Week of June 10, 2024
State of Play: The House and Senate come back tomorrow following the last truncated week. With just four weeks left with both chambers in session before the August recess - and election chaos begins - Members are continuing to iron out an annual defense reauthorization bill (NDAA) with several closed markups in the Senate this week. Appropriations is on the docket as well, although a continuing resolution on FY25 appropriations in September is more likely than not.
What to Watch:
The Administration holds a closed AI conference with stakeholders Thursday.
President Biden is heading to the G7 Summit in Italy this week to discuss with leaders plans to utilize Russian sanctions for Ukrainian relief.
House Energy and Commerce is rumored to hold a full committee markup of the American Privacy Rights Act this Thursday.
On Tap: Microsoft President Brad Smith will testify at House Homeland this Thursday to address the federal cybersecurity shortfalls. House Financial Services will hear from CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, as well as embattled officials at the FDIC over misconduct at the industry. The House Judiciary IP Subcommittee tackles patent litigation from foreign entities on Wednesday afternoon.
What We’re Watching:
Microsoft Testifies on Federal Email Breach: Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith will testify before the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday afternoon on the company’s cybersecurity shortcomings and its plans to mitigate them. The hearing is prompted by the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) report on the Microsoft Online Exchange cyber breach in 2023, which led to the hack of several federal officials’ emails accounts, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s. The cyberattack was led by the PRC-affiliated threat actor Storm-0558. The Committee previously asked Smith to testify on May 22, but Microsoft pushed back for additional time and scope of the hearing. The report, released on April 2, characterized the hack as a “cascade of security failures at Microsoft,” and attributed lax cyber standards to the attack. The hearing occurs during a time of increased large-scale cyber breaches at large scale companies, such as the Change Healthcare attack, or the recent cyber hack at Ticketmaster, impacting over 500 million users.
House Judiciary Tackles Patent Trolls: The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet will hold a hearing on Wednesday afternoon to examine recent developments in IP litigation that is financed by third party investors and foreign entities. Subcommittee Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) has placed focus on the ways in which litigation funders, often financed by foreign entities, will challenge patents in an effort to hinder innovation and competition by U.S. companies. The hearing will also raise concerns around transparency of who is funding patent litigation efforts, as most federal courts do not require such disclosures. The topic shines light on the national security implications of third party patent litigation that often seek to either slow or steal U.S. technological innovation. Witnesses will primarily include academic experts familiar with the subject matter as well as Former House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA).
White House Holds AI Conference to Highlight Federal Focus: The White House will be holding a closed-door conference on Thursday to showcase and hear from federal experts on sector-specific AI use-cases and topics. While industry, academic, and civil stakeholders will be present, the event titled AI Aspirations, will look at the ways in which federal agencies are implementing the President’s AI executive order as well as shifting focus from more abstract AI implications to real, sector-by-sector applications. Topics at the event will focus on areas like new medicines for rare diseases, weather forecasting, electrical grid reliability, materials for semiconductor manufacturing, transportation innovation, and improved government services and privacy protections. While the event is closed to the public, there will likely be coverage and updates from the Administration on possible next steps on AI priorities.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee markup of S. 4207, the Spectrum and National Security Act of 2024 - Wednesday, June 12 at 10:00 AM EST
House Judiciary Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet Subcommittee hearing on "The U.S. Intellectual Property System and the Impact of Litigation Financed by Third-Party Investors and Foreign Entities." - Wednesday, June 12 at 2:00 PM EST
House Financial Services hearing with CFPB - Thursday, June 13 at 10:00 AM ET
House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing titled, "A Cascade of Security Failures: Assessing Microsoft Corporation's Cybersecurity Shortfalls and the Implications for Homeland Security." - Thursday, June 13 at 1:15 PM EST
House Energy and Commerce markup of the American Privacy Rights Act - Thursday, June 13 time TBD (markup not yet officially noticed)
Tech Events
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), General Services Administration (GSA), and the Federal IPv6 Task Force - IT Modernization Summit - Tuesday, June 11 at 8:00 AM EST
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies Telecommunications & Electronic Media Practice Group - Discussion on "The Broadband Economy - 42 Billion Dollar Infusion and a Newly-Minted Biden FCC: What Lies Ahead?" - Tuesday, June 11 at 4:00 PM EST
PunchBowl News - Discussion on AI’s impact the future of infrastructure, security, and tourism worldwide with Sen. Hickenlooper (D-CO) - Wednesday, June 12 at 9:00 AM EST
The Brookings Institution - Virtual Discussion on "Screens and children's well-being: The latest evidence of technology's impact on mental health and education” - Wednesday, June 12 at 9:30 AM EST
The American Bar Association - Virtual Discussion on AI Governance - Thursday, June 13 at 11:00 AM EST
Washington Post Live - Summit on “The Age of AI: The Next Phase of the Artificial Intelligence Revolution” - Thursday, June 13 at 2:00 PM EST
What’s Interesting This Week:
Voice Memo in the 70’s… On June 11, 1978, Texas Instruments Inc. introduced the Speak & Spell, a talking educational toy for children. The device featured the first electronic duplication of the human voice on a single chip of silicon. It transformed digital information processed through a filter into synthetic speech and could store more than 100 seconds of linguistic sounds.
