WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 8. 2025 

From Nvidia to KOSA: Tech on Trial

State of Play: 

  • The House and Senate are in session this week. 

  • The House Rules Committee will meet today to work through the over 1,000 amendments filed to the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The challenge will be to create a path forward on whether or not to include non-germane priorities.

Driving the News: 

  • Congress has just 22 days to avert a government shutdown, with Republican leadership and President Trump split between a short-term continuing resolution into late 2025 or a longer-term stopgap through FY2026. 

  • Democrats are expected to demand concessions, with Obamacare premium tax credits emerging as a central bargaining chip despite divisions within the GOP. 

  • Appropriators prefer a short-term deal to keep negotiations alive, while conservatives and the White House lean toward a longer-term option to avoid repeated fights, leaving the outcome dependent on Trump’s engagement and bipartisan bargaining.

Follow Franklin Square Group on LinkedIn!

Three Things to Watch in Tech:

1. Senate Commerce Has AI on the BrAIn: Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), Chair of the Senate Commerce Science, Manufacturing, and Competitiveness Subcommittee, is holding his first hearing with OSTP Director Michael Kratsios on Wednesday to review the Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan. 

  • The hearing titled, “AI’ve Got a Plan: America’s AI Action Plan,” raises questions about public-private partnerships, energy constraints for data centers, and AI’s impact on jobs and rights. 

  • Members are also expected to heavily focus on the Administration's decision to let Nvidia and AMD sell chips to China. While Budd originally backed the decision, he expressed concern with Trump’s 15 percent Nvidia revenue-sharing deal and proposals for federal equity stakes in private companies like Intel. 

2. KOSA Buzz in the House: There is a new resurgence of buzz around potential action on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. 

  • The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to weigh multiple kids’ online safety bills, including KOSA. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), who chairs the Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee, teased the chance of a legislative hearing next week with KOSA, COPPA, and other child online safety bills on the chopping block. 

  • The main sticking point remains KOSA’s proposed legal duty on social media platforms to protect minors, which Democrats insist on keeping in the bill while Republicans view it as censorship. 

  • House Majority Leader Steve Scalise remains skeptical of a path forward for the bill, which passed last year but could stall again over partisan divide.  

3. Meta in the Senate Judiciary Hot Seat: Meta returns to the Senate Judiciary hot seat tomorrow for a hearing in the Privacy, Technology, and the Law Subcommittee. 

  • The hearing comes as new accusations surfaced late last week of the company systematically deleting or manipulating internal research that revealed widespread child grooming, sexual harassment, and violence on its VR, Marketplace, and Dating platforms.  

  • The hearing follows a September 2 inquiry to Meta CEO Zuckerberg from Senators Grassley, Hawley, and Blackburn, who demanded answers on disclosures that the company targeted teens’ emotions and may have violated COPPA.

  • Thursday’s hearing will provide Members the chance to dive deep into claims that Meta is actively prioritizing engagement and profit over safety. The accusations also allege that Meta leadership misled shareholders, Congress, and the public, while projects aimed at improving protections, such as age verification, were blocked.

What's Happening This Week

Tech Hearings

  • The House Financial Services National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions Subcommittee holds a hearing entitled “Evaluating the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network” - Tuesday, September 9 at 10:00 AM EST

  • The House Financial Services Financial Institutions Subcommittee holds a hearing entitled “Promoting the Health of the Banking Sector: Reforming Resolution and Broadening Funding Access for Long-Term Resilience” - Tuesday, September 9 at 2:00 PM EST

  • The Senate Judiciary Privacy, Technology, and the Law Subcommittee holds a hearing to examine whistleblower allegations that Meta buried child safety research - Tuesday, September 9 at 2:30 PM EST

  • The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Space and Science Subcommittee holds a hearing to examine America's AI action plan - Wednesday, September 10 at 10:00 AM EST

Tech Events

Reply

or to participate

Keep Reading

No posts found

© 2025 Franklin Square Group Tech Weekly.

Privacy policy

Terms of use

Powered by beehiiv