Congress has limited time to keep its word on tech legislation

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers have a handful of working days left and a lot of heavy lifting to keep their promises of enacting laws to protect kids online, expand affordable high-speed internet, regulate the use of artificial intelligence in elections and campaigns, and restore authority to auction wireless spectrum.

All four issues have seen some traction in the 118th Congress, yet each will require a concerted effort to pass, considering many members will soon be campaigning back in their districts ahead of the November election.

Just before the August recess, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass a package consisting of two kids online safety bills that had been under discussion for years, despite the objections of the tech industry, privacy advocates and digital rights groups.

The two measures embedded in the package include a bill sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and co-sponsored by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., that would require tech companies to design online platforms to prevent or mitigate harms to users, including sexual exploitation and online bullying.

The other bill in that package, sponsored by Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and co-sponsored by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., would prohibit online platforms from disseminating children’s personal information without obtaining a verifiable parental consent, effectively ending ads targeted at kids and teens. That bill would raise the age of children protected to 17 and under, from 12 currently.

There are matching House bills, including one that corresponds to the Blumenthal-Blackburn bill and is sponsored by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce. The companion to the Markey-Cassidy bill is sponsored by Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich.

A substitute amendment by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer that combined the Senate measures, however, made changes to both the Blumenthal and Markey bills approved by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, leaving it unclear how the House will deal with those additions.

Online privacy and other issues

A long-awaited federal data privacy bill that once appeared ready to move forward is instead in limbo. Optimism for passage grew in April when Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., announced an agreement on the legislation.

House Energy, however, abruptly canceled a scheduled markup of this bipartisan bill in late June, prompting Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., the top Democrat on the committee, to accuse House Republican leaders of blocking the measure.

Cantwell has said the cancellation was not an indication of widespread opposition.

The federal data privacy legislation has long been a priority, with Rodgers saying in March of last year that lawmakers are “going to get it done in this Congress.”

Also before the August recess, Senate Commerce advanced a bill as amended by Cantwell and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., that would set aside $7 billion for high-speed internet subsidies from the proceeds obtained by the Federal Communications Commission when auctioning a set of bands known as AWS-3.

The money would restore the Affordable Connectivity Program, created by Congress as part of the 2021 infrastructure law originally funded with $14.2 billion. The FCC program provided $30 a month to qualifying households for broadband internet and up to $75 for households living on tribal lands. About 23 million low-income households have received the subsidy, but the program ran out of money at the end of May.

Welch also is the sponsor of separate legislation aimed at restoring the Affordable Connectivity Program. The measure is co-sponsored by Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee.

The measure could face challenges, as some Republican lawmakers, including Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas, have opposed extending the program.

Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, D-N.Y., introduced the House version of Welch’s bill. It has more than 200 co-sponsors, including several Republicans.

The FCC’s auction authority ran out in March 2023.

Efforts to restore it have been stymied over concerns that freeing up wireless spectrum held by the Pentagon for commercial use could undermine military needs.

Just as with the federal privacy measure, the Senate Commerce Committee in June canceled markup of legislation sponsored by Cantwell that would extend the FCC auction authority. Cantwell blamed Cruz for the cancellation, attributing it to his objections over extending the internet subsidy program.

Cruz has his own spectrum bill with Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., without provisions that would spend auction proceeds as Cantwell’s bill would.

Two bipartisan bills sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., to address the deceptive use of AI in campaigns and elections were advanced by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee to the full Senate.

But an attempt by Klobuchar to seek unanimous consent for their passage before the August recess was opposed by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. Fischer said on the floor that one of the measures was “overly broad” and the other would restrict Americans’ right to free speech.

Outlook

House lawmakers could face pressure to pass the kids online safety package. The overwhelming Senate vote would prompt parents and children’s safety advocates to call for House passage as well, Blumenthal said in late July.

“I believe that in these next four weeks those parents and young people are going to be as effective with the House members as they were with senators,” Blumenthal said. House lawmakers “will come back to Washington as kids go back to school with the pleas of those young people and parents ringing in their ears.”

The federal data privacy measure, meanwhile, may see action in both chambers.

Cantwell has said that she plans to mark it up in committee, while House lawmakers — including Rodgers, who’s retiring from Congress — are likely to push for passage.

Schumer has said that passing federal data privacy legislation is fundamental to addressing challenges posed by artificial intelligence systems, making it appear likely he will place a priority on it.

Schumer has said that Klobuchar’s AI election measures have broad bipartisan support and are in line with recommendations made in the bipartisan Senate AI Roadmap, suggesting he is likely to push for passage of that as well.