President Donald Trump and members of his administration appeared Friday to narrow the scope of their desires for a fourth major COVID-19 aid bill in response to a better-than-expected Labor Department jobs report. Democratic leaders later pushed back. Labor said the U.S. economy added 2.5 million jobs in May, a month after it lost 20 million. Trump believes the U.S. is now “largely through” the pandemic but still wants legislation to provide another round of stimulus checks to Americans, a payroll tax cut and other tax incentives. Trump said in March he wanted future COVID-19 legislation to include $2 trillion in infrastructure spending, including for broadband projects (see 2003310070). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. urged the Senate to pass the House-approved Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions. HR-6800’s broadband funding includes an $8.8 billion Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund and $5 billion for E-rate (see 2005130059). Trump “must join us to support real action to protect lives and livelihoods, rather than hide behind these jobs numbers and pretend that the job is done,” Pelosi said. “Now is not the time to be complacent or take a victory lap,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia summoned President Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr and acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin to defend the administration against the Center for Democracy & Technology’s First Amendment lawsuit (see 2006020071). The Tuesday summons (in Pacer) allows 60 days for response. DOJ didn’t comment.
The Federal Register published the executive order Tuesday from President Donald Trump that seeks to alter tech industry content moderation liability protections (see 2005280060 and 2006020071).
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is increasing scrutiny on transactions involving sensitive technologies, trade lawyers said. Companies are facing more CFIUS-related delays and a heavier involvement by political appointees as the Trump administration seeks to put more pressure on China, the lawyers said. Transactions by companies that operate in industries that don’t seem to affect national security are attracting CFIUS attention, said Dechert's Mark Thierfelder, on Friday's webinar hosted by the law firm. “Deals that we might have thought about as being simple from an approval process in prior years seem to be getting an increasingly harder look.” In areas that may be national security risks, companies should expect even more CFIUS scrutiny, especially with critical tech, said Neal Wolin, CEO of Brunswick Group and former CFIUS chair. This is partly due to the administration’s increased focus on tech competition with China and a heightened White House involvement in foreign direct investment matters, Wolin said. “The willingness of the White House to be engaged in and involved in these kinds of conversations … has increased,” he said. “There's a lot of focus and a lot of politics around these kinds of deals, so inevitably the work of the committee gets shaped by that broader political context.” The Treasury Department and the White House didn't comment Monday.
President Donald Trump issued a proclamation Friday suspending the entry into the U.S. to study or conduct research of any Chinese national who “either receives funding from or who currently is employed by, studies at, or conducts research at or on behalf of, or has been employed by, studied at, or conducted research at or on behalf of” a Chinese entity “that implements or supports” the Chinese government's “military-civil fusion strategy.” The proclamation exempts undergraduate students. The Chinese government uses “some Chinese students, mostly post‑graduate students and post-doctorate researchers, to operate as non-traditional collectors of intellectual property,” Trump said in the proclamation. “Thus, students or researchers from the [People’s Republic of China] studying or researching beyond the undergraduate level who are or have been associated with the [People’s Liberation Army] are at high risk of being exploited or co-opted by [Chinese government] authorities and provide particular cause for concern.” China's embassy in Washington pointed us to comments from a news conference with a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson. "For some time, the U.S. has been resorting to a series of negative and wrong words and deeds in people-to-people and cultural exchange with China," the spokesperson said. "It runs counter to the openness and freedom the U.S. claims to champion, to public opinion in the two countries, and to the trend of the times in international talent exchange."
The House voted 284-122 Thursday to request a conference with the Senate over the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act (see 2005270051). The Senate will need to vote to proceed to negotiations. House Democrats earlier Thursday withdrew plans to vote on the underlying bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blamed Republicans for prioritizing politics. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., withdrew consideration of the bill (see 2003110077): “The two-thirds of the Republican party that voted for this bill in March have indicated they are going to vote against it now. I am told they are doing so at the request of the president.” Pelosi noted House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, testified Wednesday in support of the bill. That was hours before President Donald Trump said he would veto the bill, prompting the GOP to withdraw support. Progressives also announced their opposition Wednesday. The office for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., didn’t comment now.
President Donald Trump threatened to “strongly regulate” or shut down social media platforms, citing political bias against conservatives a day after Twitter included fact-check warnings for a series of his tweets. “Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices,” he wrote Wednesday. “We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.” Social media companies don’t have anti-conservative bias and are rightly collaborating with civil society and government to combat online misinformation, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro said: “While there may be occasional missteps, the private sector has shown a tremendous commitment to addressing this problem in a fair and transparent manner.” Twitter didn’t comment. Computer and Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers raised free speech concerns, asking, “Are we a nation that tolerates its President threatening private enterprise for daring to contradict him?” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., tweeted that Trump’s “fear-mongering & conspiracy theory peddling is irresponsible, inexcusable, & authoritarian.” The First Amendment "significantly constrains any action the president could take to regulate social media platforms,” said American Civil Liberties Union Senior Legislative Counsel Kate Ruane. “The First Amendment also clearly prohibits the president from taking any action to stop Twitter from pointing out his blatant lies about voting by mail.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin worked closely with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on forced technology transfers in China, and Huawei is discussed on an interagency basis, Mnuchin told the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday. He responded to Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., asking why the government hasn't placed sanctions on Huawei. Sasse acknowledged that “Lighthizer has been a little bit of a pit bull,” saying “this is an increasingly bipartisan issue that Republicans and Democrats believe it's important to hold these faux private companies to account.” For other news in this issue on Huawei, see 2005200039.
President Donald Trump's administration is in a "wait-and-see mode" on whether it will back an additional COVID-19 aid bill, senior adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters Monday. The House voted 208-199 Friday to pass the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act (HR-6800), which includes emergency broadband funding. The chamber divided largely along party lines, with only one Republican -- Rep. Peter King of New York -- voting yes. Fourteen Democrats opposed the bill. HR-6800’s broadband funding includes an $8.8 billion Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund and $5 billion for E-rate (see 2005130059). The measure would raise minimum service standards for Lifeline service and includes language to make broadcasters and other local outlets eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program. It would repeal the 2012 spectrum law's mandate for public safety to move off the 470-512 MHz T band by 2021, which FCC Chairman Ajit Pai again urged Congress Friday to do (see 2005150053). "If the economy continues the momentum that we’re beginning to see over the last couple weeks of data, I think one might conclude the stimulus we already passed is enough," Hassett said. "It’s appropriate to at least wait until we see how those go and check on the state of economy before we spend taxpayers’ money" given the March enactment of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which also contained broadband funding (see 2003260063).