State of Play
The government is in shutdown mode following the lapse in federal funding last week.
The Senate will hold a fifth cloture vote tonight on the House-passed stopgap funding bill that funds the government through November 21, but only three Democrats including Senators Fetterman, Cortez Masto, and King, have said they will vote yes.
Driving the News
Republicans believe more Democrats will eventually cross over, or they’ll force additional votes later in the week. As shutdown impacts mount, Democrats must decide whether to keep holding out for extending enhanced ACA premium tax credits before reopening the government.
Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson has kept the House out of session for a second week, telling Republicans to stay home, with plans to return only if Senate Democrats fold.
The Senate is operating “business as usual” with several tech hearings this week. More on those below.
Three Things to Watch in Tech
Cruz Goes After Tech Censorship: The Senate Commerce Committee is set to hold a contentious hearing Wednesday to examine alleged government “jawboning” to pressure Big Tech to censor online speech.
The hearing is a follow up to Committee Chair Cruz’s recent report accusing CISA of secretly coercing platforms to suppress dissenting views, warning this sets a precedent for future AI speech controls, and will explore legislative reforms to prevent government-driven censorship.
Members will hear from a variety of witnesses, including journalists, industry stakeholders, and academics, on the ways federal influence has affected free speech activities online, likely teeing up partisan debate amongst Senators.
Patent Eligibility in the Spotlight: The Senate Judiciary Committee’s IP Subcommittee will hold another hearing on the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA). The bill would significantly expand patent eligibility, overruling several supreme court cases.
The hearing is a re-tread of several past PERA hearings, with two panels heavily weighted towards supporting the legislation, despite opposition from a wide array of industries.
Expect PERA supporters to argue for expanded eligibility as a way to protect US artificial intelligence technology., while Industries opposed to PERA will argue that strong AI patents are already being issued and expanding patent ability will only lead to AI junk patents and unnecessary litigation.
It is unclear whether the committee will bring PERA up for a vote this year as there remain many concerns on both sides of the aisle as well as among industry.
AI Lends a HELPing Hand: The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing Thursday to examine the ways in which AI can improve support to patients, workers, children, and families.
The broad nature of the hearing will allow Members to reach several issue areas AI has impacted thus far, notably in patient care and workforce protections.
Witnesses also reflect the broad nature of the hearing, including individuals from Stanford, American Enterprise Institute, Boston College, Axia Media, and UNITE HERE Local 26.
The hearing notably follows a recent inquiry from Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who sent letters to leading AI companies on mitigating harms of the technology for children. In conjunction with Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), they are seeking answers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Character.AI, and Alphabet, on potential dangers of AI for children, particularly through the use of chatbots.
🏛️ Tech Hearings
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee holds a markup including the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act and the PIPELINE Safety Act of 2025 - Wednesday, October 8 at 10:00 AM EST
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee holds a hearing on "Shut Your App: How Uncle Sam Jawboned Big Tech Into Silencing Americans" - Wednesday, October 8 at 10:30 AM EST
The Senate Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee holds a hearing to examine the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act - Wednesday, October 8 at 2:30 PM EST
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee holds a hearing on "AI's Potential to Support Patients, Workers, Children, and Families" - Thursday, October 9 at 10:00 AM EST
🗓️ Upcoming Events
The Government Executive Media Group's NextGov and the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center - Public Sector Health Summit - Wednesday, October 8 at 8:00 AM EST
Punchbowl News - Discussion on "America's 5G Leadership” - Wednesday, October 8 at 9:00 AM EST
CyberNextDC 2025 - Wednesday, October 8 at 9:30 AM EST
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research - Virtual Discussion on "Policing the Public Interest and Broadcast Content at Today's FCC" - Wednesday, October 8 at 10:00 AM EST
Mozilla - Meetup on “The Future of Competition: How to Save the Open Web” - Wednesday, September 8 at 4:00 pm EST
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies - Virtual Discussion on "Everyone v. AI: Navigating the New Regulatory and Legal Battleground” - Thursday, October 9 at 1:00 PM EST
The Government Executive Media Group - Virtual Discussion on “Smarter Systems, Safer Missions: Enabling AI Through Unified Cybersecurity" - Thursday, October 9 at 2:00 PM EST
