Congress has a limited time to keep its word on technology legislation

Lawmakers have just a few days left in office, and they have a lot of work to do to make good on their promises. They must pass laws to protect children online, expand affordable high-speed internet, regulate the use of artificial intelligence in elections and campaigns, and restore the authority to auction wireless spectrum.

All four issues have received some attention in the 118th Congress, but it will take a concerted effort to get them all passed, as many members will soon be campaigning in their districts again in preparation for the November elections.

Just before the summer recess, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a package of two bills to protect children online that had been discussed for years, despite objections from the tech industry, privacy activists and digital rights groups.

The two measures included in the package include a bill introduced 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 limit harm 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 distributing children’s personal information without obtaining verifiable parental consent, effectively ending advertising targeted to children and teens. That bill would raise the age of protected children to 17 and under, from 12 currently.

There are companion bills in the House, including one that parallels 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.

However, a substitute amendment from Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, combining the Senate measures, made changes to the Blumenthal and Markey bills that had been approved by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, leaving it unclear how the House of Representatives will handle the additions.

Online Privacy and Other Issues

A long-awaited federal data privacy bill that once seemed poised for passage is in limbo. Optimism about passage grew in April when Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., announced a deal on the legislation.

However, House Energy abruptly canceled a planned 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 said the cancellation was not a sign of widespread opposition.

Federal data protection legislation has long been a priority. Rodgers said last March that lawmakers “are going to get it done in this Congress.”

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

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

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

The measure could face objections as some Republican lawmakers, including Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas, oppose 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 expired in March 2023.

Efforts to fix this have been stalled over concerns that freeing up wireless spectrum owned by the Pentagon for commercial use could undermine military needs.

As with the federal privacy measure, the Senate Commerce Committee in June killed the markup of legislation sponsored by Cantwell that would have extended the FCC’s auction authority. Cantwell blamed Cruz for the cancellation, attributing it to his objections to extending the Internet subsidy program.

Cruz, along with Republican Rep. John Thune, R-S.D., introduced their own spectrum bill that does not include provisions on how the auction proceeds would be spent, as Cantwell’s bill does.

Two bipartisan bills introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to address the deceptive use of AI in campaigns and elections have been sent to the full Senate by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.

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

Prospect

House lawmakers could come under pressure to pass the child online safety package. The overwhelming vote in the Senate would prompt parents and child safety advocates to push for House approval as well, Blumenthal said in late July.

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

The federal data protection measure can now be implemented in both chambers.

Cantwell has said she plans to debate the bill in committee, while lawmakers in the House of Representatives — including Rodgers, who is retiring from Congress — are likely to push for passage.

Schumer has said that passing federal data protection legislation is fundamental to addressing the challenges posed by artificial intelligence systems, and it appears he will make it a priority.

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