President Donald Trump signed off Thursday on the Agriculture Improvement Act farm bill (HR-2), which has several broadband provisions (see 1812120053) and includes a revamp of some Rural Utilities Service broadband funding requirements (see 1812110050). The law increases annual funding for RUS broadband grant programs to $350 million for 2019-23 and includes language from the Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act (HR-4881/S-2343) to establish a task force to identify connectivity gaps in agricultural areas. “This Congress we’ve been hard at work to expand broadband access, and the signing of this bill means giving millions of Americans the resources and opportunities many of us already enjoy,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. “Included in this farm bill are much-needed reforms that will ease regulatory barriers and better target broadband funds so we can increase access to broadband internet for our nation’s farmers and rural communities ... this legislation brings us one step closer to closing the digital divide.” GPS Innovation Alliance Executive Director David Grossman lauded enactment of the HR-4881/S-2343 language. “When broadband connectivity and GPS technology are combined together, our nation’s farmers win by being able to save time, money and unnecessary waste of critical resources,” he said.
The Senate unanimously passed legislation to establish minimum standards for federal websites (see 1811300039) Tuesday, clearing the way for President Donald Trump’s signature.
One-time Attorney General William Barr, whom President Donald Trump said Friday he will nominate to again hold that post, previously disputed DOJ Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim's own account of a meeting they both attended on AT&T's purchase of Time Warner. A three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel is reviewing Antitrust's challenge of the deal (see 1812060015). Barr, AG in President George H.W. Bush's administration, attended a November 2017 meeting with Delrahim and Time Warner General Counsel Paul Cappuccio as a member of that company's board. Barr previously was Verizon general counsel, and most recently has been at Kirkland & Ellis. Delrahim claimed Cappuccio threatened to “employ personal attacks to denigrate the integrity of the Antitrust Division and myself.” Barr disputed Delrahim's account as “inaccurate and incomplete” in a sworn statement filed with the D.C. Circuit. Delrahim “would not engage in a meaningful discussion” about a potential settlement to avoid a trial, Barr said. “No reasonable person could have misinterpreted Mr. Cappuccio’s comments as a threat that the companies would personally attack Mr. Delrahim or anyone else in the event of litigation.” DOJ and the White House didn't comment.
The White House will follow up Thursday’s tech executive meeting (see 1811300036) with additional tech-related gatherings, administration officials said during a news-media call speaking on condition they not be identified. Asked if Amazon, Apple and Facebook were invited Thursday, an official said she believed everyone who was invited attended. Apple CEO Tim Cook was floated as a potential participant for future meetings. Apple and Amazon didn’t comment. Facebook wasn't invited Thursday, a spokesperson said. Thursday’s attendees were said to have included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Rafael Reif, Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian, Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Administration participants included White House Deputy Chief of Staff-Policy Coordination Chris Liddell, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, National Economic Council Deputy Director-Economic Policy Shahira Knight and advisers Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Kevin Hassett. The meeting was to have focused on artificial intelligence, 5G and quantum computing.
Much of official Washington is closed Wednesday in honor of late President George H.W. Bush, 94, whose state funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. that day at the National Cathedral. The Copyright Office, FTC and NTIA will be closed, spokespeople told us, as will the FCC. Filings at the FTC and FCC won't be due Wednesday and now must be submitted Thursday. Dec. 5 won't "count in computing filing periods of less than seven days," said an FCC public notice. Items on commissioners' Dec. 12 meeting agenda can be lobbied on through Thursday, 24 more hours than under the usual sunshine period. The CO online registration system will remain available, its spokesperson said. Neither chamber of Congress will hold hearings for at least some of this week, and some votes may not occur. Among hearings that were scheduled before Bush's death and now postponed: Google CEO Sundar Pichai Wednesday at the House Judiciary Committee, and one of its subcommittees Tuesday with the heads of the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division. Thursday's House Communications Subcommittee hearing on the Ray Baum Act law is rescheduled for Dec. 11. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is closed Wednesday, the clerk's office said. President Donald Trump ordered federal "executive departments and agencies" closed that day. Their heads "may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty," Saturday's executive order said, "for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need." Wednesday's FCC Technological Advisory Council gathering was postponed. The Technology Policy Institute won't hold Wednesday's lunch event on privacy. The International Institute of Space Law emailed that its annual Galloway space law event goes on as planned Wednesday other than NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine canceling his keynote.
Executives from Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Oracle will meet at the White House Thursday to discuss American leadership in tech and innovation, said a government official: Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian and Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman will attend. The companies and organizations didn't comment.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai will testify at 10 a.m. Dec. 5 in 2141 Rayburn, the House Judiciary Committee said Wednesday (see 1809280041). The hearing will focus on “potential bias and the need for greater transparency regarding the filtering practices” of Google. Noting social media’s benefits, Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said platforms also can be “used to suppress particular viewpoints and manipulate public opinion.” Reports suggest Google “is compromising its core principles by complying with repressive censorship mandates from China,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. More than 300 Google employees are demanding the company abandon project Dragonfly (see 1810160022), which critics described as a censored Chinese version of Search. Employees no longer believe Google is willing to place values above profits, the group wrote, joining Amnesty International in opposition. “Our work on search has been exploratory, and we are not close to launching a search product in China,” a company spokesperson emailed.
The House passed Senate-amended legislation creating a new cybersecurity agency within the Department of Homeland Security, clearing the way for President Donald Trump’s signature (see 1808080044). The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act (HR-3359) establishes DHS’ National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) as a new agency prioritizing cyber and physical infrastructure security.
President Donald Trump signed legislation Wednesday allowing the Patent and Trademark Office to set patent and trademark fees for eight years. HR-6758 also requires the PTO director submit legislative recommendations to Congress “to increase the number of women, minorities, and veterans who participate in entrepreneurship activities and apply for patents.” The Senate had sent the law to Trump earlier this month after passing it under unanimous consent. The PTO study would be with the Small Business Administration.
CTA hired Akin Gump to draft a complaint that, if pursued in the U.S. Court of International Trade, would seek an injunction blocking tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports before they rise to 25 percent on Jan. 1, we learned from those familiar with the plans. The association is shopping the draft around with other anti-tariff trade groups, seeking legal and financial backing for a court challenge over the IP-related sanctions, they said. Association staffers briefed CTA members on the strategy during an annual conference two weeks ago in Boston (see 1810160041), we're told. Though CTA hasn’t persuaded another trade group to “step up to the plate yet,” there’s time to win backing because no court action would be contemplated before January, said one high-placed individual in CTA membership. We polled a half-dozen trade groups whose opposition to the tariffs is well-publicized to gauge their interest in joining the litigation. Few commented Monday, nor did CTA. The Telecommunications Industry Association said Monday it doesn't now "plan to join the litigation."