Week of September 5, 2023

The end of August marks the start of football season, pumpkin-spice season, and most notably the end of summer congressional recess. Fortunately, it is a short week and we are off to a slower start as the House does not return until next week, but the Senate is hitting the ground running with a packed schedule. 

Washington continues to focus on all things AI as Majority Leader Schumer kicks off his Insight Forum series next week, bringing in leading AI experts to advise congress on a legislative path towards regulation. We are also keeping an eye on children’s privacy initiatives in the Senate. With federal spending to run out in just a few short weeks, it remains to be seen what legislation will receive priority on the floor. Below we provide a forecast of what we might expect this next work period.

What We’re Watching: 

  • The Whole-of-Government AI Effort: Congress and the Administration are continuing to rapidly educate themselves on AI issues and starting to explore substantive ways to regulate AI technologies. Senate Majority Leader Schumer announced last week the first of his nine Insight Forums on September 13 to bring together private industry, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders to explore legislative proposals to regulate AI. The Administration is expected to release an executive order on AI to develop a risk-based approach to addressing AI harms as well as provide guidance to federal agencies on how to best implement new AI tech.

  • Will Congress Move on Children's Privacy and Protection?: Prior to the August recess the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Commerce Committee passed a number of bills that would add safeguards around children’s online privacy, including the Kids’ Online Safety Act (KOSA), the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), and the STOP CSAM Act. Both Commerce Chair Cantwell (D-WA) and Judiciary Chair Durbin (D-IL) are still expected to try to push their legislative priorities across the finish line, but it remains to be seen if Schumer will bring these bills to the floor. There is a sense of deja vu on KOSA and COPPA 2.0, where the bills rested in the same spot last congress. But even if the legislation passes the Senate, they face a long road ahead in the House, where talks of comprehensive privacy legislation have stalled.

  • Congress’ Must Pass Legislation: Despite there being 25 days before federal funding runs out, Congress also has a number of other must-pass legislative priorities before the end of the year including its annual appropriations measures and the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes substantial investments for federal AI research initiatives, cybersecurity, and other tech priorities. According to the House Rules Committee, appropriations spending measures on Defense, State-Foreign Operations, and Homeland Security could make a floor appearance in the coming weeks when the they are back in session. Several other measures remain in wait, however, and the reconciliation processes between both chambers are sure to be arduous. In the meantime, House and Senate leadership are focused on a stop-gap measure to fund the government past September 30.

What’s Happening This Week:

Tech Hearings

  • Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on AI advances at the DOE - Thursday, September 7 at 10:00 AM ET

Tech Events

What’s Interesting This Week:

Just “Archie” It…. On September 10, 1990, the first Internet search engine, Archie, was launched. It was used to index FTP archives to make finding files easier. However, as the technology for the World Wide Web was not invented until later in the year, it was not the first web search engine.

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