Karl Herchenroeder

President Donald Trump’s 2021 budget request for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, representing a 30% cut, is disappointing, House Research and Technology Subcommittee Chair Haley Stevens, D-Mich., said during a hearing Wednesday. About $1.1 billion was enacted in 2020 for NIST, and the president has requested $738 million for 2021. The budget is demoralizing to NIST employees, said Stevens. Ranking member Jim Baird, R-Ind., highlighted NIST’s role in establishing a national strategy for artificial intelligence. He is pleased to see the president request doubling NIST investment in AI. NIST Director Walter Copan testified the agency is focused on addressing fundamental use of AI to make sure it’s trustworthy and explainable and to make sure it’s engaged broadly. NIST continues to work with industry, government and academia to establish governing principles, he said.

If Congress won’t pass Section 230 legislation for combating child exploitation (see 2003090065), the alternative is a liability protection carve-out, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Wednesday after a committee hearing. He introduced legislation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that would alter the Communications Decency Act section. Companies would have to comply with best practices for filtering child abuse content or face lawsuits from victims. The legislation would establish a commission of government officials, industry representatives and experts to certify best business practices.

Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Cory Booker (N.J.) introduced legislation Tuesday that would require dominant companies to prove their exclusionary conduct doesn’t harm competition. Klobuchar, ranking member of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, announced the legislation during a subcommittee hearing (see 2003090037). Yelp Senior Vice President-Public Policy Luther Lowe said he knows dozens and dozens of CEOs who don’t speak publicly about Google’s anticompetitive behavior due to fear of retaliation.

The Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee will explore site blocking as a form of internet piracy prevention, Chairman Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told us Tuesday after a hearing. Ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., said he’s “open to it,” and it needs to be weighed against the speech concerns.

Technology stakeholders will take on Google and other major tech companies at a Tuesday hearing, according to written testimony we got in advance. Google’s self-serving search results give consumers objectively lower quality information, especially in the local search market, Yelp Senior Vice President-Public Policy Luther Lowe plans to tell the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Tuesday (see 2003020068). Google defended itself.

Congress should do its job and legislate privacy, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Thursday, in response to a question about remarks from Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. The Republicans said Wednesday there’s currently no path forward for privacy talks (see 2003040052).

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced long-anticipated legislation Thursday (see 2002070052) that would alter Section 230, exposing online platforms to civil liability for violating child sexual abuse material-related laws. The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (Earn It Act) was introduced with Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. Additional sponsors are Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Doug Jones, D-Ala.; Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Bob Casey, D-Pa., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Senate Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced legislation Wednesday that would ban the use of TikTok by all federal employees on government devices. “Do we really want Beijing having the geolocation data of all federal employees, having their keystrokes?” he asked reporters after a subcommittee hearing.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer should leave Section 230-like protections out of future trade deals, House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said during a hearing Wednesday. She wrote a letter to Lighthizer last week, joining House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., with the same request (see 1908060064).

Millions of small businesses are faced with overwhelming and unfair tax compliance burdens because of the Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision (see 1807240040), said House Small Business Subcommittee Chairman Andy Kim, D-N.J. Ranking Republican Kevin Hern, Oklahoma, cited impacts on small-business owners in his state, during Tuesday’s hearing. Halstead Bead Finance Director Brad Scott said his Arizona company has spent $183,000 and more than 3,800 hours to collect less than $80,000 in sales tax. FindTape.com is registered in 30 states, which costs $600 monthly, testified President Kevin Mahoney. The bigger issue is the time it takes to reconcile the filings, typically about one or two days a month, he said. About half the states have followed South Dakota’s threshold of “more than $100,000 in sales or at least 200 separate transactions to the in-state market, while the other half adopted different thresholds,” said Grant Thornton Principal Jamie Yesnowitz, for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. South Dakota helped spark the court case. A lack of uniformity impairs business growth, said Yesnowitz. It has taken a year to comply and register and $75,000, said K-Log Vice President Linda Lester. Witnesses sought a uniform national standard.