Spectator NZ

Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Joe Manchin

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Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Cory Booker

NEWARK, N.J. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, hosted a virtual town hall discussion on the upcoming Farm Bill — a package of federal legislation shaping the nation’s agriculture and food policy that passes once every five years — and its impact on New Jersey’s farmers, workers, and consumers in urban and rural communities. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Booker has introduced a number of legislative proposals to reform the food system.

Booker’s New Jersey Farm Bill Town Hall brought together farmers, advocates, and policymakers from across the state to discuss how federal agriculture policies can better serve farmers in New Jersey, support local and regional food systems, and get healthy food to the people who need it most.

“In just a few months, Congress will be considering the Farm Bill that impacts everyone, from those who work so hard to grow our food, to those who harvest, process, and eat it,” said Senator Booker. “Currently, not only are we seeing a growing nutrition crisis in our country causing an explosion in diet-related illnesses, but the current food system is benefiting large corporations while consumers, independent family farmers and ranchers, and rural communities are losing out. In the upcoming Farm Bill, we have an opportunity to reform our food system by investing in our independent family farmers, addressing the root causes of diet-related disease, and moving us toward a more sustainable, humane, and just food system that makes healthy, nutritious food more available and affordable. This town hall brought together farmers, experts, and policymakers to share ideas and have a discussion that will help inform me as I continue to work to advance a Farm Bill that works for New Jerseyans.”

“The Farm Bill Town Hall that Senator Booker set up is so needed in New Jersey. The Senator, in his role as a Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is highly engaged in determining what is necessary to support agriculture here in the Garden State, our nutrition programs, and the ways in which that funding reaches the states. He has recognized that fundamental change is needed in many Farm Bill programs. We at the New Jersey Department of Agriculture are proud to have been working together on these issues and we look forward to continuing that important mission,” said NJ Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher.

“New Jersey’s large and diverse agriculture industry needs a comprehensive and balanced Farm Bill. We look forward to working with Senator Booker to advocate for a Farm Bill that meets the risk management, production and conservation needs of all New Jersey farmers,” said Liz Thompson, National Affairs Coordinator, New Jersey Farm Bureau.

“As the climate crisis worsens, this Farm Bill provides a vital opportunity to invest in and prioritize urgently needed climate mitigation and adaptation throughout the food system, but especially in farming and food production. Farm Bill spending must support the infrastructure, people, and organizations needed for building climate resilient food systems that ameliorate inequities. This Farm Bill is an important way for our country to set out on a path away from a food system that is destructive to the environment and human health, and toward a food and farming system that restores health for people, animals, and the planet,” said Jeanine Cava, Co-Founder and Lead Facilitator of NJ Food Democracy Collaborative.

“Funding for soil, water, and climate conservation practices are critical not only for building resilience and economic viability into farming systems but also for providing community benefits such as climate mitigation and improved water quality in local waterways,” said Laura Tessieri, Executive Director of North Jersey RC&D.

As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Booker has spearheaded efforts to empower family farmers, improve the affordability and availability of nutritious foods, protect workers, and safeguard the environment. Key legislative priorities include the Climate Stewardship Act, the Farm System Reform Act, the Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act, the Industrial Agriculture Accountability Act, the Protecting America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act, the Justice for Black Farmers Act, the Office of Small Farms Establishment Act, the Child Labor Exploitation Accountability Act, Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act, the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) Improvement Act, Protecting America’s Meatpacking Workers Act, and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Reform Act. He has also brought national attention to our country’s nutrition crisis by calling on the FDA to use its authority to address ultra-processed foods, by pushing for the integration of healthy food into our healthcare system, and by championing solutions that connect fruit and vegetable farmers with people struggling with hunger and nutrition insecurity.

Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford

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Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons

WASHINGTON —U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) introduced the bipartisan Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA) alongside Senate colleagues Dr. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) today, a bill that would require social media companies to share more data with the public and researchers.

