Politico

Democrats are gearing up for another attempt at confirming President Joe Biden’s nominees for top posts at the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration after GOP objections stalled them in 2021. The three nominations — Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society] for the open FCC seat, Alvaro Bedoya for the open FTC seat and Alan Davidson to head NTIA — technically expired when the December 2021 session ended.

So far the bulk of the anger towards Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo over her skepticism about EU tech regulations has come from civil society groups, but the business community is now mobilizing. A coalition of eight companies, including Yelp, Genius, Felt, Patreon, Beeper and REX, wrote that they support the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, the two EU rules Raimondo slammed during a recent US Chamber of Commerce event.

General Services Administration (GSA) head Robin Carnahan is shepherding one of President Joe Biden’s most expansive government modernization efforts: fixing up its creaky, fragmented computer systems. She envisions a future in which people can access programs like food stamps and rental assistance as easily as they can order a pair of shoes. “We know that good policy gets sunk regularly if tech doesn’t work,” Carnahan said.

In a letter to Democratic leadership, the watchdog group Revolving Door Project is demanding Rep Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) recuse herself from oversight over the Justice Department (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) because of her financial investments in large tech companies, as well as recent r

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a massive trade group that represents companies on all sides of the digital ads ecosystem, is about to get a whole lot more involved in tech policy discussions on Capitol Hill. IAB has tapped Lartease Tiffith, an Amazon public policy executive and former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, to lead its policy shop. And Tiffith plans to make the group’s presence known.

Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) stunned the White House and sent many in Washington (DC) scrambling by crushing Democrats’ chances of passing the House version of President Joe Biden’s massive social spending bill, the Build Back Better (BBB) Act. Now Senate Democrats are scheming about what elements might survive if they can assemble a more Manchin-friendly bill, including a number of tech provisions.