Week of July 18, 2022
Last week set a pretty high bar, as the good folks at NASA were able to announce the discovery of a new galaxy (kind of a big deal), Tiger Woods, one of the greatest to ever tee it up, took his final walk to 18 at The Old Course as part of The Open, and Woody Williams, World War II Medal of Honor recipient, laid in state in the US Capitol as the last of his generation to earn that award. Congress, meanwhile, continues grinding through its overloaded July “to do” list after finally clearing Fed nominee Michael Barr and also getting the ball rolling on the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with an overwhelmingly bipartisan passage in the House.
The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to file its NDAA this week in order to demonstrate that it is ready for consideration by the full Senate, though the bill may not get floor time until September.
Senate Democrats and the White House continue to negotiate on a potential Reconciliation package, though a deal that can garner 51 votes remains elusive following Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) announcement that he would not support any tax increases as part of the bill.
The House Appropriations Committee has its first “mini-bus” package of funding bills ready for floor consideration this week.
What We’re Watching:
CHIPS Funding Goes to the Floor: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) acknowledged that the Senate will consider CHIPS-only legislation providing $52 billion for semiconductor manufacturing, in lieu of a larger USICA/COMPETES package. The legislation is also expected to include a tax credit for ongoing semiconductor production (FABS Act). This situation remains fluid, as Republican supporters of USICA have indicated that this “skinny” package is insufficient, and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) continues his insistence that there will be no USICA/COMPETES deal as long as Reconciliation talks continue.
Privacy Legislation Moves (Maybe): The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s markup of five bills last week was missing the most anticipated - the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA). The bill was removed from the agenda as concerns from certain California lawmakers arose regarding the bill’s federal preemption over state privacy laws were added to the list of other concerns from Members on various issues that they would like to see addressed. The ADPPA is expected to be on the Committee’s agenda this week, though it remains unclear whether Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) can address the concerns of Members and interest groups while still holding together bipartisan support sufficient to pass the bill out of committee.
White House Holds Cyber Summit: President Biden is expected to hold a cybersecurity summit on Tuesday focused on cyber workforce preparedness. It is also expected that the Administration will preview a larger cyber strategy, and this event will be the cornerstone of the cyber workforce and education portion of the strategy. This event falls on the heels of the one year anniversary of the leadership of CISA Director Jen Easterly, as well as National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, who received positive reviews from lawmakers commenting on their tenure last week. The Administration will continue to hold discussions with industry as they work toward a final strategy to be released later this year.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
House Judiciary Committee hearing on government access to data - Tuesday, July 19 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on KleptoCapture - Tuesday, July 19 at 10:00 AM ET
House Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on SEC Division of Enforcement - Tuesday, July 19 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Banking Committee hearing on discrimination in financial services - Tuesday, July 19 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Commerce Committee hearing on OSTP nomination - Wednesday, July 20 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Energy and Public Works Committee markup on NRC Nominees - Wednesday, July 20 at 11:00 AM ET
House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on PTAB - Thursday, July 21 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Banking Committee hearing on the state of housing prices - Thursday, July 21 at 10:00 AM ET
Tech Events
American Enterprise Institute - "Crossing the Consumer Welfare Rubicon: A Conversation with Commissioner Noah Phillips of the Federal Trade Commission" - Monday, July 18 at 1:30 PM ET
The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) - "SIGNAL WEBINAR Sponsored by Dragos: Building an Operational Technology/Control System Cybersecurity Workforce: A Whole Government Challenge" - Tuesday, Jul 19 at 1:00 PM ET
General Services Administration (GSA) - "Cyber-SCRM Educational Training Series” - Tuesday, July 19 at 1:00 PM ET
The Institute of World Politics (IWP) - "Online Seminar: International Law Governing Cyber Operations" - Wednesday, July 20 at 6:00 PM ET
The Henry L. Stimson Center - "Our Common Agenda Discussion Series: Global Digital Impact" - Thursday, July 21 at 8:30 AM ET
U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) - "Livestream: Artificial Intelligence Commission on Competitiveness, Inclusion, and Innovation (Washington,DC)" - Thursday, July 21 at 1:00 PM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
First Images from the James Webb Telescope Are Released! While this may be old news by now, the release of the first images of the unseen universe by the world’s largest and most powerful space telescope released by NASA last week are a real marvel.
