The Senate Intelligence Committee scheduled a hearing with social media experts on foreign influence on online platforms. New Knowledge Research Director Renee DiResta, Oxford Internet Institute Director Philip Howard and Laura Rosenberger, director of the German Marshall Fund's U.S. Alliance for Securing Democracy, will testify at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in 216 Hart.

The House voted 359-54 Thursday to approve the conference version of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515), which contains language to bar U.S. agencies from using “risky” technology produced by ZTE or fellow Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei. The conferees agreed to attach the Huawei/ZTE language originally included in the House-passed HR-5515 instead of a harder-line anti-ZTE provision in the Senate-passed version (see 1807200053). The Senate language would have reinstated a lifted Department of Commerce ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE. President Donald Trump rejected that proposal before the formal lift of the ban earlier this month (see 1807130048). The conference HR-5515 also includes a modified version of the language from the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act that originally appeared in the Senate-passed NDAA (see 1807190064). That HR-4311/S-2098 language would expand the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to probe more investments, including in "critical" technology or infrastructure companies (see 1804260029). The Trump administration didn't mention the ZTE language in a statement lauding House passage of the conference HR-5515. It said the HR-4311/S-2098 language “achieves the twin aims of protecting our national security and preserving our long-standing open investment policy.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed Thursday for cloture on the conference HR-5515, setting up a floor vote next week.

The Senate Intelligence Committee expects to host executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter for a hearing in September, said an official. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg confirmed their appearances, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai was invited, said the person. Representatives from each platform testified before the committee in 2017 and discussed Russian election interference.

Capitol Hill negotiators reconciling the House- and Senate-passed versions of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515) chose to adopt what critics view as softer language in the House-adopted HR-5515 aimed at addressing concerns about ZTE instead of harder-line Senate provisions. The House-passed HR-5515 would bar U.S. government agencies from using “risky” technology produced by ZTE or fellow Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei. It would prohibit federal agencies from contracting or buying Huawei or ZTE products (see 1805240064). The Senate-passed HR-5515 included language that would reinstate a recently lifted Department of Commerce ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE. President Donald Trump rejected that proposal before the formal lift of the ZTE ban (see 1807130048). Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Hill critics of administration ZTE actions panned the outcome of the HR-5515 negotiations in statements. “By stripping the Senate’s tough ZTE sanctions provision from the defense bill, President Trump -- and the Congressional Republicans who acted at his behest -- have once again made President Xi [Jinping] and the Chinese Government the big winners and the American worker and our national security the big losers,” Schumer said. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted that Hill negotiators “had to cave” in a deal to keep language from the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (HR-4311/S-2098) attached to HR-5515 (see 1807190064). Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., tweeted that negotiators made a “huge mistake” by “caving to the Trump Administration’s demands on ZTE. This can only make our country less safe.”

Capitol Hill negotiators reached a deal to modify the language from the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (HR-4311/S-2098) attached to the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515), Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters Thursday. HR-4311/S-2098 would expand the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to probe more investments, including in "critical" technology or infrastructure companies (see 1804260029). The modifications are aimed at easing critics' concerns that the CFIUS revamp would excessively restrict foreign investment in U.S. companies, Cornyn said. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who threatened to derail inclusion of HR-4311/S-2098 in HR-5515, apparently signed off on proposed alterations to the text, two Hill aides told us. Advancement of the bill as part of HR-5515 became entangled with efforts to limit President Donald Trump's ability to lift or otherwise weaken a Department of Commerce-imposed ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1806270066). Commerce formally lifted the ZTE ban last week (see 1807130048).

House Commerce Committee Republican leaders sought information Wednesday from LocationSmart, Securus and 3Cinteractive on unauthorized disclosure of wireless subscribers' real-time location data. The FCC is investigating LocationSmart amid concerns from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. (see 1805110062). “It is our understanding that wireless carriers have policies providing for authorized use of location data by location aggregators in certain situations,” said Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and other GOP leaders, in letters to 3Cinteractive CEO John Duffy, Securus CEO Robert Pickens and LocationSmart CEO Mario Proietti. “However, in this instance, providing location information to correctional officers at prison facilities appears to have violated some or all of the wireless providers' policies relating to use of geolocation data.” House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Gregg Harper, R-Miss., and House Digital Commerce Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, also signed. The lawmakers sought information on the relationship among the three entities, their use of the geolocation data and what forms of consent they obtain from a mobile device's owner or user. The companies didn't comment. House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., urged the committee in May to hold such a hearing (see 1805240073). House Communications members also referenced the issue during a hearing last week on customer proprietary network information (see 1807110061).

Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., plans legislative efforts to set a national definition for blockchain technology. Her draft bill would direct the Department of Commerce to establish a consensus definition, Matsui said at a House Digital Commerce Subcommittee hearing Wednesday (see 1807180051). “A common definition of blockchain could greatly assist in the development and deployment.”

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will send representatives to testify Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee during a follow-up hearing (see 1804260055) on social media filtering practices. The platforms declined to participate in the first hearing before the committee, which drew criticism from Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. Facebook Head-Global Policy Management Monika Bickert, Twitter Senior Strategist-Public Policy Nick Pickles and YouTube Global Head-Public Policy and Government Relations Juniper Downs will appear for the 10 a.m. hearing in 2141 Rayburn.

The House voted 359-49 Thursday to pass the FY 2019 DOD appropriations bill, which includes language that would bar the military from buying products made by ZTE and fellow Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei. HR-6157 passage follows more than a month of congressional debate about the President Donald Trump-led push to lift a Department of Commerce-imposed ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1806260031). The Senate voted 85-10 to pass a version of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5515) that would reinstate the ZTE ban (see 1806190051). “Broad majorities of Democrats and Republicans in Congress know that China has led a dedicated and long-term campaign to steal American secrets, techniques and know-how,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who authored the ZTE amendment: The language is “a small step in a larger fight to build a comprehensive strategy to defeat and deter Chinese attacks.”

The House Science Committee advanced the National Institute for Standards and Technology Reauthorization Act Wednesday on a voice vote. HR-6229 would allocate $1.125 billion to NIST in FY 2019, down from almost $1.2 billion in FY 2018. The FY 2019 allocation includes almost $110 million for research activities on advanced communications, networks and scientific data systems and $103 million for the agency's cybersecurity and privacy work. HR-6229 would require NIST to “enhance and expand” its “guidance and assistance to Federal agencies to help” them effectively use the Cybersecurity Framework. NIST would expand “fundamental and applied research” to “address key questions relating the measurement of privacy, security, and vulnerability of software tools and communications networks.” House Science also advanced the American Space Situational Awareness and Facilitation of Entity Management Act (HR-6226) and the National Quantum Initiative Act (HR-6227). HR-6226 would make the Department of Commerce the civilian agency to provide civil space situational awareness and traffic coordination. It's “an important step to secure the United States as the leader in space traffic management and improves the safety of all space operations,” said committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas. Commercial satellites in space are "predicted to grow from 1,300 active satellites today to more than 10,000 in the next few years," he said: "Now is the time to solidify” Commerce's role in developing “space traffic standards and guidelines.” HR-6227 would direct the Office of Science and Technology Policy to coordinate a program to accelerate quantum R&D for economic and national security.