Policymakers

The Constitution vests all executive power in the President and charges him with faithfully executing the laws.  Since it would be impossible for the President to single-handedly perform all the executive business of the Federal Government, the Constitution also provides for subordinate officers to assist the President in his executive duties.  In the exercise of their often-considerable authority, these executive branch officials remain subject to the President’s ongoing supervision and control. The President in turn is regularly elected by and accountable to the American people.

The Senate voted 51-45 to confirm Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, putting in place a billionaire Wall Street veteran turned avowed protectionist to lead the president’s global trade agenda. The former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm, ran the personnel operation for Trump’s presidential transition. Lutnick, age 63, took the reins at Cantor in 1991. He stepped down following the confirmation vote. President Trump has said the secretary will lead the second-term trade portfolio as well as oversee an agency of roughly 47,000 employees.

Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, announced staff promotions and senior staff positions for his committee office for the 119th Congress. 

Rep Jamie Raskin (D-MD-8), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, delivered opening remarks at the full committee hearing on the First Amendment and censorship. He appealed to Chairman Jim Jordan's (R-OH-4) passion for the First Amendment, and implored him to ensure that freedom of speech continues to apply to all speech. "When we together introduced our Free Flow of Information Act, you said “[a]ll rights protected in the First Amendment need to be defended.” We had real success.

Federal Communications Commissioner Nathan Simington announced that he has appointed David Brodian to serve as Senior Legal Advisor, and Sara Rahmjoo to serve as Legal Advisor. Prior to joining the Commissioner’s office as Senior Legal Advisor, David served as an Attorney Advisor in the Competition Policy Division of the Wireline Competition Bureau. Prior to her role as Legal Advisor, Sara served as Commissioner Simington’s Policy Advisor and Confidential Assistant.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2) and Rep. John Joyce, M.D. (R-PA-13) announced the establishment of a comprehensive data privacy working group. The partisan working group welcomes input from a broad range of stakeholders. Stakeholders interested in engaging with the working group can reach out to PrivacyWorkingGroup@mail.house.gov for more information. The working group will also include:

Energy and Commerce is the oldest standing legislative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. House Commerce is vested with the broadest jurisdiction of any congressional authorizing committee.

Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr has asked his agency to investigate Comcast’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices. “We have received an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission and will be cooperating with the FCC to answer their questions,” said Comcast spokesperson Joelle Terry. Since taking control of the FCC last month, Carr has threatened to pull broadcast licenses of 

President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr is boasting to friends that he is having “the time of his life” after launching an all-out attack on the media. Chairman Carr has spread dread through top-ranked media executives since taking office at the same time as President Trump.

Northeast Michigan lacks efficient broadband access, but projects both on a national and local scale aim to change that and spur economic development efforts in the Alpena area. Erik Frederick, chief connectivity officer at the Michigan High Speed Internet Office, is leading the efforts to connect everyone to the internet from city to countryside in Michigan.