Swedish Prime Minister and Moderate Party Leader Ulf Kristersson will raise pausing the implementation of the EU AI Act at the European Council meeting this week in Brussels, his office confirmed to us Wednesday.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said Tuesday that it’s “time to have a real conversation and update the 1992 Cable Act,” a revamp that would likely take aim at retransmission consent, must-carry and network non-duplication rules, lobbyists said. The lawmaker announced plans to revisit the statute during a Media Institute event, saying it was part of a broader “modernization” of U.S. media laws, in tandem with the FCC Media Bureau’s move to seek comment on relaxing national broadcast-ownership limits (see 2506200052).
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough on Saturday cleared a revised version of Commerce Committee Republicans’ budget reconciliation proposal for a freeze on enforcing state-level AI rules in a way that backers claim doesn't directly threaten funding from NTIA’s $42.5 billion BEAD program (see 2506060029). However, Senate Democratic aides told us they believe it would still put all states’ BEAD allocations at risk. The measure is an apparent alternative to language in the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1) that would impose a 10-year federal preemption of such laws (see 2505220064).
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America and dozens of state and national-level trade groups representing shippers have signed a letter warning the heads of multiple federal agencies of potential supply chain disruptions that could result should tariff changes proceed as planned.
Senate Commerce Committee Democrats on Monday circulated updated text proposed by Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for an AI regulation moratorium (see 2506170054). The Senate Parliamentarian on Saturday approved the text under the Byrd rule, officially attaching the proposal to the budget reconciliation package.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America and dozens of state and national-level trade groups representing shippers have signed a letter warning the heads of multiple federal agencies of potential supply chain disruptions that could result should tariff changes proceed as planned.
Producing scrubs in Haiti allows American firms to avoid 29% tariffs on pants, 16% tariffs on tops, and still import the fabric from Asia. But the trade preferences for Haiti known as HOPE/HELP expire in three months and 11 days, and Republicans who control the voting calendar are not reassuring the companies that it will be renewed on time.
SpaceX is pushing back on concerns from GE Healthcare Technologies and the Aerospace and Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council (AFTRCC) regarding space launch use of the 2360-2395 MHz band. In a docket 13-115 opposition Tuesday to reconsideration petitions, SpaceX said launch operators need "robust and rapid access" to that upper S-band spectrum. There can be efficient coordination with wireless medical device facilities without reconsideration of the FCC's upper S-band rules, it said, and AFTRCC is proposing "unnecessary restrictions and complexity" on launch operations. The FCC in late December reallocated the 2360-2395 MHz band on a secondary basis for space launch operations (see 2412310029).
Market demand for ocean carriers from Asia to the U.S. West Coast has picked up as importers rush to beat any additional increases in tariff rates -- including potentially higher U.S. duties on goods from China, according to multiple sources.
The leaders of the House and Senate Communications subcommittees said Thursday they're reviving the bicameral USF revamp working group, which had paused its work on legislative recommendations last year amid uncertainty following the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in the Consumers' Research lawsuit against the program’s funding mechanism (see 2407300053). The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for its review of the case in March (see 2503260061). Working group members had considered melding the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program with USF’s Lifeline program and keeping the latter’s narrower eligibility rules (see 2404170066).