Innovation, Data, and Commerce

Letter comes on the eve of athletes competing in the Paris Olympics and after WADA’s President refused to attend an Energy and Commerce Committee oversight hearing Washington, D.C. — In a new letter to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Witold Banka, bipartisan House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders pressed for answers regarding WADA’s handling of positive doping cases within China’s national swimming team ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. The letter contains questions that bipartisan Committee Members would have asked during a recent Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing , which Mr. Banka was invited to attend but refused to appear. Witnesses that did testify at the hearing included: Michael Phelps, American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist   Allison Schmitt, American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist   Travis Tygart , Chief Executive Officer, United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) KEY EXCERPTS:   “We write today to express our sincere disappointment at your refusal to accept our invitation to attend and provide testimony at our recent Subcommittee hearing. Members of Congress have important questions for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and are especially concerned about recent reports of your handling of dozens of cases of doping within the Chinese swimming team.  “WADA purports to maintain the integrity of sports by creating a fair and competitive sporting environment free from doping. As a U.S. taxpayer supported entity, WADA has a responsibility to the American people to ensure this integrity by enforcing international testing requirements. We believe WADA has fallen short of this important mission. ”  [...]   “ We are particularly concerned with the excessive deference being extended toward CHINADA—a state-funded operation with leadership deeply intertwined with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as current [Chinese Anti-Doping Agency] CHINADA director Li Zhiquan also serves as a Committee Secretary for the CCP. At a meeting in 2023, Zhiquan called on CHINADA employees to be 'loyal to the party' and to 'hold high the great banner of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.' Furthermore, WADA’s reported sponsorship arrangement with ANTA Sports—the Chinese athletic company sponsoring the Chinese Olympic Committee and China’s national swimming federation—could be perceived as a conflict of interest. Since WADA is expected to uphold and maintain international anti-doping standards, WADA’s apparent lack of skepticism and failure to enforce the rules against CHINADA is troubling. While we are aware that WADA has opened an investigation, we are concerned that international scrutiny was necessary to force due diligence that should be routine .”  [...]  “This incident unfortunately reinforces our concern that WADA appears to be reverting to its previous poor management practices.”  [...]  “With the Paris Summer Olympic Games Opening Ceremony just a day away , the Committee seeks to better understand the circumstances surrounding WADA’s decision not to appeal the decision to clear the twenty-three swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine.”   BACKGROUND :  In January 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers (“23 swimmers”) tested positive for trimetazidine, or TMZ, a banned substance improperly used to increase stamina and hasten recovery times.  Three months after the positive tests, CHINADA initiated an investigation into the source of the TMZ and by June 2021 claimed the athletes ingested the banned substance through food tainted in a hotel kitchen.  According to reporting, Chinese investigators “offered no explanation […] for how a prescription drug available only in pill form had contaminated an entire kitchen.”  In reliance on “external legal advice” and its science department, WADA determined that CHINADA’s claims were “plausible” and chose not to appeal the decision or further investigate the matter.  Three of these Chinese swimmers went on to win gold medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games in July of 2021.  China has selected 11 swimmers that tested positive for TMZ before the Tokyo Games to compete in the upcoming Paris Games.  In a strikingly similar case, Kamila Valieva, a Russian figure skater, also tested positive for the banned substance TMZ during the 2022 Beijing Olympics.  The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) issued a provisional suspension but was quickly cleared by RUSADA’s discipline board, since Valieva claimed she ingested the substance by mistake through a contaminated source.  Rather than simply accept RUSADA’s contamination explanation, WADA appealed the decision and ultimately, Valieva received a four-year ban from competition and was retroactively stripped of her gold medal. The letter was signed by Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., (D-NJ), Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Ranking Member Kathy Castor (D-FL). CLICK HERE to read the full letter.

