U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., will serve as the chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in the 119th Congress, beginning 3 Jan. 2025.
The announcement ends the mystery over the future leadership of the House and Senate committees controlling a majority of Congress' technology policy portfolio, including data privacy and commercial AI governance legislation. Guthrie's election represents the biggest shift in the leadership of the two committees.
Guthrie will join Ranking Member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who is expected to continue his role as the minority leader on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
On the Senate side, as Republicans take control in the next Congress, the party leaders for the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will trade places. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will serve as chair while Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., moves to ranking member.
With outgoing House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, R-Wash., stepping down at the end of the term, Guthrie made no secret of his strong desire to lead the full committee. Unlike Rodgers, however, Guthrie has not been focused on data privacy or other tech policy issues. In the 118th Congress, he currently chairs the Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Health, while sitting on two other subcommittees: Oversight and Investigations and Energy, Climate and Grid Security.
Explaining his interest in chairing the full committee in a lengthy interview with the Washington Reporter in September, Guthrie quipped, "If it moves, it's energy, and if it doesn’t, it's commerce."
The Energy and Commerce Committee does have expansive authority. In addition to its broad jurisdiction over relevant bills, the committee oversees a long list of federal departments and independent agencies. Setting aside its purview over environmental and energy agencies, the committee oversees the Federal Trade Commission, Health and Human Services, Commerce, Transportation, and the Federal Communications Commission — all of which have some authority related to U.S. data privacy rules.
On the issues
During his time on Energy and Commerce, Guthrie has not made a point to focus his resources on the "commerce" side of the committee's jurisdiction, though he did previously serve on the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.
When House Republican leadership poured cold water on this year's comprehensive federal privacy law initiative, the American Privacy Rights Act — a move Ranking Member Pallone characterized as interfering with the committee process — Guthrie was one of the high-ranking Republicans on the committee to quickly fall in line in opposition to the bill.
Asked in the Washington Reporter interview about privacy, Guthrie indicated he thought there was a path to passing the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act by the end of 2024. Though the reporter also asked about the APRA, Guthrie's response avoided mentioning the failed comprehensive privacy bill. He also avoided explicitly endorsing the KOSA and COPPA 2.0, instead reiterating his commitment to helping the current committee leadership: "I know the chairwoman is extremely passionate about this bill and these bills, and we want to get them done."
Guthrie also avoided weighing in on AI, instead saying he looks forward to seeing the much-anticipated report from the House Task Force on AI, "What's going to come out of the task force is going to be important," he said. "I think Rep. Jay Obernotle, R-Calif., who runs it, is maybe the smartest guy here."
Is there a chance for KOSA?
Despite Guthrie's positive outlook on the KOSA and COPPA 2.0 months ago, the legislative package known collectively as the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act seems to have only a long shot at passing before the end of the year.
Fresh reporting in The Washington Post examined whether the newly updated version of the bill, released by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has a chance at passing in the House. The Senate passed the KOSPA over the summer, but the updated text indicates the chamber is trying to respond to ongoing concerns around the KOSA. Future of Privacy Forum Policy Counsel Jordan Francis, CIPP/E, CIPP/US, CIPM, shared a full redline comparison showing the updates to the draft bill.
Responding to the updated bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., slightly softened his prior position about not passing the KOSA before the end of the year. Though a prior statement indicated he looked forward to revisiting the bill in 2025, Johnson was quoted saying, "There's still some concern about the free speech components. ... It's essential that we get this issue right. We are very optimistic that if it's not done this year, that we can do that early next year with our Republican majorities."
Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, CIPP/US, CIPM, is the managing director in Washington, D.C., for the IAPP.
