Bipartisan legislation introduced Thursday would require federal agencies to incorporate the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s AI risk management framework into their AI-related operations. Introduced by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the Federal Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Act would establish guidelines for how the federal government uses AI technology. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., will introduce companion legislation in the House. Agencies aren’t currently required to use the framework to manage AI systems.

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., won't seek reelection for his sixth term in the House, he announced Wednesday. Buck was a key partner for Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., in advancing tech-related antitrust legislation. He and Cicilline, who retired in May, held the top seats on the House Antitrust Subcommittee. Buck was removed as top Republican when House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, took the gavel (see 2302020069). Buck in his announcement accused Republican leadership of “ignoring self-evident truths about the rule of law and limited government in exchange for self-serving lies.”

House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, are pressing Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city’s Office of Unified Communications for a briefing by Nov. 17 on recent 911 system problems, including long hold times and insufficient staffing (see 2310050062). The District of Columbia enacted additional 911 transparency legislation last week despite resistance from Bowser (see 2310270054). “Slow responses, missed calls, and staffing shortages have had tragic consequences and will continue to endanger lives unless remedied,” Latta and Rodgers said in a letter to Bowser released Tuesday. OUC “has a record of grave mistakes that have contributed to the deaths of adults, children, and animals. The OUC sent firefighters to the wrong address for a report of a newborn in cardiac arrest, canceled a call for service about a child unconscious in a hot car, and mischaracterized a handful of emergency calls.” D.C. “recently reached a staggering 200 homicides for this year, further emphasizing the importance of accurate and rapid emergency medical services (EMS) response,” the GOP lawmakers said. Bowser and OUC didn’t comment.

The U.S. needs to spend at least $32 billion annually in nondefense money to maintain its lead in AI innovation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Wednesday. Schumer offered key takeaways from his latest all-Senate AI forum, which he hosted Tuesday (see 2310240057). He noted the $32 billion estimate came from the National Security Commission on AI’s 2021 report. “Just about everybody in the room” at Tuesday’s forum “agreed that $32 billion is really a floor, not a ceiling,” said Schumer. “So, we're going to need -- if we want to stay No. 1 in AI, if we want to get our arms around it, if we want to make sure the good is maximized and the bad is minimized -- we're going to need significant federal dollars.”

Stakeholders on and off Capitol Hill in the fight over how wireless carriers’ operations on the C band would affect aviation safety hailed the Senate’s 98-0 confirmation Tuesday night of Michael Whitaker as FAA administrator. The FAA has improved its interagency cooperation with the FAA on C-band issues after the debate heated up in late 2021 (see 2112220038). Wireless carriers agreed earlier this year to extend protection for flight operations from some C-band deployments until Jan. 1, 2028 (see 2304030070). The FAA has “a lot to do,” including on aviation “technology upgrades,” and “Whitaker is the right person to lead” the agency, said Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. The Wireless Infrastructure Association “is working closely with the FAA to promote the safe and efficient expansion of wireless service in and around airports,” the group said in a statement: “We look forward to continuing our growing partnership with the agency under his leadership to ensure the dual goals of air safety and expanded wireless connectivity.” Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Airlines for America also hailed Whitaker’s confirmation.

The House's election Wednesday of Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., as speaker drew praise from broadcasters and other communications sector stakeholders. The chamber voted 220-209 along party lines for Johnson over Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. Johnson was the Republicans' fourth nominee after Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota (see 2310240039). Johnson, a former conservative radio host, is a past Republican Study Committee chairman. His “leadership will be vital as the House returns to work to confront the numerous challenges we face as a country,” said NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt in a statement. Johnson “has consistently demonstrated a deep understanding of the vital role broadcasters play in our communities. We look forward to continuing to work together to advance policies that support the lifeline service and trusted journalism broadcasters provide to the public.” Broadband “providers congratulate” Johnson “as we continue our work together to eliminate roadblocks to deployment so we can connect all communities as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter. Johnson participated in a June amicus brief from Republican lawmakers in support of the petitioners in Loper Bright v. Raimondo urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the contemporary Chevron deference doctrine (see 2307240050).