Washington D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) delivered the following opening remarks at today’s hearing titled “The Fiscal Year 2025 Consumer Product Safety Commission Budget.”  “Good afternoon to everyone here and welcome to today’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Hearing for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. “I want to thank all five of the Commissioners for appearing before us today to discuss the important mission of ensuring people across the nation are protected against risks of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products. “In particular, I want to thank the Chair of the Commission, Alex Hoehn-Saric, for his work in promoting safety and protection in a fair and reasonable manner—I know you are particularly familiar with this Subcommittee as well, with your background as a Chief Counsel. “I also thank the employees at the Commission who work closely with Customs and Border Protection at ports across the country, inspecting millions of consumer products for hazardous, unsafe, or counterfeit goods.” PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM DANGEROUS PRODUCTS “This work is important in ensuring public safety, and in recent years with bad actors in China continuing to flood our nation’s borders, has become extraordinarily difficult. “These consumer safety issues have consistently been a bipartisan effort for the Congress since the enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Act in 1972, and the statute has long been explicitly clear in the way that it requires the Commission to operate and work side-by-side with industry stakeholders. “The existing law’s model has proven very successful in protecting the public against harms, while still allowing for new innovations to thrive in the marketplace. “The law mandates the Commission to defer to voluntary product safety standards when applicable and has a clear due process requirement for ensuring corrective actions are taken when problems arise. “Many of these voluntary standards are created and revised on a regular basis, in close conjunction with the American Society for Testing and Materials International, and I appreciate the tireless efforts that many in the industry do to ensure their products work effectively and safely for millions of consumers every day.” CPSC IMPOSING A RUSH-TO-GREEN AGENDA “However, I know not everyone shares the same view that this model works the way it was designed to, and I have significant concerns about the 'government-knows-best' mentality that is rampant across the Biden-Harris Administration. “When we started this Congress last year, we read reports that Commissioner Trumka had discussed the idea of a universal ban on gas stoves in this country. “The American people have made it clear to us: this type of government overreach is unacceptable. “We know those in the rush-to-green movement would like to ban all gas-powered appliances in our homes. “I’m grateful that our Committee acted quickly to denounce these ideas and moved forward with Rep. Armstrong’s bill the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act and Rep. Lesko’s companion bill in the Energy Subcommittee to prohibit this type of regulatory approach. “I’m worried that these types of 'regulate first' mandates will kill the ingenuity of the American spirit and the strongest marketplace in the globe—unfortunately that’s what the Biden-Harris Administration has become known for.” RETURNING THE CPSC TO ITS MISSION “I hope that the CPSC will not fall into this thinking any longer and instead work with Congress on ways we can ensure the American people stay safe through consensus measures. “In fact, this Committee has proven on a regular basis this year that it can deliver bipartisan wins in protecting consumers, including House passage of the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act , Rep. Trahan’s Youth Poisoning Protection Act , and Rep. Balderson’s Awning Safety Act . “In each of these bills, we’ve come to agreement to put appropriate guardrails in place to protect lives and prevent unreasonable risk of death and injury from the everyday products American consumers use. “In closing I appreciate the important work of the Commission, but similarly to my comments at our FTC hearing earlier this month, I implore the Chair to ensure that you do not erode the public’s trust and instead work with us to protect consumers. “I look forward to conducting this important oversight and to hearing each of the Commissioners’ testimonies.” 

Washington D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) delivered the following opening remarks at today’s Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee hearing titled “The Fiscal Year 2025 Consumer Product Safety Commission Budget.”  “The last time CPSC appeared before this Committee was in 2019, so this hearing is long overdue.  “I want to welcome back Chairman Hoehn-Saric, who is an alum of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the best Committee on Capitol Hill.  “I also want to welcome back Commissioner Feldman—who is the only member to testify last time commissioners were in front of this committee, and I want to thank all of the other Commission members, along with the dedicated career staff, for their service and hard work to carry out the agency’s mission.”  TAKING ACTION TO PROTECT AMERICANS   “The Energy and Commerce Committee has been leading the way this Congress to advance bipartisan solutions to protect the American people.  “One of our top priorities for this Congress has been addressing the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party.  “We have advanced policies that protect the American people from questionable products coming from China ranging from defective and unsafe products to those developed using forced labor or as a result of disturbing human rights abuses.  “Now that CPSC is at full capacity with all of its commissioners, it’s critical that the agency works to implement the important bipartisan legislation we’ve moved through this committee, especially efforts like the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, STURDY Act, and Reese’s Law, which have had the strong backing of Ranking Member Schakowsky, someone with a long track record on these issues.  “We’ve also advanced bipartisan legislation to protect Americans from hazardous products ranging from home awnings to faulty lithium-ion batteries to dangerous chemicals available online. “I look forward to working together to get those pieces of legislation signed into law as soon as possible and to continue to work in a bipartisan way to protect the American people.” KEY EFFORTS UNDERWAY AT CPSC “The CPSC has also been hard at work.  “I was pleased to see the agency prioritize the hiring of a Chief Technology Officer and Chief Data Officer to modernize the agency’s capabilities.   “I hope this leads to better efficiency and protection of the agency’s data than what we have seen in the past.    “These roles should also help the agency use their resources effectively and oversee the increased use of AI and machine learning to efficiently and accurately target hazardous products entering the country.   “I am also glad that the children’s product defect team has been reinstated, though it is still unclear to me why it was discontinued in the first place.  “Certainly, the most important action the Commission can take is to help strengthen protections for children.”  MORE WORK TO BE DONE   “While there have been many successes this Congress here at the Committee and at the Commission, there are still many areas where the CPSC needs to improve its operations, especially as we consider the agency’s budget.  “Under the leadership of the previous two acting Chairs, the Commission fell into disrepair. “Since the last time we had you all here, CPSC experienced a massive a data breach of all confidential incident data held by the Commission, imposed a six-month COVID-19 pandemic closure of port inspections, shuttered CPSC lab testing in support of enforcement and the development of the STURDY rule, accumulated around 200 open inspector general recommendations and reports showing a culture of mismanagement of agency funds, and has started to stray from its core mission in pursuit of a more politicized agenda with initiatives like a rule to ban gas stoves in the name of consumer protection when it is clearly just a backdoor attempt to advance the current administration’s radical green agenda.  “More troubling still are the claims from your own inspector general that his independence was under attack.   “While many of the IG’s recommendations have been closed out related to these specific incidents, the Commissioners need to ensure a culture at the agency that respects the IG’s independence.  “The CPSC plays an important role in helping to protect the American people from dangerous products.   “The agency is at its best when it is fulfilling its core mission, through enhancing security at our ports, protecting our kids, and ensuring companies are in compliance with the law. “I look forward to discussing how to best ensure CPSC is adhering to its core mission and how we can continue to work together to keep the American people safe.” 

