Pallone Opening Remarks at Full Committee Markup

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following opening remarks today at a Full Committee markup of 16 bills out of the Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee and the Communications and Technology Subcommittee:

Today the Committee is marking up 16 bills out of Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee and our Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

I am pleased to see many bills included on today’s markup that will promote and encourage innovation and American global competitiveness. That includes bills to study the memory chip shortage and the influence of Chinese manufacturers and suppliers in our domestic auto supply, as well as legislation to ensure that CHIPS and Science funding flows to American companies and our allies, not adversaries.

Unfortunately, today’s markup also includes the PROTECT USA Act, which will impede rather than encourage U.S. competitiveness by forcing American companies to choose between complying with European sustainability regulation or violating the Act.

I am also glad to see several bipartisan consumer protection bills included in this markup. These bills address crucial issues, including preventing deaths from dangerous nitrous oxide products, keeping Americans safe from scams, and strengthening protections against ticketing bots, to ensure that actual people can access tickets for their favorite performing artists and other live events.

Meanwhile, two other bills – the PACK Act and the Recycling Materials Attribution Act – are masquerading as consumer protection bills, but actually seek to rework our nation’s recycling policy to the detriment of all consumers and our planet. As I said at our Subcommittee markup, if we are going to be setting recycling policy, the Environmental Protection Agency should be taking the lead, not the Federal Trade Commission. And we should reject efforts to preempt stronger state laws with weak federal standards. I will be opposing these bills, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

We will also consider several bills from the Communications and Technology Subcommittee. I'm pleased we are considering the Satellite and Telecommunications (SAT) Streamlining Act, legislation I introduced with Chairman Guthrie. This bill reforms the satellite licensing process at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for certain satellite applications. We have to ensure that these systems continue to be built and licensed here in the United States, and this legislation achieves a reasonable and balanced process to evaluate them.

We will also consider the AI for Secure Networks Act, legislation that will help us better understand the role AI can play in the security of communications infrastructure so that our network defenses stay ahead of the curve. And because we still have work to do to address the incessant robocalls and phone scams that target consumers daily, I'm also pleased we are considering the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act. This legislation will help us continue to tackle this serious consumer threat.

And I also support advancing the Committee's work to deploy reliable and affordable broadband service across the nation, and so I am glad we're considering the PLAN for Broadband Act and the Data BRIDGE Act. These bills can improve how we manage, track, and carry out federal broadband deployment initiatives as efficiently as possible.

Finally, I do want to talk briefly about my opposition to the Open Source AI Leadership Act. I'm going to talk more about this later so I don't want to take up too much time now in my opening statement, but I do want to alert everyone that I am opposed to that bill. I heard what the Chairman said about advancing AI with this bill, but I think that what's happened in the last few weeks, with the potential end of humanity and the catastrophic consequences that some of the leaders in the AI community say we're potentially facing, we as Democrats and we as a Committee have to take action on AI safety. AI safety is a lot more important right now than advancing AI and expanding AI. I'll have a lot more to say when we get to that legislation during the markup, but for now I just want you to understand that I think what's happened in the last few weeks creates a very different situation with AI. Safety is the most important thing. We have to do something. We have to take action now.

And with that I yield back the balance of my time.

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