WEEK OF MARCH 31, 2025
Tariffs? 🤷🤷🤷
State of Play:
The House and Senate are in session this week.
The Senate is set to vote on the budget resolution Wednesday, in an attempt to move the reconciliation process forward.
Driving the News:
Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. President Trump is expected to announce sweeping reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday. 🤷
The House Financial Services Committee will tackle long-awaited action on stablecoin legislation Wednesday during its markup.
Three Things to Watch in Tech:
1. Reciprocal Tariff Uncertainty Looms: President Trump is expected to make major reciprocal tariff announcements on Wednesday.
The impact will be felt across the tech industry, from devices to semiconductors to global e-commerce.
Uncertainty is an operative word here, as questions loom as to to which countries, which products, and which grievances will be on the chopping block first, second, or not at all.
Executive reports from Secretary of Commerce Lutnick and other officials are due to the President tomorrow, as mandated through Trump’s executive order on examining America’s trade deficits. These are expected to largely inform any major trade decisions ahead of Wednesday's announcement.
2. Senate Judiciary Takes on Big Tech Competition: The Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee will take on Big Tech competition concerns in its hearing tomorrow. This will be one of the first significant antitrust hearings of this congress, and Members are expected to hammer on a number of big tech concerns and how they will play out in this political landscape.
The modern Republican approach to competition, as it relates to technology companies, is complicated.
On one hand, there is deep, dislike, and distrust of technology companies.
On the other hand, traditional Republican policymaking is always focused on listening to the role of antitrust regulators.
New FTC Chair Ferguson has not brought any clarity on his plans for big tech competition enforcement, at times sounding much like his predecessor.
Enter Senator Mike Lee and the rest of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. How he lays out congress’ enforcement plans at Tuesday’s hearing will tell us a lot about the future of big tech’s competition problems.
3. AI Trending in Congress: AI’s popularity is back on the rise, as congress prepares to hold three separate hearings on AI policy this week.
Discussions on AI policy have seen a slower start this congress, compared to the deluge of attention it received last year.
The hearings this week will examine industry-specific concerns around AI, including competition amongst leading AI companies, the use of AI in K-12 schools, as well as US competition concerns around AI data and power usage.
It is unclear what exactly Members intend to do on AI this congress, and if any of the efforts from last Congress including the House AI Task Force, will continue this year.
What's Happening This Week
Tech Hearings
The House Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee to hold a hearing on "Cybersecurity is Local, Too: Assessing the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program." - Tuesday, April 1 at 10:00 AM EST
The House Oversight and Government Reform Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee to hold a hearing on "America's AI Moonshot: The Economics of AI, Data Centers, and Power Consumption" - Tuesday, April 1 at 10:00 AM EST
The House Judiciary Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet Subcommittee and Constitution and Limited Government Subcommittee to hold a joint hearing on "Judicial Overreach and Constitutional Limits on the Federal Courts" - Tuesday, April 1 at 10:00 AM EST
The House Education and the Workforce Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee to hold a hearing on "From Chalkboards to Chatbots: The Impact of AI on K-12 Education" - Tuesday, April 1 at 10:15 AM EST
The Senate Judiciary Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights Subcommittee to hold a hearing on "Big Fixes for Big Tech” - Tuesday, April 1 at 2:30 PM EST
The House Oversight and Government Reform Military and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee to hold a hearing on "Salt Typhoon: Securing America's Telecommunications from State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks" - Wednesday, April 2 at 10:00 AM EST
The House Judiciary Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Subcommittee to hold a hearing on "Artificial Intelligence: Examining Trends in Innovation and Competition" - Wednesday, April 2 at 10:00 AM EST
The House Financial Services Committee markup on stablecoin legislation - Wednesday, April 2 at 10:00 AM EST
Tech Events
The Center for Strategic and International Studies - 2025 LeadershIP Conference on intellectual property, innovation, and national security policy - Tuesday, April 1
The Information Technology Industry Council - The Intersect: Tech and Policy Summit - Wednesday, April 2
The Center for Strategic and International Studies - Discussion on "Securing the Fundamentals of U.S. Competitiveness and Leadership in AI" - Wednesday, April 2 at 10:00 AM EST
The Federal Communications Bar Association (The Tech Bar) - Virtual Discussion on "Position, Navigation, and Timing: How the United States Can Find Itself Again" - Wednesday, April 2 at 1:00 PM EST
The Brennan Center for Justice - Virtual Discussion on "The Risks of Government by AI" - Wednesday, April 2 at 3:00 PM EST
GovCIO - CyberScape Summit - Thursday, April 3 at 9:00 AM EST
The Information Technology Industry Council - Discussion on “From Rejection to Reform: Rethinking Globalization” - Thursday, April 3 at 12:00 PM EST
The Peterson Institute for International Economics - Virtual Discussion on "Shaping Tomorrow's Global Economy: The Transformative Power and Potential of Digital Trade" - Thursday, April 3 at 1:00 PM EST
