It would be a mistake for the Trump administration to undo President Joe Biden’s efforts at establishing a rights-based regulatory framework for AI technology, Democrats told us in interviews before the break.

Congressional GOP leaders are doubtful about lawmakers' chances of reaching a year-end deal on an additional $3.08 billion for the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program even as some Democrats are softening their insistence that the funding move in tandem with stopgap money for the FCC's lapsed affordable connectivity program. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, Rep. August Pfluger of Texas and nine other Republicans wrote congressional leaders Monday to press for rip-and-replace funding in a bid to highlight the issue amid the lame-duck frenzy.

The Senate Commerce Committee’s surprise adoption Wednesday of an amendment to the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) that would allocate $7 billion in stopgap funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program likely imperils chamber passage of that measure, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Debate over the pro-ACP amendment and a proposal that attached $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program also signaled continued friction among panel members over the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207).

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to mark up privacy legislation when it returns from recess the week of July 23, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told reporters Thursday.

An FCC proposal that requires disclosing AI-generated content in political ads seems aimed at having rules ready for the 2024 presidential election, statements Thursday from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and agency spokespeople indicate. However, broadcast insiders told us there probably isn’t enough time for that to happen without causing severe disruption. The FCC is proposing an update of the political file rules “to meet the moment we are in,” Rosenworcel said during a news conference. Her statement was in response to a question about whether the rules would be in effect on Election Day. Rosenworcel didn't explicitly say the item was intended for the 2024 election, though. “She has been clear that the time to act on public disclosure of AI use is now,” an agency spokesperson said in an email after being asked to clarify the planned timing of the proposal.

The Senate Commerce Committee will try again next week to approve funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program (see 2405100046), Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday after the scheduled markup was pulled amid tensions with Republicans over amendments.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Wednesday she's talking to a range of lawmakers seeking potential changes to an amended version of her draft Spectrum and National Security Act after the panel pulled Cantwell’s bill and 12 others from a planned Wednesday markup session Tuesday night (see 2404300072). The potential for the spectrum bill to make it into the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act “got precluded weeks ago,” Cantwell told reporters. The Senate voted 89-10 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the FAA bill as a substitute for Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935). Lawmakers are still eyeing other vehicles for allocating stopgap money to keep the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program running through the remainder of the year. Those proposals include a bid from Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, that would attach an amendment to the FAA package appropriating ACP $7 billion (see 2405010055).

Bipartisan legislation introduced Wednesday would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards for companies to identify and disclose AI-generated content. Introduced by Sens. John Thune, R-S.D.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., the AI Research, Innovation and Accountability Act would direct NIST to develop standards for “providing both authenticity and provenance information for online content, similar to the efforts of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity,” they said. The bill increases transparency for consumers and limits government intervention, said Thune.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and subpanel members from both parties voiced growing frustration during a Tuesday hearing with DOJ’s perceived reticence in enforcing existing anti-robocall statutes and eyed the FCC’s Further NPRM giving consumers more choice on the robocalls and robotexts they will receive (see 2306080043). There was more uneven interest among Senate Communications members and witnesses at the hearing in pursuing additional legislation to address ongoing robocall problems amid those enforcement shortcomings.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., agreed with Microsoft President Brad Smith Tuesday on the need for a federal agency to license high-risk AI systems.