Overnight Regulation: Dems offer measure to restore net neutrality | GOP focuses on law enforcement mistakes, not new gun laws | Senators, Trump look for deal on ethanol mandate | Justices struggle with overseas data case
Welcome to Overnight Regulation, your daily rundown of news from the federal agencies, Capitol Hill, the courts and beyond. It’s Tuesday evening on Capitol Hill, where Democrats are energized on gun reform after meeting students who survived the Parkland school shooting.
THE BIG STORIES
Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday introduced legislation in both chambers of Congress to reverse the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) repeal of net neutrality rules.
The Senate legislation has the support of 50 lawmakers, including one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), meaning it is just one vote shy of the necessary number to pass in the upper chamber under rules that prevent a filibuster.
But even if Democrats could get support from one more GOP senator, a resolution to preserve the Obama-era net neutrality rules faces a steep uphill battle in the House.
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Rep. Mike Doyle (Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, said his net neutrality legislation has the backing of 150 lawmakers in the House. Still, if it passes the House, President Trump is not expected to sign it.
But the clock is ticking. Democrats have a 60-day window to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to scrap with a simple majority the FCC’s order to end net neutrality rules, which started last week after the order was officially published in the Federal Register.
Despite the unlikely odds, Democrats say they want to put Republicans on the record with a vote and make net neutrality a 2018 midterm issue.
Talk of the mass shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 people dead has dominated Capitol Hill.
House Republicans on Tuesday criticized mistakes by law enforcement following the shooting.
Members emerging from a conference meeting on Tuesday delivered a coordinated message that focused on what they described as glaring failures by the FBI and local police while arguing that new gun laws would not have prevented the killings.
“Here’s what makes me mad: all these proposals don’t address the problem,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. “There was like 36 times this kid interacted with government. It looks the sheriff’s office didn’t do their job.”
“And now the answer is more government?”
Melanie Zanona and Scott Wong report.
Meanwhile at the White House, President Trump is standing by his calls to raise the age limit to buy the type of high-powered rifle used in the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, the White House said Tuesday. More from Jordan Fabian.
At the Department of Justice, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that DOJ is nearing a decision on whether to ban bump stocks, and suggested that the DOJ believes it has the legal authority to prohibit the devices. Read the story from Max Greenwood.
ON TAP FOR WEDNESDAY
The Senate Commerce Committee votes on four Trump nominees for the Federal Trade Commission.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power holds a hearing on five bills, including legislation on hydropower and water projects.
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands holds a hearing on four bills, including that would direct the Interior Department to study preserving the childhood home of former President George W. Bush.
REG ROUNDUP
Supreme Court: The Supreme Court wrestled Tuesday with whether the government can search and seize the contents of emails that technology companies store overseas in a potential landmark battle over information stored in the cloud.
The case stems from Microsoft Corp.’s refusal to comply with a federal warrant for the emails of a customer that the government accuses of drug trafficking.
Although the warrant was served on Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the company said the warrant was invalid because the emails are stored in Dublin, Ireland, not the U.S.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked why the justices shouldn’t just wait for Congress to resolve the issue, given the bipartisan bill that Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has offered to make it easier for U.S. officials to create bilateral data sharing agreements and gain access to data stored overseas.
She said the court is encroaching on the very thing its jurisprudence seeks to avoid, which is create an international problem.
The case could hinge on the court’s interpretation of the Stored Communications Act (SCA), which Congress passed in 1986 to protect the privacy of digital communications. Lawmakers carved out an exception to allow law enforcement to obtain a warrant for the content of stored communications.
Tech: PayPal reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday over charges that its subsidiary Venmo had deceived customers about access to funds, privacy settings and data security.
The FTC had alleged that Venmo was misleading consumers by telling them that their balances on the service were available for transfer to external bank accounts but neglecting to inform them that the transfers could be delayed or negated after being reviewed by the company.
Venmo was also accused of misleading its users about how they can make their transaction history private.
As part of the settlement, Venmo is forbidden from making any more deceptive claims to its users and must obtain third-party compliance assessments every other year for the next decade.
Harper Neidig has the rundown.
Environment: Four Republican senators representing oil and farm states failed to come to an agreement on changes to the nation’s biofuel mandate during a White House meeting with President Trump on Tuesday.
The senators met with Trump, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt to discuss changes that oil-state senators want made to the country’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
“There was no deal made,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has been defending corn and ethanol interests in recent months amid pressure to change the ethanol mandate or how it is enforced.
Miranda Green and Timothy Cama have the story.
Health care: A coalition of 20 states has filed a lawsuit alleging ObamaCare is unconstitutional.
They’re claiming that since the GOP eliminated the tax penalty associated with the individual mandate, that ObamaCare itself is no longer constitutional.
The lawsuit against the federal government, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel (R), was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that ObamaCare’s individual mandate was constitutional because Congress has the power to levy taxes. The lawsuit points to that part of the ruling in its argument that the law is no longer constitutional.
Finance: A coalition of free-market groups is urging President Trump and top administration officials to withdraw an agreement that allows IRS rules to avoid review from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
“The IRS must live by the same rules of administrative law and agency oversight as the rest of the executive branch,” the groups wrote in a letter Tuesday.
The letter was sent to Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney and Neomi Rao, administrator of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
Environment: A federal environmental office that works to test the effects of chemical exposure on adults and children is being merged as part of a proposed consolidation at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) will no longer exist as a standalone entity following plans to combine three EPA offices, the agency confirmed to The Hill on Monday.
An EPA spokesperson said that under the planned overhaul, employees currently working at the NCER would be reassigned elsewhere within the department, the EPA said, and the management of NCER’s research grants would continue.
Education: The Education Department will propose a policy blocking states from overseeing student loan collectors, Politico reported Monday.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is expected to announce that only the federal government has oversight over the companies collecting federal student loans, shielding them from state regulators and lawmakers.
The “notice of interpretation” would protect the collectors from recent state scrutiny, including major companies like Navient and Nelnet. The Education Department currently hires nine collection companies to collect loans, according to Politico.
IN OTHER NEWS
UPS sues EU regulators over decision to block TNT deal — The Wall Street Journal
Trump’s SEC makes slow progress on trimming rules — The Wall Street Journal
South Korea keeps investors guessing on cryptocurrency regulation — Reuters
Japan regulation shakeup seen as game changer for banks — Bloomberg
A look at transportation safety rules sidelined under Trump — Associated Press
Oklahoma regulator offers new regional protocol to curb earthquakes from fracking — Reuters
FROM THE HILL’S OPINION PAGES
FCC must act to avoid a grave threat to GPS
California rules on highly automated vehicles set to go live in April
Elite class of sex traffickers shielded by online advertising laws
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