Week of December 4, 2023
Welcome to December! While it is one of the most wonderful times of the year, it is also one of the busiest in Washington. Members are in the home stretch before the end-of-year recess, and got back to work on their must-pass legislation last week. That work continues this week as we expect to see final language on the NDAA, and the Ukraine-Israel funding bill, as well as possible immigration reforms and reauthorization of FISA Section 702 surveillance authorities.
Committees are also hard at work this week, wrapping up markups and hearings with final efforts to pass legislation before next year. This week we are tracking a full committee markup in House Energy and Commerce, where Members will vote on a whopping 44 bills.
We are keeping a keen eye on the final NDAA conference language, as well as several hearings including one in the House Oversight Cyber Subcommittee on the President’s AI priorities, one in House Energy and Commerce on NTIA oversight, and a hearing in House Financial Services Digital Assets Subcommittee on fintech innovation. We are also tracking movement in the Senate on children’s online safety measures and what we can expect, if anything, approaching the final weeks of session.
What We’re Watching:
What to Expect on NDAA: Conferees from both chambers began work last week on drafting final language for the FY24 NDAA, reconciling House and Senate-passed versions of the bill. While reconciled language is not yet available, Members have expressed openness to including many of the AI priorities included in both chambers’ measures as well as several cybersecurity measures. There have been some objections over inclusion or exclusion of certain priorities in the package. House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-NC) voiced opposition to the inclusion of outbound investment oversight language in the final bill, and aimed for inclusion of crypto regulatory measures as well. While Members are confident they will pass it prior to the end of the year, exact timing is uncertain due to a possible supplemental aid package for Ukraine and Israel funding.
House Oversight Explores White House AI Priorities: The House Oversight Cybersecurity Subcommittee will continue its AI work this week, holding a hearing on the White House’s AI policies. The hearing will likely focus on the President’s recent executive order laying out nearly 150 various directives on AI, both to government agencies as well as some to private industry. Subcommittee members are expected to ask questions regarding the Administration's work with private industry, as well as those around national security concerns and U.S. competitiveness against China. The EO also contains several provisions on the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, which Subcommittee Members are likely to highlight as well.
State of Play on Children’s Online Safety: The Senate Judiciary Committee announced that it had subpoenaed three tech CEOs including X’s Linda Yaccarino, Discord’s Jason Citron and Snap’s Evan Spiegel to testify at an upcoming hearing to examine tech companies’ role in creating harm to children online. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will also testify, but agreed to do so voluntarily. The hearing was originally scheduled for this week, but has been postponed to January 31, 2024. The hearing is seen as a move to continue the Committee’s push to pass children’s online safety legislation in the Senate, which has stalled since moving through the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Commerce Committee. The inclusion of smaller online platforms signals a departure from the traditional barrage on Big Tech, and that the Committee is seeking to broaden the parameters of children’s online activity. Timing for legislation remains unclear, as Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell recently announced that she was postponing action to hotline the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to address concerns from the LGBTQ+ community. But given this hearing announcement, the children’s online safety push will undoubtedly continue into next year.
What’s Happening This Week:
Tech Hearings
HFSC Subcommittee Hearing on Fintech - Tuesday, December 5 at 10:00 AM ET
Senate Judiciary Hearing on FBI Oversight - Tuesday, December 5 at 10:00 AM ET
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Hearing on NTIA Oversight - Tuesday, December 5 at 10:30 AM ET
House Energy and Commerce markup - Tuesday, December 5 at 2:00 PM ET
Senate Banking Hearing on Wall Street Oversight - Wednesday, December 6 at 9:30 AM ET
House Judiciary markup on FISA - Wednesday, December 6
House Oversight Cyber Subcommittee Hearing on White House Policy on AI - Wednesday, December 6 at 2:00 PM ET
Tech Events
The Brookings Institution - "Black women in AI: Building a more inclusive and equitable future" - Monday, December 4 at 2:00 PM ET
The Aspen Institute - "Talk Better About Artificial Intelligence: How to Have Informed & Productive Conversations" - Tuesday, December 5 at 12:00 PM ET
The Center for Strategic and International Studies - "Semiconductor Industry in the U.S. and Europe: Case for Chips Acts 2.0?" - Wednesday, December 6 at 10:00 AM ET
The Hill - "U.S. Healthcare's Annual Checkup" - Thursday, December 7 at 8:30 AM ET
The Washington Post Live - "Innovating and investing in artificial intelligence," part of its series on "The Futurist: The Rise of AI" - Thursday, December 7 at 9:00 AM ET
The Brookings Institution's Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy - "Requiring banks to hold more capital: Benefits and costs" - Tuesday, December 5 at 11:00 AM ET
Georgetown University's Paros Center for Financial Markets and Policy - "A Path Forward for Regulating Crypto Markets" - Thursday, December 7 at 12:00 PM ET
The Future of Privacy Forum - "Immersive Tech Panel Series: Kids & Teens" - Wednesday, December 6 at 11:00 AM ET
What’s Interesting This Week:
An Original Creator Debate…. On December 7, 1999, the Recording Industry Association of America sued the peer-to-peer file sharing service Napster alleging copyright infringement for allowing users to download copyrighted music for free. The RIAA would eventually win injunctions against Napster forcing the service to suspend operations and eventually file bankruptcy. In the end the RIAA and its members would settle with Napster’s financial backers for hundreds of millions of dollars.