“Social media platforms shape the information that billions of people across the globe consume, but we still know far too little about how they operate and the impact they have on each of us and our society. Right now, Congress and the public have no way to verify whether or how safe these products really are,” said Senator Coons. “We cannot continue to let platforms grade their own homework. That’s why I’m introducing the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act, which will give the public a data-driven understanding of the effects that these platforms have on our children, families, democracy, and national security. This bipartisan bill is a crucial step that will help ensure social media regulation addresses the problems facing our communities today.”

“It’s clear Big Tech companies will abuse their power when allowed to operate in the dark. Congress needs the tools to hold these companies accountable. Our bill gives us transparency into data collection by social media companies,” said Senator Cassidy.

“Social media companies have said: ‘just trust us,’ while putting profits ahead of users’ safety, privacy, and well-being for too long. It’s time to start holding these platforms accountable for the dangerous lack of transparency behind their algorithms,” said Senator Klobuchar. “Our bipartisan legislation will do just that, ensuring independent researchers can access platform data and better understand how their algorithms operate.”

“Social media platforms have given rise to new threats to our national security, our mental health, and our children, and we must better understand how these companies operate and their effect on society,” said Senator Cornyn. “This legislation would strengthen independent researchers’ access to data from social media companies, and I urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to support it.”  

“Social media platforms and their black box algorithms have fueled a mental health crisis in our country. By operating under a cloak of secrecy, Big Tech has been able to profit off the toxic content and addictive features it drives at users,” said Senator Blumenthal. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant, which is why the public and independent researchers deserve access to companies’ data and practices. I’m proud to join my colleagues in this effort to strengthen transparency online.”

“The threat social media has on the well-being of our young people and our national security is becoming more and more evident,” said Senator Romney. “By increasing data access and transparency, this legislation will help parents, policymakers, and researchers better understand the impacts social media has on society, and allow Congress to craft policies that create a healthier online experience for children and all Americans.”

In January 2022, The Washington Post editorial board endorsed PATA – then in a discussion draft form – as a “step toward solving our social media woes” that would provide “safe harbor not only to participating academics but also compliant companies and [mandate] the creation of privacy and cybersecurity standards for the process.”

Background:

PATA is a multipronged bill that creates new mechanisms to increase transparency around social media companies’ internal data:

• Under PATA, independent researchers would be able to submit proposals to the National Science Foundation, an independent agency that approves research and development proposals across the sciences. If the requests are approved, social media companies would be required to provide the necessary data to the researchers subject to strict privacy protections.
• Additionally, the bill would require that platforms proactively make certain information available to researchers and the public on an ongoing basis, such as:
  • A comprehensive ad library;
  • Statistics about content moderation;
  • Real-time data about viral content; and
  • Descriptions of a platform’s ranking and recommendation algorithms.
• The proposal would also protect researchers from legal liability that may arise from automatically collecting public-facing platform information if they comply with various privacy safeguards. 

This bill has been endorsed by the Council for Responsible Social Media, American Psychological Association, Mozilla, Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, Fairplay, and Common Sense Media. This bill was previously introduced in December 2022.

“Transparency is a crucial goal in the push for responsible and accountable social media,” said Dick Gephardt, former U.S. House Majority Leader (D-Mo.) and Co-Chair of the Council for Responsible Social Media. “How can we truly address the challenges posed by social media without knowing the nature, scope, and scale of these problems? How can we safeguard our children, our communities, and our national security from online harms without fully knowing what we’re up against? PATA is the key to unlocking the black box of social media, and a necessary component of any social media reform.”

“Every day, Big Tech companies make decisions that affect our children, our communities, and ultimately, our democracy,” said Kerry Healey, former Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (R) and Co-Chair of the Council for Responsible Social Media. “Social media is deeply embedded in our society, and yet, we know almost nothing about the policies and design choices of these platforms. The American public deserves to know how their personal data is being used and what impacts it has on their lives. PATA will ensure that these companies can no longer operate in secrecy.”

“The Platform and Accountability Act takes important steps to increase the ability of psychological scientists studying the impact of social media to gain access to data held by social media platforms,” said Mitch Prinstein, PhD, Chief Science Officer of the American Psychological Association. “This bipartisan legislation will increase our scientific understanding of this complex issue and enable caregivers, young people, and policymakers to mitigate the harmful impacts of social media use.”

