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☆ TikTok CEO to testify before U.S. Congress over security concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The news comes as the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a vote next month on a bill aimed at blocking the use of TikTok in the United States over national security concerns. "ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data," McMorris Rodgers said, adding that Americans deserve to know how these actions impact their privacy and data security. TikTok said on Friday "calls for total bans of TikTok take a piecemeal approach to national security and a piecemeal approach to broad industry issues like data security, privacy, and online harms". The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful national security body, in 2020 ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok because of fears that U.S. user data could be passed onto China’s government. CFIUS and TikTok have been in talks for more than two years aiming to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of U.S. TikTok users.

☆ TikTok CEO to testify before House panel about app's security and ties to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The New Economy Forum is being organized by Bloomberg Media Group, a division of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. Photographer: Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesTikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify before a House panel on March 23 about the app's security and privacy practices and its ties to China through parent company ByteDance. TikTok has been engaging with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which can determine if certain risk mitigation measures are adequate to dampen national security concerns. Still, those negotiations have reportedly been delayed at least as of last month, as officials continue to worry about the implications of the app's ownership by Chinese parent company ByteDance. Fears over TikTok's national security and privacy implications for consumers have spanned both sides of Congress, and stretched across the Trump administration into the Biden administration.

☆ House Speaker McCarthy spoke with Musk about making Twitter 'fair on all sides'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) arrives to a meeting with the House Republican Steering Committee at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 11, 2023 in Washington, DC. Twitter CEO Elon Musk discussed how to make the social media site "fair on all sides" in a meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the lawmaker told reporters on Friday. "He wants to have a level playing field" and for everybody to have a voice, McCarthy said of the meeting in remarks reported by NBC News. On Friday, McCarthy also confirmed that Jeffries was in the Thursday meeting and that he had not previously met Musk. An aide to Jeffries told The Washington Post his encounter with Musk was only coincidental and happened as Musk was leaving his meeting with McCarthy.

☆ U.S. House backs bill limiting drawdowns from oil reserve
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday limiting the ability of the energy secretary to tap the strategic oil reserve without developing plans to increase the amount of public lands available for oil and gas drilling. The bill is expected to face an uphill battle in the Senate, which unlike the House, is controlled by Biden's fellow Democrats. "The SPR should be used as a tool of ‘last resort,'" said Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and co-sponsor of the bill. The Biden administration has said it sold the oil to counter gasoline prices that had risen to $5.00 a gallon that helped fuel inflation to the highest in decades. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters at the White House this week that Biden "will not allow the American people to suffer because of the backwards agenda that House Republicans are advancing."

☆ U.S. House passes bill limiting drawdowns from strategic oil reserve
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Timothy Gardner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday limiting the ability of the energy secretary to tap the strategic oil reserve without developing plans to increase the amount of public lands available for oil and gas drilling. President Joe Biden would veto the legislation should it pass Congress, the White House said this week. The bill is expected to face an uphill battle in the Senate, which unlike the House, is controlled by Biden's fellow Democrats. The SPR should be used only to address true emergencies, said Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican and chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters at the White House this week that Biden "will not allow the American people to suffer because of the backwards agenda that House Republicans are advancing."

☆ House Republicans pass bill to limit drawdowns on Strategic Petroleum Reserve
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A maze of crude oil pipe and equipment is seen with the American and Texas flags flying in the background at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas. WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Friday aimed at limiting the president's ability to draw down the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for any reason other than a "severe energy supply disruption." Friday's legislation marked the second time that the GOP-controlled House has passed a bill related to the SPR. Following Friday's passage, the bill's chief sponsor, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, applauded the vote. "President Biden has turned a longtime bipartisan strategic asset, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, into a political tool to cover up the consequences of his expensive rush-to-green agenda," she said in a statement.

