election in two years. She may have just avoided a tough Democratic primary, or made it more likely a Republican can win that seat in 2024.
What We’re Watching:
The FTX Hearing Saga Continues: The House Financial Services Committee gets the big headline this week, as FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to testify at the committee’s Tuesday hearing. The Senate Banking Committee will follow with a Wednesday hearing related to FTX, though SBF is not on that witness list. These hearings are the latest effort by Congress to appear to be “doing something” on issues related to digital assets. While the FTX collapse has provided the best argument yet for a common-sense, US regulatory structure that brings crypto currencies onshore, Congress is no closer to finding legislative compromise that can be enacted into law.
DOJ Weighs In On Section 230: The Department of Justice filed an amicus brief last week in the Supreme Court Section 230 case of Gonzalez v. Google. The government argued that the plaintiff's “theory of liability does not seek to hold YouTube liable for posting, or failing to remove, unlawful third-party content. Rather it challenges YouTube's own conduct in designing and implementing recommendation algorithms that result in the communication of a distinct message from YouTube.” An outcome following this line of argument would have profound implications for Section 230’s liability protection.
17 Republican Senators and House Members also filed a brief in the Gonzalez case last week arguing the Court should narrow the application of Section 230(c)(1). More interestingly, the brief also suggests a new interpretation of 230(c)(2), which provides liability protection for content removal. Their line of argument gives a preview of the legislative fight to come next year over claims of conservative bias.
Content Moderation Debate Continues in Commerce: Last week, Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) sent a letter to Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA), pushing for a last-minute hearing on the state of free speech on social media prior to the end of the 117th Congress. Wicker suggests the Committee needs to examine the recent release of the “Twitter Files,” which contain information about the content moderation practices of Twitter during the 2020 presidential election. It is unclear if Cantwell will comply, but with few legislative days remaining and the attention focused on spending legislation, a hearing on the matter isn’t likely.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
House Financial Services hearing on FTX collapse - Tuesday, December 13 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Commerce hearing on America’s broadband needs - Tuesday, December 13 at 10:00 AM ET
House Homeland Security hearing on the Office of Intelligence and Analysis - Tuesday, December 13 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Banking hearing on capital markets investments in diversity - Tuesday, December 13 at 2:30 PM ET
Senate Banking hearing on the FTX Collapse - Wednesday, December 14 at 10:00 AM ET
House Financial Services hearing on Semi-Annual Report of CFPB - Wednesday, December 14 at 10:00 AM ET
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on veterans’ privacy - Wednesday, December 14 at 2:00 PM ET
Tech Events
The Government Executive Media Group, AWS - "Implementing Agile Cyber Governance" - Monday, December 12 at 1:00 PM ET
The Wilson Center's Kissinger Institute on China and the United States - "The Outlook for Strategic Competition in the Semiconductor Industry" - Monday, December 12 at 2:00 PM ET
The Urban Institute - "Data Infrastructure Issues for Evidence-Based Policy and Practice" - Monday, December 12 at 3:30 PM ET
The Peterson Institute for International Economics - "Can Regulation Save Crypto?" - Tuesday, December 13 at 9:00 AM ET
Meta - 2022 Meta Summit on Youth Safety and Well-Being - Tuesday, December 13 at 9:30 AM ET
PunchBowl News - "Building Trust in Technology" - Tuesday, December 13 at 10:00 AM ET
The Hill - "Risk to Resilience: Cyber and Climate Solutions Bolstering America's Power Grid" - Tuesday, December 13 at 10:30 AM ET
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation - "Malvertising: How Piracy Sites Use Malicious Ads to Infect Consumer Devices With Malware" - Wednesday, December 14 at 12:00 PM ET
Duke in DC - "Disinformation, Social Media Platforms and Threats to Democracy," part of the "Congress Bites into Big Tech: A New Era of Regulatory Policy" - Wednesday, December 14 at 3:00 PM ET
Energy Department - National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee to discuss the Status of the National Quantum Initiative - Friday, December 16 at 2:00 PM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
Prepare for Takeoff…. On December 17, 1903 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.
