Week of November 7, 2022

The weekly newsletter is back from its recess hiatus, as the congressional midterm elections are happening tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8. We strongly encourage everyone to exercise their right to vote by casting their ballot before the polls close.  It is not quite the sports book at the MGM, but you can still get in on the action by casting your predictions in Franklin Square’s Midterm Election Pool!The Senate returns this week for two days of session, while the House will be back next week. The “must-do” list is an end-of-year omnibus funding package for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2023, as well as the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) along with potential bills that could hitch a ride on either the omnibus or NDAA.

What We’re Watching: 

  • NDAA Crunch Time: The Senate briefly paused its October recess to vote to move onto Leader Schumer’s NDAA substitute amendment, which strikes and replaces the House-passed NDAA with the Senate Armed Services Committee-passed bill. The new bill also includes 75 additional amendments, many of which pertain to tech. The bill authorizes $817 billion for the Department of Defense and $29 billion for national security programs at the Department of Energy. While the NDAA is the pending legislative business on the Senate floor for when Members return post-election, it is highly unlikely the bill is further amended or even gets a final Senate vote. The House and Senate are already negotiating a conference report, expected between Thanksgiving and Christmas, with this Senate version as the basis for those discussions.

  • Federal Government Funding for FY 23: The current Continuing Resolution (CR) runs through December 16. Appropriations staff has been working out the details of a final omnibus package while awaiting sign off from committee chairs and leadership. A segment of House Republicans are agitating for another short-term CR into 2023 so that the new majority can craft their own spending package; but, several factors—including the retirements of longtime Senate appropriators Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL)—make it more likely that Congress will pass a bill that funds the government through September 2023. 

  • Supreme Court Weighs In On Content Moderation: While Congress was away, the Supreme Court announced it will hear two cases involving Section 230 and could have sweeping impacts on liability protections for tech companies. The high court will examine Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh, two cases involving the liability of social media companies hosting and recommending terrorist recruitment content. Depending on how the Court determines Section 230’s viability, this could also have implications for how legislative initiatives play out in the 118th Congress. 

What’s Happening This Week:

Tech Hearings

  • No relevant congressional activity this week.

Tech Events

What’s Interesting This Week:

Electronic Voting….In the 1800s! Thomas Edison submitted a patent application for his “electrographic vote-recorder” in 1869. The device had the names of all the voters listed twice: in a “Yes” column on one side, and a “No” column on the other, and would use an electric current to indicate a vote. Edison presented his patented telegraphic voting machine before a House committee, but the chairman rejected Edison’s proposal, declaring that such a machine would push legislation through too quickly and impede the procedural rights of the minority.

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