☆ Snapchat's role in fentanyl crisis probed during House roundtable: 'It's a Snap-specific problem'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The roundtable featured the mother of a child who died after taking a drug containing fentanyl allegedly purchased over Snapchat, apparently believing it was a prescription painkiller. "Big Tech has many problems," said Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer who works on cases seeking to hold tech platforms accountable for often offline harms. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice are also investigating Snap's role in fentanyl sales. That's because it does not incentivize safety features, she said, and also prevents tech platforms from reaching the discovery stage in many cases, which could otherwise reveal internal information. But legislation weakening encryption for law enforcement investigations would also likely be at odds with the committee's other goal of increasing digital privacy protections.

☆ Lawmakers Call for Oversight of Telehealth Ads Promoting Drugs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Khadeeja Safdar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has said she has gotten in touch with the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission to address deceptive telehealth ads. Congressional leaders involved in healthcare policy-making are calling for more oversight of telehealth advertising after The Wall Street Journal published an analysis showing companies flouting advertising rules. Federal regulators must work to address regulatory gaps that were made apparent because of the Journal’s reporting, according to several members of Congress. While the Food and Drug Administration closely monitors advertising by pharmaceutical companies, and the Federal Trade Commission scrutinizes advertising generally, an apparent lack of oversight of telehealth startups makes it possible for consumers to get bombarded on social media by ads promoting prescription drugs with no risk disclosures and for uses that aren’t FDA approved, the Journal reporting has found.

Biden repeatedly tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) last year to manage rising gasoline prices and disruptions to supply caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. McMorris Rodgers now chairs the House Energy & Commerce Committee, after Republicans took over the chamber this month from Democrats. "This bill would significantly weaken this critical energy security tool, resulting in more oil supply shortages in times of crisis and higher gasoline prices for Americans," Granholm said in the letter to the House energy panel, first seen by Reuters. Rodgers said in an email the committee was still reviewing the letter, but that the bill would have "absolutely no effect" on the department's emergency authorities regarding the oil reserve. The White House has criticized the legislation, calling it "backwards" and an attempt by House Republicans to help oil companies make more profits.

Biden repeatedly tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) last year to manage rising gasoline prices and supply disruptions caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The sales shrunk the SPR to about 380 million barrels, the lowest level since 1984, raising concerns about energy security. McMorris Rodgers now chairs the House Energy & Commerce Committee after Republicans took over the chamber earlier this month from Democrats. "This bill would significantly weaken this critical energy security tool, resulting in more oil supply shortages in times of crisis and higher gasoline prices for Americans," Granholm said in the letter to the House energy panel, which was first seen by Reuters. The White House has criticized the legislation, calling it "backwards" and an attempt by House Republicans to help oil companies make more profits.

☆ U.S. House passes bill banning exports of reserve oil to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Timothy Gardner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies U.S. House of Representatives FollowWASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill on Thursday to ban releases of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve from being exported to China, though the measure faces an uncertain future in the Senate. The bill passed 331-97 in the House, which Republicans took narrow control of this month. Through October last year U.S. oil companies exported nearly 67 million barrels of oil to China. But in all of 2020, when Republican Donald Trump was president, the United States exported 176 million barrels to China. U.S. House lawmakers also voted overwhelming this week to create a select committee on China to counter Beijing's growing international influence.

☆ The House of Representatives will have more guys named 'Mike' than women chairing committees under the new Republican majority
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

House Republicans have announced a new slate of committee chairs for the new Congress. Six of the committees will be chaired by a man named Mike or Michael. On Monday, House Republicans sorted out a number of contested chairmanships, and House Majority Steve Scalise released a list of recommendations for chairmanships that were ratified by the conference on Tuesday. The result: men named "Mike" will outnumber women two-to-one among committee chairs. Under Democratic leadership in the previous Congress, 7 House committees were chaired by women.

