The White House signaled Monday time is running short for talks between President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans on infrastructure spending. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden plans to talk with Senate Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., before he leaves Wednesday for a weeklong state visit in Europe. “The time is not unlimited here” for talks to continue with Republicans, but many paths remain available for an infrastructure compromise, Psaki told reporters. Biden “made clear” when he talked to Capito Friday (see 2106040073) that a new GOP counterproposal, which increased the infrastructure spending offer by $50 billion, “didn’t meet his own bar. But we’re open to where the discussion goes.” Biden “has come down by about $1 trillion” from the plan he first proposed in March (see 2103310064), while Republicans have “come up by a small percentage,” Psaki said: The White House agrees with the GOP on $65 billion for broadband (see 2105270072), but it's still "an important part of the negotiation." The White House eyes other potential infrastructure measures as a compromise, including a coming bipartisan plan pursued by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Psaki said.

Legislation introduced Thursday would authorize $1.1 billion over five years to “promote the use of smart city technologies and enhance federal coordination.” Introduced by Democratic Reps. Suzan DelBene, Wash., and Yvette Clarke, N.Y., the Smart Cities and Communities Act would provide resources to localities.

Legislation introduced Tuesday would prohibit online platforms from collecting personal data from anyone ages 13-15 without user consent. Introduced by Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act would update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, letting users delete personal information collected from kids and teens. It would establish such a digital marketing bill of rights.

President Joe Biden extended an emergency Tuesday, letting the Commerce Department bar transactions in the information and communications tech sector that are an unacceptable risk to national security. Former President Donald Trump implemented this in 2019 (see 1905150066). That executive order paved the way for recent FCC and Commerce actions to limit the U.S. presence of equipment from Huawei and other Chinese manufacturers. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., meanwhile, pressed a trio of U.S. tech companies for information on their compliance with Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security’s August revisions to its restrictions on Huawei’s use of U.S. technology (see 2008170043). “The unrestricted acquisition or use in the United States of information and communications technology or services designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign adversaries augments the ability of these foreign adversaries to create and exploit vulnerabilities in information and communications technology or services,” Biden wrote Congress. “This threat continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat." Wicker asked Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital whether they consider the August BIS restrictions to bar “shipment of hard disk drives to Huawei or any affiliate without a license” and if the companies “continued shipping” gear to Huawei. He wants to know if the companies incorporate “semiconductor products” into their hard-disk drives “that the supplier knows or should know would then be incorporated into hard disk drives for subsequent shipment to Huawei.” The Semiconductors in America Coalition formed Tuesday in a bid to get Congress to fund implementation of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act, which was included in the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (see 2105110065).

The Senate Commerce Committee pulled the Endless Frontier Act (S-1260) from its planned Wednesday executive session (see 2104230076), a committee spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., viewed the recently refiled, $112 billion measure as a linchpin for a coming legislative package aimed at countering Chinese competition in tech R&D (see 2104210070). Commerce decided to pull S-1260 from its markup session after committee members filed more than 230 proposed amendments, aides said. The delay was needed to allow more time “for some consensus” to develop, Senate Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters. A “pause was needed,” but that doesn’t reflect any real hesitations among senators, lead S-1260 GOP sponsor Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said during a Washington Post webcast Tuesday. “There are additional things they would like to add to this legislation or amend.” Reaching a bipartisan consensus often requires lawmakers to “crowd in as many good ideas as you can” to ensure “the best possible work product,” he said. “All of this will be aired” via the committee process. A Young spokesperson said it’s likely Commerce brings S-1260 back up for a vote after a one-week chamber recess, expected to end May 10. House Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, opposed S-1260 in an Issues in Science and Technology opinion piece Tuesday, suggesting her National Science Foundation for the Future Act (HR-2225) as an alternative. She singled out S-1260’s proposal to create a Technology Directorate within NSF as a concern, saying “the goal should not be to wall the directorate off from the rest of NSF, but to make it a productive partner with rest of” NSF. “There is also a big risk in creating a ‘shiny new object’ that gets the attention of policymakers to the detriment of NSF’s fundamental research mission,” Johnson said. “I am particularly concerned by” S-1260’s “authorization of $100 billion over five years just for this new directorate, at an agency currently funded below $9 billion per year, without an overall authorization for NSF and its mission to advance fundamental research across all areas of science and engineering.” House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., also criticized S-1260 Tuesday. The bill, “which tries to beat the Chinese Communist Party at their own game of expansive government subsidies,” is “not how we will win the future,” she said. “I share the goal of increasing America’s global competitive edge, but creating new, duplicative multi-billion dollar programs is not the answer.”

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., praised the FCC Media Bureau Monday for seeking comment on whether it needs to update rules implementing the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act’s bar on excessively loud TV ads (see 1012170090). The bureau sought feedback on “the extent to which our rules have been effective in preventing loud commercials” and whether the commission should “take additional actions” to update the rules. Comments are due June 3, replies July 9, in docket 21-181. Eshoo recently asked acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to investigate “a reported increase in complaints about loud TV ads” (see 2104140001). “I welcome the FCC’s action to protect consumers from the vexing issue of loud TV ads,” Eshoo said now. “I authored” the Calm Act “to put an end to this national irritant, but complaints are rising again. I welcome the decision of the FCC to hear complaints from the American people. I urge everyone who is annoyed to submit their complaints to the FCC about loud ads to ensure violations of” the law “can be investigated.”

CTA “urges caution” as lawmakers weigh tech mandates to curb app store antitrust practices, President Gary Shapiro will tell a Senate Competition Subcommittee hearing Wednesday. “New legal requirements for app store providers and consumers could have major unintended consequences affecting national competitiveness, privacy and security, entrepreneurs and even the retirement accounts of millions of Americans as the companies potentially hurt by the proposed policies are owned by millions of Americans.” There are 20-plus mobile app stores, “facilitating a $1.7 trillion ecosystem led almost entirely by U.S. companies,” he says. “Avoid adopting policies that pick winners and losers in the app market.” Competition is “alive and well” in relevant markets, ACT|The App Association wrote the subcommittee, noting lack of small-business witnesses.

Apple reinstated Parler to its App Store effective April 14, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., announced Monday. Lee and Buck, top Republicans on the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee and the House Antitrust Subcommittee, wrote Apple, Google and Amazon in March, questioning actions the companies took against Parler in January. Apple had removed the platform from the App Store. According to Apple’s response to their letter, the two sides negotiated updates to Parler’s content moderation practices, and Apple’s review team informed Parler of the reinstatement. Parler didn’t comment.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 24-17 Wednesday to approve a report (see 2010090053) accusing Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google of monopolizing and abusing their market dominance. The House Antitrust Subcommittee’s report, which recommends how to restore competition, was approved along party lines. With the findings formally adopted, subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., said he looks forward to crafting legislation that addresses the “significant concerns” raised.

Apple and Google will send witnesses to a Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing on mobile app competition April 21 at 2:30 p.m. EDT, Chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, announced Sunday.