The President delivered remarks to a joint session of Congress in which he touted new private sector investments in AI and called for the repeal of the CHIPS and Science Act. NIST finalized guidelines for evaluating differential privacy guarantees.

Congress continues to focus on protecting Americans from AI-generated deep fakes, countering threats from China, and meeting AI-related energy demands.

Read more below

Congress

Hearings

• Last week
  • On March 5, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy Demand and Grid Reliability will hold a hearing on Scaling for Growth: Meeting the Demand for Reliable, Affordable Electricity.
  • On March 5, the House Select Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party Committee will hold a hearing on End the Typhoons: How to Deter Beijing’s Cyber Actions and Enhance America’s Lackluster Cyber Defenses.
  • On March 5, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. National Security.
  • On March 5, the House Science, Space and Technology Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Assessing the Threat to U.S. Funded Research.

• This week
  • On March 11, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold their Member Day hearing.
  • On March 11, the House Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Regulatory Harm or Harmonization? Examining the Opportunity to Improve the Cyber Regulatory Regime.

Legislation

• Reps. Joe Morelle (D-NY) and Tom Kean (R-NJ) introduced the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act which would establish criminal and civil penalties for those who create and post non-consensual deepfakes on social media. (Press release)

• The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Computer Safety Technology Act, introduced Reps. Darren Soto (D-FL), Kathy Castor (D-FL), and Lori Trahan (D-MA), to direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish a pilot program to explore the use of artificial intelligence in support of the mission of the Commission and to direct the Secretary of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission to study and report on the use of blockchain technology and tokens. (Text)

Correspondence

• Reps. Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) sent letters to U.S. governors urging an immediate ban on the use and download of DeepSeek on government-issued devices. (Letter)(Press release)

• Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and six Republican colleagues sent a letter to President Trump encouraging the adoption of nuclear fusion. (Letter)(Press release)

Trump Administration

National Institutes for Standards and Technology (NIST)

• NIST finalized Guidelines for Evaluating Differential Privacy Guarantees (NIST Special Publication 800-226), including interactive tools, flow charts, and sample computer code to assist decision-making and demonstrate ways varying noise levels can affect privacy and data usability. (Guidelines)(Press release)

Department of Energy

• Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) attended a 1,000 Scientist AI Jam Session co-hosted by OpenAI and nine of the Department of Energy’s national labs in which they explored frontier AI models to test research applications and evaluate model responses. (Press release)

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

• On March 6, the SEC Investor Advisory Committee held a meeting with a panel discussion regarding disclosure of artificial intelligence’s impact on operations.

Department of Commerce

• On March 10, the Bureau of Industry and Security will hold a meeting of the Emerging Technology Technical Advisory Committee to consider guidance regarding U.S. Government strategies and policies.

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)

• On March 11 – 12, the USTR will hold a public hearing on China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Targeting of the Semiconductor Industry for Dominance.

Noteworthy Quotes and Events

ADMINISTRATION

White House

• In his address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump said, “Thanks to our America First policies we’re putting into place, we have had $1.7 trillion of new investment in America in just the past few weeks. The combination of the election and our economic policies — the people of SoftBank, one of the most brilliant anywhere in the world, announced a $200 billion investment.  OpenAI and Oracle — Larry Ellison — announced $500 billion investment, which they wouldn’t have done if Kamala had won. Apple announced $500 billion investment.  Tim Cook called me.  He said, ‘I cannot spend it fast enough.’  It’s going to be much higher than that, I believe.  They’ll be building their plants here, instead of in China. And just yesterday, Taiwan Semiconductor — the biggest in the world, most powerful in the world, has a tremendous amount — 97 percent of the market, announced a $165 billion investment to build the most powerful chips on Earth right here in the USA. And we’re not giving them any money.  Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing.  We give hundreds of billions of dollars, and it doesn’t mean a thing.  They take our money, and they don’t spend it.  All that meant to them — we’re giving them no money.  All that was important to them was they didn’t want to pay the tariffs, so they came and they’re building.  And many other companies are coming. We don’t have to give them money.  We just want to protect our businesses and our people.  And they will come because they won’t have to pay tariffs if they build in America.  And so, it’s very amazing. You should get rid of the CHIP Act.  And whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to.” (Transcript)

