Senate Commerce Committee members Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., urged Congress Monday to advance their Defend Our Networks Act (S-1245), closing a $3.08 billion funding gap for the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Filed last year, the bill would reallocate 3% of unspent and unobligated funding from the FY 2021 appropriations omnibus, the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act and other COVID-19 aid packages to make up rip-and-replace's deficit (see 2304210069). Other lawmakers are eyeing directly appropriating the funding amid stalled work on a spectrum legislative package that some hoped could use future FCC auction revenue to repay a proposed loan (see 2311070050). Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., recently proposed paying for rip and replace by authorizing the FCC to reauction the 197 AWS-3 licenses that Dish and affiliated designated entities returned to the agency last year after it denied them $3.3 billion in bidding credits (see 2401240001). “Nearly all of the 85 companies that received approval by the FCC for costs to rip and replace the untrusted equipment are still waiting for their full federal reimbursement,” Fischer and Hickenlooper said in an opinion piece in The Hill. “Communications providers, many of them smaller companies, can’t pay to replace these technologies without help.” Absent more federal funding, “they’ll either refrain from ripping it out or will be forced to shut down parts or all of their networks,” the senators wrote: “We need telecom companies to remove China’s surveillance infrastructure [from cell towers] and replace it with secure equipment, but we can’t force these critical businesses to go broke in the process.” They cited China's spy balloons flying over the U.S. last year as a “sobering surveillance threat. The urgency of its removal cannot be understated.”

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines should direct intelligence agencies to limit purchases of data about Americans when collection of the data meets FTC standards, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote in a letter Thursday. Wyden released documents he said confirm that the NSA “buys Americans’ internet records, which can reveal which websites they visit and what apps they use.” He noted the FTC issued a recent order (see 2401090081) holding “that data brokers must obtain Americans’ informed consent before selling their data.” The federal government shouldn’t be “funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans’ privacy are not just unethical, but illegal,” Wyden wrote. “To that end, I request that you adopt a policy that, going forward, IC elements may only purchase data about Americans that meets the standard for legal data sales established by the FTC.” He urged the DNI to direct agencies to inventory purchased data, determine whether it meets FTC standards, and purge whatever doesn’t. DNI didn’t comment.

AI is valuable for police investigations but carries civil liberty and privacy risks, Senate Criminal Justice Subcommittee Chairman Cory Booker, D-N.J., and ranking member Tom Cotton, R-Ark., agreed Wednesday. The subcommittee discussed AI as a tool in investigations and prosecutions during a hearing. Booker and Cotton didn’t announce legislation on the topic. Instead, they discussed AI's benefits generally, including in facial recognition tools, license plate scanners, gunshot identification and financial crimes tools. Booker admitted he doesn’t always agree with Cotton but said the ranking member is “intellectually honest.” Booker raised concerns about the increased prevalence of surveillance technology in minority communities, saying people living in those areas are more likely to encounter video surveillance and physical stops. He asked whether police can empathize with those concerns. However, Miami Assistant Police Chief Armando Aguilar said video surveillance is “an accepted part of life for all communities throughout” the country. Aguilar claimed the U.S. is second to China in the number of video cameras the average citizen encounters daily, and “most cameras” are owned by private individuals, not government. AI technology is crucial to police departments, and many crimes would go unsolved without it, he said. Cotton said AI technology has helped lead to a faster, more efficient and accurate criminal justice system. Cotton highlighted the benefits of AI technology in child sexual abuse cases, noting how facial recognition helps identify predators.

Senate Telehealth Working Group co-Chair Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and nine other lawmakers urged the Department of Health and Human Services to “work with Congress to ensure that all Medicare beneficiaries have permanent access to telehealth services before the temporary waivers expire on December 31, 2024.” Lawmakers have long supported proposals making permanent the current temporary lift enacted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2008170064) of some restrictions on Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services and coverage of those services at federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics. “Enacting permanent telehealth legislation will require collaboration between HHS and Congress in the year ahead,” Schatz and the lawmakers said in a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “We urge you to communicate to Congress and the public the authorities, appropriations, resources, and other supports needed to achieve this goal.” 2024 will be “a pivotal year for telehealth policy, and it is critical that we enact long-term legislation” before year’s end, the lawmakers said: “Telehealth is a cost-effective way to improve access to care, especially for rural and underserved communities. Telehealth also allows patients to choose a medical provider that best suits their personal medical needs. Medicare beneficiaries have come to rely on expanded access to telehealth and are satisfied with the care they have received. We must provide patients and clinicians long-term certainty about access to care through telehealth.” Others signing the letter included Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif.