The text of the bill is available here. A one-pager on the bill is available here. A section-by-section summary of the bill is available here.

Source: United States Senator for Delaware Christopher Coons

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Chris Coons(D-Del.) chaired a hearing yesterday focused on exploring the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on innovation and how to regulate AI in a way that promotes innovation so that the United States maintains its competitive edge.

The hearing, entitled “Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property — Part I: Patents, Innovation, and Competition,” welcomed intellectual property (IP) experts from business and academia to discuss how companies are using AI to drive innovation; patent law questions around AI inventions, and how the laws might need to adapt to account for AI technology; and steps the United States could take to position itself as a global leader on AI and IP rights. At the hearing, Senator Coons discussed AI’s major benefits for innovation; the importance of establishing the United States’ leadership in AI; and the need for policies that consider data rights to protect AI systems and bring clarity to patent eligibility law.

The subcommittee intends to hold hearings on the intersection of AI and copyright law later in the year.

A video and transcript of Senator Coons’ opening remarks are available below.

WATCH HERE.

Senator Coons: I’d like to call this hearing to order. Thank you to all of our witnesses for participating today. I’d like to thank Ranking Member [Thom] Tillis [R-N.C.] and your staff for working so well and closely with mine to put together this hearing on a consensus basis. As you can tell from the attendance, this is a topic of wide interest, and so, to my colleague and friend, Senator [Mazie] Hirono [D-Hawaii], I am looking forward to a robust hearing on the topic of artificial intelligence and intellectual property. 

We’re going to explore some of the recent developments in AI, and in particular, patents; and the impact of AI, innovation, and U.S. competitiveness. Make no mistake: AI presents novel questions across a wide range of areas of IP policy, and today’s the first in a series of hearings that this subcommittee will have looking at the intersection of artificial intelligence and intellectual property law and policy. We’ve all heard about different tools like ChatGPT or DALL-E; impressive new generative AI tools that have opened up so many creative avenues and raised many concerns. These tools are just a few of many popular uses, but generative AI has already been put to work to help solve a wide range of very serious and substantive problems.

Drug development is just one particularly compelling example. Over the last few decades, antibiotic discovery developments have become increasingly difficult and expensive. Many researchers have given up because new antibiotic drugs have not been able to overcome the threat of antibiotic disease. In fact, no antibiotic classes have been introduced since the 1980s. Enter AI. Researchers at MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] recently trained an AI model using a large collection of diverse molecules and then used the model to make a new and potent antibiotic that is effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This discovery didn’t take years; it didn’t take weeks; it took a few days. I share the story because many of the conversations around AI focus on the potentially harmful uses of the technology: threats of misinformation and bias. Highlighting these uses is important, but I believe we also have to act thoughtfully to set critical safeguards. It’s important to shine a light on how AI is being used to innovate. Drug development is one compelling example; others include its role in efforts to combat climate change, to address our computer chips shortage, to create renewable energy sources. These innovations raise new, interesting, and complex patent law issues, including whether innovations facilitated by AI are or should be patentable, and if so, who should be listed as the inventor? Currently, in the U.S., many AI-generated inventions are not patentable, because the Supreme Court has determined the law does not permit including a non-human inventor on a patent application. 

The decisions we make in Congress about whether and how to protect AI-related innovations will also have significant consequences for U.S. innovation and competitiveness. We need to ensure we establish a rights regime that encourages AI-generated innovation to stay here in the United States, instead of incentivizing innovators to turn to other countries with more favorable laws to protect their AI-generated inventions and other emerging technologies. Despite the critical role of IP in AI innovation, IP considerations have largely been missing from proposed AI regulation frameworks. Neglecting IP, in an effort to regulate AI, would have serious unintended consequences for [our] innovation ecosystem, our national security, and our economic competitiveness. In contrast, competitors like China recognize IP policy is an important tool in national strategies for AI and other emerging technologies. China has elevated the role of its patent and trademark office and has even been exploring data rights as a new form of IP protection for AI. 

