Ben Brody
@BenBrodyDC
Technology reporter @PunchbowlNews. Formerly @mlexclusive, @Protocol (RIP), @business and more. Not the war photographer.
SCOOP: Sen Booker brought Aaron Parnas to Dem lunch to push them to join TikTok. Staff were encouraged to use personal devices to create official accts to circumvent federal ban on gov devices Booker staff said Rules Cmte OK’d, but many left mtg alarmed punchbowl.news/archive/72325-…
#RecessWatch
President Donald Trump has asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune to cancel the August recess in order to confirm his nominees. At Tuesday's Punchbowl News event, @SenMarkey told @BenBrodyDC that he plans to oppose every GOP nominee on the floor.
In a conversation with Punchbowl News Tech Reporter @BenBrodyDC on Tuesday, @SenMarkey highlighted the need for Congress to pass his legislation that would extend social media protections that already exist for kids to teens.
Busy day at Energy & Commerce. We spotted @sama exiting Republican staff office. He was on the phone as he left the building so I got no Qs in. Also saw former Chair Walden hanging out outside the hearing room (where they’re marking up NIL)
Today the @WhiteHouse released America’s AI Action Plan to win the global race and ensure all Americans reap the benefits of AI technologies. We need to OUT-INNOVATE our competitors, BUILD AI & energy infrastructure, and EXPORT American AI around the world. Visit…
A group of nearly 90 parents whose children died due to “online harms” are urging John Thune to schedule a floor vote on the Kids Online Safety Act. @BenBrodyDC has the details: punchbowl.news/article/tech/t…
Brian Schatz will support the procedural vote on MilCon-VA bill. “I'm going to vote for it because I criticized them for abandoning the bipartisan process and this is a very, very small step in the right direction”
Whip notice says last House votes are 3:30 pm TOMORROW before lawmakers depart for August recess:
Bill Gates is in the Senate. Declined to answer my complex question, “What are you up to on the Hill?”
Markey says he's drafting legislation to address TikTok's national security and privacy issues to "find the sweet spot" to keep the app running in the US
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Markey says he's looking at the SCOTUS age-verification decision to find a "pathway" for federal legislation
"I'm always hopeful, it's my nature. Am I optimistic? I don't know," Markey says about passing kids safety bills
Recess watch!
Markey says he'll oppose every Republican nominee, and said he's curious to see if the GOP can convince their families it's a good idea to stay in DC all through August to confirm Trump nominees
This is going to be a deep dive on a topic I know a lot of my followers are watching very closely
Tune in at 9:30!!! @BenBrodyDC will be interviewing @SenMarkey on all things online safety for kids + plenty fo news of the day.
But Thune said members want to go home to sell OBBB “This is time of year when they go back and interact with their constituents” “I think the message about delivering the message about our accomplishments is something that our members are anxious to get out there and do”
Thune latest on canceling August recess, per Trump’s request: “We’re thinking about it. We want to get as many noms through the pipeline as we can.” “we're going to be looking at all the options in the next weeks to try and get as many of those across the finish line as we can”
I'm quite sure these are not the solutions the right will want. It continues to be weird this space is mostly a policy vacuum, though. AI companies themselves say this is a coming issue, and polls say voters are worried
The biggest economic issue that no one is talking about: AI is projected to replace 12 million jobs in the next decade. Americans say they're worried about it. But no national politician has a plan for it. A new piece with some ideas, from me, Zoe Jacobs, and Diego Haro. 1/
A report in @propublica had raised some real concerns on the Hill
In response to concerns raised earlier this week about US-supervised foreign engineers, Microsoft has made changes to our support for US Government customers to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance for DoD Government cloud and related…