House Administration Committee ranking member Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., urged the DOJ Monday to investigate reports “that a party or parties unknown are attempting to confuse and disenfranchise New Hampshire voters using AI-generated robocalls” impersonating President Joe Biden ahead of the state’s Tuesday presidential primary election. The office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella is investigating the robocall, in which an AI-generated voice mimicking Biden says that “it’s important that you save your vote for the November election” and that voting in the Tuesday primary “only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.” New Hampshire’s Tuesday Democratic contest is nonbinding, but the GOP primary will award 22 delegates to candidates on a proportional basis. “This clear bid to interfere in the New Hampshire primary demands a thorough investigation and a forceful response from federal officials to deter further AI-based attacks that will disrupt American democracy and disenfranchise American Voters,” Morelle said in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. “If Congress can strengthen law enforcement’s ability to detect and prevent AI-based attempts to subvert our elections, we look forward to working with you to identify and achieve any meaningful and well-defined standards to protect our democracy.” DOJ didn’t immediately comment.

President Joe Biden signed off Friday on a continuing resolution (HR-2872) that averts a partial government shutdown, as expected (see 2401180057), the White House said. The CR funds the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service through March 1. In addition, it funds the FCC, FTC, NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and the DOJ Antitrust Division through March 8.

President Joe Biden is expected to sign a continuing resolution (HR-2872) that would fund the FCC, FTC, NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and the DOJ Antitrust Division through March 8. Congress passed the measure Thursday. The House voted 314-108 for HR-2872, which would fund the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service through March 1. The Senate earlier voted 77-18 to approve the measure. The CR, if signed, would avert a partial government shutdown that would otherwise begin late Friday night. The previous CR Congress passed in November funded the FCC, FTC, Commerce and DOJ through Feb. 2, while USDA's appropriation would have expired Friday night (see 2311160070).

First Amendment questions are lingering when it comes to censoring online chatbots, even when they encourage users to kill themselves, a tech industry executive told the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pressed Information Technology Industry Council General Counsel John Miller about an online user who took his life after interacting with an online chatbot that encouraged him to do so. Hawley argued individuals and their families, including parents of young users, should be able to sue tech companies for such incidents. Miller said companies don’t want chatbots “doing those sorts of things,” but AI is responsible for a lot of good. The technology has been useful in cancer research, for example, he said. Asked if companies should be sued for AI's negative impacts, Miller said, “Under the current law, that’s probably not allowable,” alluding to Communications Decency Act Section 230, which has enabled technological innovation and which the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld, Miller said. Hawley asked Miller if he would support legislation the senator sponsored with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act. The proposed law would clarify that Section 230 doesn’t apply to claims based on generative AI activity (see 2306150059). Miller said he hasn’t reviewed the bill but argued there are “other equities at play in this discussion,” including the First Amendment. Hawley asked Miller if a chatbot encouraging a teenager to kill himself is First Amendment-protected speech: “Is that your position?” Miller said it’s not his position, but “I don’t think the question’s been resolved.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D), Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker (R) and more than 170 other U.S. cities' leaders urged House and Senate leaders Tuesday to “renew and extend” funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program, which is expected to exhaust its current $14.2 billion allocation in April. Last week, the FCC began initial steps to wind down ACP, with the Wireline Bureau declaring it would freeze new enrollments Feb. 8 (see 2401110072). Also, last week, a group of lawmakers filed the ACP Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) in a bid to infuse $7 billion for FY 2024 into the program (see 2401100056). ACP “has been a key tool in our efforts to eliminate the digital divide in America” since Congress first authorized it via the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and it “has wide support,” the U.S. Conference of Mayors said in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and their respective minority leaders. “From Democrats to Republicans, to rural and urban areas, to the telecommunications industry and all levels of government,” ACP “is recognized by all as successful.” Extending the program “will help close the digital divide, allow Americans to access the resources they need, and strengthen the U.S. economy to compete in the 21st Century,” the mayors said in the letter.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and Senate Agriculture Rural Development Subcommittee Chairman Peter Welch, D-Vt., led filing Wednesday of the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act to give the initiative stopgap funding through the rest of the year, as expected (see 2401090074). The measure would allocate ACP $7 billion for FY 2024, mirroring an earlier draft of the measure Clarke circulated in recent weeks. The FCC estimates the program could exhaust its original $14.2 billion appropriation in April. Congress’ appetite for providing the program more money remains in question given misgivings among top Republicans on the House and Senate Commerce committees (see 2312210074), although several Republicans signed on as ACP Extension Act sponsors at filing: Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio), Sen. Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), and New York Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler and Marc Molinaro. The measure “provides a transformative opportunity to bridge the gap of the digital divide for communities of color, urban and rural families, and so many more underserved Americans,” Clarke said in a statement. “Access to high-speed internet isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s a necessity,” Welch said. “That’s why it’s never been so important to avoid this funding cliff and extend the ACP.” Welch’s office cited support from more than 400 companies, groups and other entities, including FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and her fellow Democratic Commissioners Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks. In addition, several major ISPs and related industry groups are backing the measure: AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox Communications, Incompas, NTCA, T-Mobile, USTelecom, Verizon, Wireless Infrastructure Association and WTA. Others supporting the ACP Extension Act: the AFL-CIO, American Civil Liberties Union, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Communications Workers of America, Fiber Broadband Association, Free Press, NAACP, Pew Charitable Trusts and Public Knowledge.