Biden Urges at Debate US Make AI Investments; Warren Hits Amazon on Taxes

Technology and telecom policy matters were again largely absent during Tuesday night's debate among 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, following a pattern set at the candidates’ December bout (see 1912200062) and most previous panels. Former Vice President Joe Biden suggested amid a discussion about the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade that “we should be putting our money and our effort and our time in preparing American workers to compete in the 21st century on the high-tech side, dealing with artificial intelligence.” The Senate Commerce and Foreign Relations committees advanced USMCA Wednesday on voice votes. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 22-1 to clear it, while the chamber’s Appropriations Committee advanced it 29-2. The Senate Public Works and Budget committees advanced USMCA earlier this week (see 2001150080). Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts pledged at the debate to roll back a Council on Environmental Quality NPRM promoted by President Donald Trump that aims to narrow the timeline of all federal agencies’ National Environmental Policy Act reviews of proposed infrastructure projects (see 2001090058). Warren also twice criticized Amazon for not paying federal income taxes in 2018, saying “we can make them pay.”