Week of June 3, 2024
State of Play: Both chambers return to D.C. today from the Memorial Day recess, and are hitting the pedal to the metal on must-pass priorities such as FY25 appropriations and the FY25 NDAA. What to Watch:
Thursday marks the 80th Anniversary of D-Day where the President and Members of Congress will travel to Normandy, France to commemorate the historic event.
The Joint Economic Committee dives into AI’s impacts on economic growth this Tuesday.
The House Financial Services Digital Assets Subcommittee is riding the crypto vote wave and discussing tokenization of real world assets on Wednesday morning.
On Tap: With Members only in Washington until Wednesday, they are packing several hearings of interest into the short window. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is back on the AI grind with a hearing to examine AI energy use. House Appropriations subcommittees are continuing to hear from Administration officials on budget priorities. Senate HSGAC is taking on federal cybersecurity standards and the need for harmonization this Wednesday. The Senate Judiciary Committee will look at competition’s impacts on the economy in a subcommittee hearing Wednesday afternoon.
What We’re Watching:
Joint Economic Committee Takes on AI: The Joint Economic Committee is turning its attention to the topic du jour this week, as Members from both chambers prepare to tackle the economic impacts of AI. The hearing will likely run the gamut of issues ranging from high-risk models as well as the wide adoption of LLMs like ChatGPT. Witnesses include stakeholders from universities and industry groups such as R Street and American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and will feature a diverse range of views on the socialization of AI and its impacts on economic growth and competition.
Tokenization’s Talk of the Town: The House Financial Services Digital Assets Subcommittee is holding a tokenization hearing Wednesday morning following on the heels of the House’s historic vote on crypto legislation to create a regulatory framework for digital assets. The hearing will focus on the ways in which the tokenization of real-world assets will help to facilitate economic competition and markets. The hearing charter highlights the need for modernization of traditional financial instruments, and the ways in which financial institutions are exploring the use of blockchain technology to reduce reliance on intermediaries. Witnesses will represent academic, private industry, legal, and trade groups, to speak to the merits, and possible risks, of wider tokenization adoption in the financial sector. Crypto champions in the House are riding the wave of attention on the issue in light of the House’s passage of FIT21. It is unclear if the Senate will take up the bill, however, or work on crypto issues at all.
Senate HSGAC Wants Harmony for Federal Cybersecurity Standards: Congress continues its quest for enhanced cybersecurity, both within government and private industry. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will zoom in on federal cybersecurity standards this week, and how agencies are working to harmonize those standards to reduce red tape and duplicative measures. Representatives from the Government Accountability Office, as well as from the Office of the National Cyber Director, will testify to the ways in which agencies are working to meet cybersecurity standards, and using interagency collaboration to do so. There is ongoing debate as to how agencies should adhere to cyber standards and how they should focus time and resources to be cyber secure.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
House Energy and Commerce Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee holds a hearing on "Powering AI: Examining America's Energy and Technology Future" - Tuesday, June 4 at 10:00 AM EST
Joint Economic Committee holds a hearing on “Artificial Intelligence and Its Potential to Fuel Economic Growth and Improve Governance" - Tuesday, June 4 at 2:30 PM EST
The Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee holds a hearing on "A Review of the President's FY2025 Budget Request for the U.S. Department of Treasury” - Tuesday, June 4 at 2:30 PM EST
House Financial Services Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion Subcommittee holds a hearing on "Next Generation Infrastructure: How Tokenization of Real-World Assets Will Facilitate Efficient Markets" - Wednesday, June 5 at 9:00 AM EST
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee holds a hearing on "Streamlining the Federal Cybersecurity Regulatory Process: The Path to Harmonization" - Wednesday, June 5 at 10:00 AM EST
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary - Strengthening U.S. Economic Leadership: The Role of Competition in Enhancing Economic Resiliency - Wednesday, June 5 at 3:00 PM EST
Tech Events
Future of Privacy Forum - DC Privacy Forum: AI Forward - Wednesday, June 5 at 9:00 AM EST - 8:30 PM EST
The Washington International Trade Association - Discussion on “The Recommendations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Council on Artificial Intelligence” - Wednesday, June 5 at 10:00 AM EST
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research - Discussion on "Securing Artificial Intelligence Deployment: Balancing Safety and Benefits” - Wednesday, June 5 at 3:30 PM EST
The Atlantic Council - Discussion on "An allied approach to de-risking the tech supply chain" - Thursday, June 6 at 9:00 AM EST
Washington Post Live - Virtual Discussion on "The Global Cyber Threat Landscape in 2024" - Thursday, June 6 at 9:00 AM EST
Gladstone AI - Discussion on "Safety Forward: A National Security Artificial Intelligence Framework for Congress” - Thursday, June 6 at 9:30 AM EST
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies - Virtual Discussion on "AI Policy Roundup” - Thursday, June 6 at 11:00 AM EST
The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association - Discussion on "Strategic Utility: AI/ML + Generative AI” - Thursday, June 6 at 11:50 AM EST
The Financial Stability Oversight Council and the Brookings Institution - Conference on “Artificial Intelligence & Financial Stability” - Thursday. June 6 - Friday, June 7
The Brookings Institution - Discussion on "Taiwan's Central Role in the Global Economy” including semiconductor manufacturing capabilities - Friday, June 7 at 3:00 PM EST
What’s Interesting This Week:
Remembering D-Day…. Eighty years ago on June 6, 1944, more than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion as 160,000 Allied troops landed along 50 miles of heavily fortified coastline during World War II. Technological innovation played a large role in the coordinated mission that is “largely considered the successful end of Hitler's tyrannical regime.”