So, what can we do? There are some initial steps we can take to ensure U.S. leadership on AI policies. I think it’s critical that we include IP considerations in ongoing AI regulatory frameworks and make certain the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has a seat at the table. We should change our patent eligibility laws — and I suspect my colleague agrees — so that we can protect critical AI innovations. And last, we should consider whether other changes to our patent laws, or new and unique protections, may be necessary to encourage innovation in AI and emerging technologies. 

I’m excited to explore these issues with you today with Senator Tillis’ cooperation. We have a superb panel with a diversity of views and perspectives. You will — I suspect — find five minutes a bracingly short period in which to explain them. We are grateful for your lengthy submitted written testimony and look forward to your individual summaries.

Source: United States Senator for Wyoming John Barrasso

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), John Barrasso (R-WY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Deb Fischer (R-NE), co-chairs and co-founders of the bipartisan Senate Comprehensive Care Caucus, introduced the Expanding Access to Palliative Care Act to provide comprehensive palliative care services much earlier in the course of illness, helping improve both the quality of care for patients and their families and the outcomes of treatment. This bipartisan bill would create a demonstration project within Medicare to allow palliative care to be covered concurrently with curative treatment for patients with serious illness or injury.

“Having stepped away from my career to care for my parents and in-laws as they aged, I am aware of the challenges that caretakers and patients face when trying to access palliative care services,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m introducing bipartisan legislation with my colleagues to help ensure patients are provided comprehensive palliative and health care services much earlier in the course of their illness. As a co-founder of the Senate’s Comprehensive Care Caucus, I’ll always find ways to improve the quality of life for patients and their families.”

“As a doctor, I have seen firsthand how important palliative care is for the comfort of patients and their families,” said Senator Barrasso. “Making sure patients have access to this care as soon as possible is critical to their quality of life. Our bipartisan bill ensures patients who need this care in Wyoming and across the country continue to receive the highest quality of care they deserve.”

“Having served as the primary caregiver for my grandmother as she got older, this issue is personal to me,” said Senator Baldwin. “Every American should be able to rest easy knowing that their loved ones are getting the high-quality care they need at a price they can afford. I’m proud to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to grow and sustain our palliative and hospice care workforce and in turn, improve the quality of life for the growing number of patients who need treatment for serious illnesses or end-of-life care.”

“Palliative care is a service that many families are using to improve quality of life and outcomes for their loved ones,” said Senator Fischer. “Our legislation would ensure more of the public has affordable access to this vital care option sooner in their health care journey. I’m proud of the work our bipartisan caucus continues to do, and look forward to continuing to advocate for the needs of patients and their families.”

“There are many benefits in allowing patients to seek palliative support through early referrals. Our hospice and community-based palliative care providers are uniquely positioned to deliver this model of care. Their long standing expertise in advance care planning, pain and symptom management, interdisciplinary care and more, make these organizations ideal entities to deliver a model of care in support of people and families dealing with serious illness at home,” said Ben Marcantonio, COO and Interim CEO of National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “Thank you to the Comprehensive Care Caucus for the bi-partisan support in prioritizing this critical service and introducing the Expanding Access to Palliative Care Act.”

“We continue to applaud the work of our allies in the U.S. Senate, particularly Senators Rosen, Barrasso, Baldwin and Fischer, who are again pushing for better approaches to provide more community-based palliative care, including assessment, care coordination, the use of team models, and advance care planning,” said John Broyles, CEO of the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC). “Their bill, the Expanding Access to Palliative Care Act, is another example of the leadership they have shown in assisting individuals with serious illness and their family caregivers, and in tackling the challenges of providing higher quality care that will produce savings from reduced emergency room visits and hospitalizations.”

Senator Rosen, as co-chair and co-founder of the Senate Comprehensive Care Caucus, has been leading the way on efforts to improve access to palliative care services. Senator Rosen previously led a bipartisan letter with her colleagues urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to support concurrent palliative and curative treatment for beneficiaries with serious illness or injury. Senator Rosen also introduced the bipartisan Provider Training in Palliative Care Act to update the National Health Service Corps program to include palliative care medicine as an eligible primary care service.

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