Week of July 8, 2024
State of Play: After a quiet, restful Fourth of July recess, Congress is back in session for a whirlwind week before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week. Congress has just three weeks of session left before the August recess with several legislative priorities on the docket.
What to Watch:
Washington, D.C. is hosting its first NATO Summit this week in over 25 years, as thousands of attendees head to the District for a week of international relations building and celebrating the alliance’s 75th anniversary… Expect traffic delays.
There are growing calls from some Democratic Members of Congress for President Biden to step out of the Presidential race, despite his staunch opposition to doing so.
The UK has a new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, as well as a new Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle.
On Tap: There are several hearings and markups in the House and Senate this week, a last big push leading up to August. The House continues to plug away at FY25 appropriations measures, with Commerce Justice, and Science slated for Tuesday. The Senate will also begin marking up spending bills starting this Thursday. We are tracking oversight hearings in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which will host the commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission, as well as a Senate Commerce hearing focused on AI and privacy. Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is also holding a hearing on digital commodities this week, reinvigorating the crypto debate in the Senate.
Three Things to Watch In Tech:
Senate Commerce’s AI Focus: The Senate Commerce Committee will host a hearing on Thursday to examine the intersection of AI and privacy, which is the first activity on the issue in some time. While witnesses have yet to be announced, the hearing is likely to focus on recent efforts to move on a comprehensive privacy framework in the House. Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) endorsed the bipartisan American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) that was scheduled to be marked up in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but was canceled at the eleventh hour. The hearing is expected to echo calls from stakeholders and lawmakers that a privacy standard is needed to regulate novel AI technologies and ensure data privacy protections.
FTC and FCC In the Spotlight: Two House Energy and Commerce Subcommittees will hold concurrent budget oversight hearings Tuesday as the House considers appropriations measures for FY25. The Communications and Technology Subcommittee will hear from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioners on the agency’s priorities, likely including around communications infrastructure, broadband initiatives, and competition concerns. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s testimony highlights several initiatives including the agency’s work on the Cyber Trust Mark and combating robocalls, which may arise at the hearing as well. Down the hall, the Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee will hear from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners on their priorities. Given disagreements between many Republican Members and FTC Chair Lina Khan, the witnesses are likely to face ire from some. The Commissioners are expected to highlight their work on consumer data protections, and enforcement actions they have taken against offenders. Khan highlights advances in AI as well in her testimony, and the challenges and success the agency has faced in the wake of the emerging tech.
Stabenow Reinvigorates the Senate Crypto Debate: The Senate Agriculture Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday with Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Rostin Behnam on the agency’s work on digital commodities, namely crypto assets like bitcoin. The hearing serves as reinvigoration of the debate around digital assets in the Senate, following a bipartisan passage of crypto regulation legislation in the House, FIT21. Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is likely holding the hearing to advance her legislative efforts before retiring at the end of this year. Stabenow has been briefing stakeholders and regulators on her proposed bill, which would put regulatory authority over digital assets in the CFTC’s hands, and has noted that she aims to mark it up before the August recess. The hearing follows in the wake of reports that Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) is developing his own legislation.
What's Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
The House Appropriations Committee will hold a markup on FY25 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Bills - Tuesday, July 9 at 9:00 AM EST
The House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee will hold a hearing on FY25 Federal Communications Commission Agency Budget - Tuesday, July 9 at 10:00 AM EST
The House Energy and Commerce Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee will hold a hearing on FY25 Federal Trade Commission Budget - Tuesday, July 9 at 10:30 AM EST
The House Homeland Security Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee will hold a hearing titled "Smart Investments: Technology's Role in a Multi-Layered Border Security Strategy" - Tuesday, July 9 at 2:00 PM EST
The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on the The Federal Reserve’s Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report - Wednesday, July 10 at 10:00 AM EST
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee will hold an oversight hearing to examine digital commodities - Wednesday, July 10 at 10:00 AM EST
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a hearing to examine the need to protect Americans' privacy and the AI Accelerant - Thursday, July 11 at 10:00 AM EST
Tech Events
Semafor - Banking on the Future: The Next Era of Fintech - Wednesday, July 10 at 9:00 AM EST
The Cato Institute - Forum on "Criminal Code? DeFi (decentralized finance), Illicit Finance, and the Future of Financial Freedom" - Wednesday, July 10 at 10:30 AM EST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology - Meeting of the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee - July 9 -11
Washington AI Network - Cocktails and Conversation with David Zapolsky, GC at Amazon - Thursday, July 11 at 5:00 PM EST
The Congressional Internet Caucus Academy - Panel Discussion on Tech Platforms and the 1st Amendment: Impact of Supreme Court Rulings - Friday, July 12 at 12:00 PM EST
Weekly Dose of Trivia:
Code RED!...
On July 13, 2001, the
was released onto the Internet. Targeting Microsoft’s IIS web server, Code Red had a significant effect on the Internet due to the speed and efficiency of its spread. Much of this was due to the fact that IIS was often enabled by default on many installations of Windows NT and Windows 2000. However, Code Red also affected many other systems with web servers, mostly by way of side-effects, exacerbating the overall impact of the worm, ensuring its place in history among the many malware outbreaks infecting Windows systems in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
