With Donald Trump returning to the White House and the Senate passing into Republican hands, Republicans are poised to take control of technology policy.
The extent of this control still depends on the Chamber, where the results were still falling on Wednesday morning.
But Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who won re-election, is expected to become chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in the next Congress, an important position for policy decisions on artificial intelligence, data privacy data and other technology areas.
Cruz has generally supported narrow legislation to combat harms, such as those related to AI-generated pornography and a package of online safety measures for children, but he has been highly critical of the he Biden administration’s approach to AI regulation, as well as bipartisan legislation to create a federal data privacy standard.
Cruz said too much regulation could stifle innovation and cede U.S. technology leadership to China, calling instead for a hands-off approach that, according to an opinion piece he co-authored, would open up the path to “extraordinary economic growth and growth”. prosperity.”
The Republican Party’s 2024 agenda called President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI issued last year “dangerous,” saying it “hampers AI innovation and imposes radical left-wing ideas on the development of this technology. Instead, Republicans support AI development rooted in free speech and human flourishing.
The Republican platform pledges to revoke Biden’s order. It remains to be seen what this means for specific elements of the order already in place, such as the creation of the AI Safety Institute within the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Cruz’s more industry-friendly tech policies, however, could face opposition from within the Republican Party itself, particularly when it comes to AI regulation. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is a supporter of stricter regulations for tech companies.
Hawley joined forces with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, to propose a licensing regime for advanced AI models that would be managed by a federal agency. Companies developing such AI models would be required to register with the agency, which would have the power to audit the models and issue licenses.
Cruz also opposed an attempt to use auction proceeds to fund a Biden administration program to subsidize high-speed internet for low-income households. A measure proposed by the Commerce panel would set aside $7 billion for broadband Internet subsidies from revenues obtained by the Federal Communications Commission from the auction of a set of wireless bands. He faces challenges given opposition from Cruz.
In the house
If Republicans retain control of the House, as early results suggest Wednesday, that sets the stage for a leadership fight in the House Energy and Commerce Committee between Rep. Bob Latta, R- Ohio, and Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky.
The current chair, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., is retiring from Congress.
The committee’s jurisdiction spans several aspects of technology policy, including federal data privacy, children’s online safety, regulations governing social media platforms, and certain aspects of policy governing artificial intelligence technologies .
Guthrie declined an interview request, but Latta told CQ Roll Call in an interview that he favors federal privacy legislation that has been blocked in Congress, adding that state laws by State posed problems for companies that could not afford large teams of lawyers.
“We have all these different privacy laws across the country, but if you’re a small or medium-sized business, you’re going to say, ‘I can’t do that,'” Latta said. “So something needs to be done on the federal side.”
Latta said he also supports passing legislation to protect children from online harm.
Bipartisan federal data privacy legislation has not advanced in either chamber, and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, the committee’s top Democrat, has accused House Republican leaders of blocking the measure.
Regarding the data privacy and children’s online safety bills, Latta said he would prefer to divide them into smaller portions to get them over the finish line, such as separating provisions on brokers from data, rather than trying to adopt it in a single comprehensive measure. .
If Democrats regain control of the House, Pallone will become chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. He has pushed to enact federal data privacy legislation over the past two sessions, including a bipartisan measure to establish a national data standard that failed to gain a vote due to opposition from then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who said so. would provide fewer consumer protections than California’s data privacy law.
Frustrated by Congress’s failure to pass such legislation, Pallone called for restricting the protections social media companies enjoy under Section 230 of US law, which protects online platforms from content-related lawsuits. produced by individual users.
Pallone has also been a vocal advocate for measures to rein in data brokers. In March, the committee proposed a measure introduced by Rodgers and Pallone that would prohibit data brokers from selling location and health information about Americans to foreign adversaries.
Find unity
When it comes to AI policy, there is some bipartisan agreement.
The AI task force led by Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif., was created with the blessing of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. , would likely continue to work on legislation that would address the use of AI in specific sectors.
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee has already approved several bipartisan AI-related measures that have faced little opposition.
A bill sponsored by Obernolte and co-sponsored by Lieu and others would establish a center for the advancement and reliability of AI within the National Institute of Standards and Technology – essentially codifying it into law and renaming the AI Security Institute that the Biden administration launched at NIST.
The center’s mission would be to “create these standards and create benchmarks for assessments of advanced AI systems,” Obernolte said in September. “It is important to note that the standards that will be proposed by the center are both voluntary and consensus-based,” drawing on feedback from a broad consortium of stakeholders.