A 25% cut to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s $3 billion budget would be “catastrophic,” and foreign adversaries would exploit federal agencies, CISA Executive Assistant Director Eric Goldstein told House Homeland Security Committee members Wednesday. More than 100 House Republicans in September unsuccessfully tried to cut CISA’s budget by 25%. President Joe Biden’s $3 billion request for fiscal 2024 is an increase of about 18% from the $2.6 billion enacted for fiscal 2022 and an increase of about 5% from the $2.9 billion enacted for 2023. During a House Cybersecurity Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, ranking member Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., asked Goldstein about the potential for a government shutdown and the 25% cut. A “significant cut to our budget would be catastrophic,” said Goldstein. CISA wouldn’t be able to sustain core functions across the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Program and Shared Cybersecurity Services, he said: Collaboration with federal agencies would drop off, and adversaries would “exploit those gaps.” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Goldstein he has never heard a bureaucrat say a significant budget cut wouldn’t be “catastrophic,” regardless of whether it’s 25% or 5%. “Sometimes you can sustain some cuts if you look deep enough,” said Gimenez. “It seems to me that whatever you do, however secure you think you’re going to be, someone’s always going to crack you. Am I off on that? Someone’s always going to find a way, if they really want to, to get through the system. Is that true or not true?” Goldstein said cybercriminals are “opportunistic,” and adversaries “want to find a network to break into.” If CISA can make it “as hard as possible” to breach the most important agencies, adversaries will shift their focus, he said. If there’s a government shutdown, Goldstein said, CISA can maintain its core functions, but strategic and systematic work to engage agencies to deploy technology “will be on hold.”

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota dropped out Tuesday as the Republican caucus' nominee for speaker just hours after the conference selected him at the end of five rounds of voting that revealed ongoing divisions within the party. Twenty-six Republicans indicated during the caucus meeting they wouldn’t vote for Emmer on the floor, including 15 who committed to instead back former GOP nominee and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio (see 2310200067). Reports Tuesday afternoon indicated Emmer dropped out of the running after former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Emmer was a “RINO,” the acronym for “Republican in name only.” Emmer formed the Congressional Broadcasters Caucus in 2020 and last year pressed the FCC to better explain its proposed regulatory fee increase for that industry (see 2208150055). House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington made the speech nominating the runner-up against Emmer, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. House Commerce member Gary Palmer of Alabama (see 2310230061) withdrew as a contender before the Republicans began voting.

House Commerce Committee member Gary Palmer of Alabama announced Sunday he would seek the Republican caucus’ speaker nomination, a race that will pit him against Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and seven other candidates. Palmer and the other hopefuls were expected to speak Monday afternoon at a caucus meeting. The Republicans will vote Tuesday on a new nominee to replace Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, whose candidacy ended last week (see 2310200067). Palmer, who joined House Commerce in the last Congress, led filing in 2021 of the Standard Fees to Expedite Evaluation and Streamlining Act, one of the Republicans’ package of broadband permitting measures (see 2102160067).

Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., urged the FCC to act on its “long-standing pole attachment proceeding” looking at a 2020 NCTA petition for clarification on pole replacements in unserved areas (see 2007170023). The commission issued a declaratory ruling in 2021 that didn’t act on the petition but clarified that charging the entire cost of a pole replacement to a requesting attacher when the attacher isn't the sole cause of the replacement is “unreasonable and inconsistent” with the Communications Act Section 224 (see 2101190027). The FCC also has an open further NPRM on pole attachment rules it began in 2022 (see 2207130057). The “record is complete and the time is right for the Commission to act in a unanimous fashion,” Capito said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that circulated Friday. In “hard to serve regions of the country, broadband networks are dependent on access to an existing and long established network of utility poles,” but “the process for obtaining timely and reasonable access to poles is too often obstructed due to a number of factors such as workforce shortages and pole owners that are seeking to offer broadband services and receive” federal funding, Capito said: “Absent prompt attention” from the FCC “to act quickly on pending issues before it” like the pole attachment proceeding, “likely will result in missed deadlines and timelines for network construction, as well as changes to deployment plans that will mean that millions of Americans without broadband will have to wait even longer.”