☆ Privacy and crypto will likely lead tech policy under split Congress as hope for passing ambitious antitrust reforms dwindles
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

After what started as a hopeful year for tech policy, the 117th Congress is about to close out its term with many key efforts tabled. That's the case with privacy legislation, where a bill proposed this year gained bipartisan support, passing out of a House committee with a near-unanimous vote. The pair blamed the bills' failure to advance on intense lobbying efforts by the tech industry against them. One prominent bipartisan bill in the Senate would put the CFTC in charge. "But the importance of tech policy issues will still be strong."

☆ GOP lawmakers want answers from Uber about drivers allegedly transporting drugs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

House Republicans sent a letter Thursday to Uber asking the tech company to explain what steps it is taking in response to drivers' complaints that they’re being asked to deliver packages they suspect to be drugs. Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. Those companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Democratic side did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “Just as we have asked social media companies to do their part to curb the sale of drugs on their platforms, Uber must act to ensure Uber Connect is not used to transport untracked shipments of illicit drugs to Americans,” the lawmakers wrote.

☆ White House weighs future release of emergency heating, crude oil reserves as winter nears
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Kayla Tausche | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

An aerial of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage at the Bryan Mound site seen on October 19, 2022 in Freeport, Texas. The Biden administration is considering tapping additional reserves of heating and crude oil as winter nears and uncertainty over market prices worsens, according to four people familiar with the matter. But with a 54% jump in heating oil prices in the last year, any hiccup in supply could mean a headache for consumers. The White House could face additional pressure from a Republican-led House of Representatives to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when the new Congress begins its session in January. In June, the leading Republicans on the House Energy & Commerce Committee suggested the Strategic Petroleum Reserve's falling level was becoming a national security risk.

☆ House Republicans say TikTok made misleading claims in briefings on data handling
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN Business —House Republicans say TikTok may have misled congressional staff in private briefings about the company’s handling of US user data, in a new letter to the short-form video app this week. And it foreshadows how House Republicans, having gained a majority in the 2022 midterm elections, are likely to approach TikTok in the coming months. “Both claims appear to be misleading at best, and at worst, false,” Comer and McMorris Rodgers wrote. Tuesday’s letter calls on TikTok to preserve a broad swath of documents, communications and other records, in a preview of how House lawmakers could investigate the company in the coming months. And it reiterated a half-dozen other requests for information the GOP lawmakers had sent to the company during the summer.

☆ U.S. House Republicans press TikTok on Chinese data sharing
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Following election wins earlier this month, Republicans will take control of the House in January. The letter could be a sign of tough scrutiny they plan to apply to Chinese companies including TikTok, a target of the Republican administration of former President Donald Trump. But the Democratic Biden administration has also expressed concern about TikTok. Among other questions, the lawmakers asked TikTok to provide drafts of any agreement being negotiated with the Biden administration to allow TikTok to remain active in the United States. CFIUS and TikTok have been in talks for months aiming to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of TikTok's more than 100 million users.

In the next Congress, white men will also lead the House GOP campaign arm, the National Congressional Campaign Committee (NRCC), and occupy other lower-tier leadership spots. The highest leadership post that Republican women or minorities have reached is chair of the GOP Conference — the No. She's expected to remain the highest-ranking GOP woman in the whole of the next Congress as well, given that white men make up all but one member of the Senate GOP leadership team. Eighty GOP women are running for House seats in these midterms. For his part, Donalds, whom Trump once called a “rising star,” has not made diversity a central part of his campaign for conference chair.

☆ Visa's PAC gave politicians $139,000 in March after vowing to pause contributions because of the Capitol insurrection
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-07 | by ( Kayla Epstein | Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Visa's PAC has resumed political donations after announcing a pause following the January 6 Capitol attack. On March 24, Visa gave a total of $139,000 to candidate and political committees on both sides of the aisle. None of the lawmakers voted to object to the certification of the 2020 election results. Visa also filled coffers of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, giving each one $15,000. On January 12, less than a week after the attack, Visa's PAC "temporarily suspended all political donations as we review our candidate contribution guidelines," the company told the Washington Post.

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