The U.S. House of Representatives is at a major crossroads with the proposed American Privacy Rights Act following a last-minute cancellation of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's scheduled markup of the bill 27 June.
The IAPP was in Washington, D.C., attending the markup session, which was expected to be tenuous following a week of stakeholder pushback and reported Republican disagreement over the latest version of the bill that surfaced 20 June.
Energy and Commerce committee members and public observers were filing into the the committee room as a House Republican staff member entered five minutes before the scheduled start of the markup to announce the cancellation. U.S. Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, learned of the cancellation as public observers did, with Fulcher marked by frustration and Eshoo by shock.
The IAPP spoke with House staffers following the cancellation, who indicated the path forward for the proposed APRA is not immediately clear. The committee faces a time crunch with the Congress' August recess on the horizon and elections to follow in November.
Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., told Axios following the cancellation that the committee is not done with the bill and simply needs to "regroup" after lawmakers were "working through (the bill) last minute and ultimately decided that we should wait for another day."
"There's been a lot of confusion and misrepresentation of what the bill does, unfortunately," Rodgers said. "We're gonna need some more time to provide that clarity."
The comments followed a pre-markup statement from Rodgers published minutes before the session, an unusual action under normal circumstances and markup process.
"Everyone knows someone who has suffered because of the current state of the online ecosystem," Rodgers wrote. "We cannot continue down this path. The American people are asking Congress to step up and pass a privacy bill. It is foundational to our future and the next generation."
The stalemate
The cancellation stems from many factors, the most notable being reported friction between Rodgers and House Republican leadership, reported by Punchbowl News in the hours leading up to the expected markup.
Punchbowl detailed a meeting arranged by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., with Energy and Commerce Republican members on the eve of the markup that Rodgers was excluded from. Scalise reportedly used the call to explain his perceived discrepancies with the current bill and candidly discuss his efforts to intervene with the APRA's drafting, which Rodgers did not allow.
The new text agreed to by Chair Rodgers and Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., arguably favored Republican's policy positions. Among the key changes were the removal of civil rights protections and provisions for algorithmic accountability.
Axios reported on a 25 June Energy and Commerce Republican meeting on the bill arranged by Rodgers, who told Axios afterward that members had "constructive discussion about moving forward and how important it is for Congress to act."
The meeting was aimed at easing concerns outside of those presented by Republican leaders. According to Axios, Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Buddy Carter, R-Ga., were open about their concerns and potential opposition. Carter was more candid with his opposition and that of his party, noting many Republican Energy and Commerce members were still wary of the proposed private right of action.
"I'm trying to see if we can get everybody to a place where we can get it out of committee, with the commitment that it is going to be put on the House floor," Carter told Axios.
Pallone, who had his own reservations with the proposed APRA before signing off on the latest iteration, issued his own statement regarding his displeasure over the abrupt markup cancellation. He noted displeasure with the actions to "interfere with the Committee's bipartisan regular order process" and undermine Rodgers' work.
"This is a dire problem that Congress needs to solve. It is too important to the American people to not get this done," Pallone wrote. "I'm committed to continuing to work with Chair Rodgers — we’re not giving up. The Energy and Commerce Committee is the only Committee that has had the willingness to take on Big Tech on behalf of the American people."
Joe Duball is the news editor at the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
