Senate Commerce Committee

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) unveiled his legislative directives for Senate Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill. The Commerce Committee’s reconciliation language will reduce deficits by more than $40 billion over a decade, rescind more than $1.4 billion in wasteful spending, revitalize the American economy, improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure, strengthen national security, and bolster domestic innovation and manufacturing.

Sens Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) called on the Trump Administration to immediately release the $42 billion allocated for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program as part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) condemned House Republicans’ spectrum auction plan as they advance it to the House floor as part of their reconciliation bill. The senator’s latest warning that the plan could jeopardize U.S. national defense and aviation safety systems came following a Trump social media post yesterday insisting the Republican majority auction 600 MHz regardless of concerns.

U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) celebrated the Senate passage of his resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which would repeal a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule expanding local control to schools and libraries, allowing them to use E-Rate funds to loan Wi-Fi hotspots to community members.

Sens Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Ed Markey (D-MA) called on the Federal Trade Commission to take action to protect Americans’ neural data from potential exploitation or sale, as brain-computer interface technologies rapidly advance. “These systems enable direct communication between an individual’s brain and external devices, such as computers or smartphones, by detecting and translating neural activity into commands,” the Senators wrote in a letter to FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson. “Unlike other personal data, neural data—captured directly from the human brain—can reveal m

Sen Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, called on Senate colleagues to reject Trump nominee Mark Meador for a spot on the Federal Trade Commission after firing the two Democratic Commissioners without cause and undermining the FTC’s independence and history of protecting consumers from fraud, scams and anti-competitive practices, free from political influence. “Ninety years ago, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law that affirmed that FTC Commissioners should be protected and removed only for cause,” 

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) is demanding answers from the artificial intelligence nonprofit, Future of Privacy Forum, over its having used federal grant money to advocate for states to adopt AI laws. Sen Cruz raises concerns about the group’s advocacy for AI regulations aligned with the Biden administration’s political agenda, such as policing speech and embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in AI code. He is also reviewing FPF’s federal grants amid concerns that the organization attempted to obscure its support for Biden’s AI regulatory agenda.