• First Lady Melania Trump delivered remarks at a roundtable discussion on online protection and the Take It Down Act. (Remarks)

CONGRESS

• Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told Punchbowl the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property will focus on AI, including the NO FAKES Act, saying, “How do we protect creators, there’s a huge infringement risk for copyright, so we got to sort through what it is. One thing I’m worried about is you don’t want to come in too heavy, but you can’t be silent on it either.” (Punchbowl)

• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) hosted a roundtable on the TAKE IT DOWN Act featuring First Lady Melania Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-MI), Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Republican Policy Chair Kevin Hern (R-OK) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA). The event press release stated, “House leaders responded by pledging to take swift action on the TAKE IT DOWN Act.” (Press release)

• Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) tweeted, “The White House is weighing measures to restrict Chinese artificial-intelligence upstart DeepSeek, including banning its chatbot from government devices”

• Energy and Commerce Committee tweeted, “We need affordable and reliable energy to ensure that America can lead in manufacturing and artificial intelligence Chairman RepGuthrie emphasizes. Today’s hearing is an important step in addressing the critical energy challenges facing our nation.”

• Energy and Commerce Committee also tweeted, “Yesterday, Energy Subcommittee Chairman BobLatta held a hearing on the challenges facing utilities in delivering affordable and reliable energy. Affordable and reliable energy ensures that America can lead in manufacturing and AI.”

• Energy and Commerce Committee also tweeted, “Just like POTUS said, we are committed to advancing the Take It Down Act and protecting women and girls from the spread of predatory, non-consensual AI images. We are proud to get to work on this important legislation.”

• Energy and Commerce Committee also tweeted, “Thank you, POTUS for securing massive AI and chip investments so we can win this technological competition with China. Under President Trump, America will stand up for our innovators and support cutting-edge AI development.”

• Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) tweeted, “President Trump is locking in deals with public companies for historic investments in the American economy, including $500 billion for artificial intelligence and $100 billion for chip manufacturing over the next four years. This will do wonders for AI development in the United States while boosting our economy at the same time.”

• Rounds also tweeted, “President Trump is locking in deals with public companies for historic investments in the American economy, including $500 billion for artificial intelligence and $100 billion for chip manufacturing over the next four years. This will do wonders for AI development in the United States while boosting our economy at the same time.”

• Rounds also tweeted, “Productive meeting with Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s nominee for Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Looking forward to working together to maintain and enhance U.S. global dominance in AI.”

• Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) tweeted, “Es un honor unirme a la FLOTUS Melania Trump y al SenTedCruz hoy para hablar sobre nuestra ley “TAKE IT DOWN”. Como mujer y madre de dos hijas maravillosas, es algo personal para mí. Ningún niño debería ser humillado por las falsificaciones de la inteligencia artificial.”

• Salazar also tweeted, “I’m honored to be joining FLOTUS Melania Trump and SenTedCruz later today to discuss our TAKE IT DOWN Act. As a woman and the mother of two amazing daughters, this is personal to me. No child should ever have to face the humiliation of AI deepfakes.”

• Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) tweeted, “Trump and Musk’s indiscriminate, cruel mass layoffs are literally going to cause the lights to go out for large swaths of America. Their plans are being decided by AI… and now we’re left to put the toothpaste back in the tube.”

• Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) tweeted, “Alongside my colleague CongressmanKean, I’m proud to reintroduce the bipartisan Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act to finally establish criminal and civil penalties for the misuse of deepfake technology.”

• Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) tweeted, “Addressing AI is a bipartisan issue, and I am proud to co-lead this bill with Congressman Morelle. I look forward to working together to get it across the finish line.”

• Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) tweeted, “Nuclear energy is the key to meeting America’s future energy needs. Without new nuclear power, we cannot unleash American innovation and continue cutting-edge breakthroughs in revolutionary technologies like AI. It’s time to ‘Build Baby Build’ and expand new nuclear nationwide!”

• House Homeland GOP tweeted, “We must acknowledge and confront this urgent threat head on or we risk having another incident like we did in New Orleans.” More on RepPfluger’s hearing to examine how terrorists use cloud-based platforms & AI to recruit.”

• House Homeland GOP also tweeted, “If we aren’t tracking how terrorists adapt to the technologies that are reshaping the world, we will always be behind.” – FDD’s DaveedGR on the importance of RepPfluger’s “Generative AI Terrorism Risk Assessment Act,” & getting ahead of foreign terrorist organization tactics”

• Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) tweeted, “As our adversaries increase their use of AI, it’s essential that we: Neutralize their capabilities, Protect freedom of speech”

• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) tweeted, “Oh, my. Grok comes through again. Even AI sees Trump/Russia.”

• Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA) tweeted, “Trump wants to get rid of the CHIPSAct? All this will do is guarantee America loses its technological advantage and long-term competitiveness in AI. America First? This is Trump again putting China First. He just doesn’t care.”

• Rep. Julie Fedorchak (R-ND) tweeted, “AI is the future, but it doesn’t run on wishful thinking—it runs on American energy. POTUS gets it! That’s why I’m launching an Energy & AI Working Group to establish a legislative framework that secures our grid and powers the future.”

• Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) tweeted, “USA needs to be the world leader in AI.”

• Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) tweeted, “President Trump delivers RESULTS: $500 Billion in new AI infrastructure $100 Billion in chip-manufacturing in the US $20 Billion in foreign investments in new US data centers $500 Billion from Apple + 20,000 new American jobs $27 Billion in new investments from Eli Lilly And we’re just getting started.”

• Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) tweeted, “Our Consumer Safety Technology Act just passed out of EnergyCommerce! This bill will require USCPSC to use AI to track reports of fraud, injury, and other hazards, allowing the cops on the beat to stay ahead.”

• Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) tweeted, “I’m proud to announce that I will serve as Chairwoman of the NewDemCoalition AI Task Force in the 119th Congress. I’m grateful for this opportunity & look forward to working with my colleagues to address AI risks like equity, bias, and disinformation.”

• Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted, “Yesterday, I was joined by First Lady Melania Trump, Speaker Johnson, Leader Scalise, Members of the House, and victims of AI deepfakes. My bipartisan legislation, the TAKE IT DOWN Act, passed unanimously in the Senate. We need to get this bill on President Trump’s desk—every day, more and more Americans are impacted by AI-generated deepfakes.”

• Senator Hawley Press Office tweeted, “Big Tech CEOs may not care if their so-called “wonderful” AI revolution wipes out good-paying, blue-collar jobs—but Congress should. ‘We’ve got to make sure that our workers are benefitting from [AI], not being ravished and preyed upon by this technology.’”

Highlights of the Week

• I attended the Milken Institute 3rd Annual Future of Fintech Symposium, which featured roundtable and panel discussions on emerging technologies changing the landscape of financial services, including AI, blockchain, and quantum.

What I’m Reading This Week

• The Government Knows A.G.I. Is Coming, The Ezra Klein Show transcript, New York Times.

• Government AI, defending DOGE and more: Takeaways from Elon Musk’s three-hour interview with Joe Rogan, Ali Bianco and Danny Nguyen, Politico.

About Zero One Strategies

Zero One Strategies is a boutique government relations practice dedicated to navigating the complex landscape of U.S. federal policy in emerging technologies. As advancements in technology continue to outpace regulatory frameworks, Zero One Strategies aims to provide strategic guidance and bipartisan advocacy for innovators and businesses operating at the forefront of technological development.

The practice focuses on key areas such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, decentralized technologies, cybersecurity, data, and digital infrastructure, as well as the multiple policy issues impacting these sectors, including tax and financial services.

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