Letter comes on the eve of athletes competing in the Paris Olympics and after WADA’s President refused to attend an Energy and Commerce Committee oversight hearing Washington, D.C. — In a new letter to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Witold Banka, bipartisan House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders pressed for answers regarding WADA’s handling of positive doping cases within China’s national swimming team ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. The letter contains questions that bipartisan Committee Members would have asked during a recent Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing , which Mr. Banka was invited to attend but refused to appear. Witnesses that did testify at the hearing included: Michael Phelps, American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist   Allison Schmitt, American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist   Travis Tygart , Chief Executive Officer, United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) KEY EXCERPTS:   “We write today to express our sincere disappointment at your refusal to accept our invitation to attend and provide testimony at our recent Subcommittee hearing. Members of Congress have important questions for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and are especially concerned about recent reports of your handling of dozens of cases of doping within the Chinese swimming team.  “WADA purports to maintain the integrity of sports by creating a fair and competitive sporting environment free from doping. As a U.S. taxpayer supported entity, WADA has a responsibility to the American people to ensure this integrity by enforcing international testing requirements. We believe WADA has fallen short of this important mission. ”  [...]   “ We are particularly concerned with the excessive deference being extended toward CHINADA—a state-funded operation with leadership deeply intertwined with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as current [Chinese Anti-Doping Agency] CHINADA director Li Zhiquan also serves as a Committee Secretary for the CCP. At a meeting in 2023, Zhiquan called on CHINADA employees to be 'loyal to the party' and to 'hold high the great banner of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.' Furthermore, WADA’s reported sponsorship arrangement with ANTA Sports—the Chinese athletic company sponsoring the Chinese Olympic Committee and China’s national swimming federation—could be perceived as a conflict of interest. Since WADA is expected to uphold and maintain international anti-doping standards, WADA’s apparent lack of skepticism and failure to enforce the rules against CHINADA is troubling. While we are aware that WADA has opened an investigation, we are concerned that international scrutiny was necessary to force due diligence that should be routine .”  [...]  “This incident unfortunately reinforces our concern that WADA appears to be reverting to its previous poor management practices.”  [...]  “With the Paris Summer Olympic Games Opening Ceremony just a day away , the Committee seeks to better understand the circumstances surrounding WADA’s decision not to appeal the decision to clear the twenty-three swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine.”   BACKGROUND :  In January 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers (“23 swimmers”) tested positive for trimetazidine, or TMZ, a banned substance improperly used to increase stamina and hasten recovery times.  Three months after the positive tests, CHINADA initiated an investigation into the source of the TMZ and by June 2021 claimed the athletes ingested the banned substance through food tainted in a hotel kitchen.  According to reporting, Chinese investigators “offered no explanation […] for how a prescription drug available only in pill form had contaminated an entire kitchen.”  In reliance on “external legal advice” and its science department, WADA determined that CHINADA’s claims were “plausible” and chose not to appeal the decision or further investigate the matter.  Three of these Chinese swimmers went on to win gold medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games in July of 2021.  China has selected 11 swimmers that tested positive for TMZ before the Tokyo Games to compete in the upcoming Paris Games.  In a strikingly similar case, Kamila Valieva, a Russian figure skater, also tested positive for the banned substance TMZ during the 2022 Beijing Olympics.  The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) issued a provisional suspension but was quickly cleared by RUSADA’s discipline board, since Valieva claimed she ingested the substance by mistake through a contaminated source.  Rather than simply accept RUSADA’s contamination explanation, WADA appealed the decision and ultimately, Valieva received a four-year ban from competition and was retroactively stripped of her gold medal. The letter was signed by Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., (D-NJ), Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Ranking Member Kathy Castor (D-FL). CLICK HERE to read the full letter.

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Oversight and Acoountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) sent letters to eight federal agencies today following the recent Supreme Court decision on Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo , in which the court overruled Chevron deference. Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) and House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson (R-PA) joined Chairs Rodgers and Comer on an additional letter sent to the Environmental Protection Agency. KEY LETTER EXCERPT: “We write to call to your attention Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a recent Supreme Court decision that precludes courts from deferring to agency interpretations when the statutes are ambiguous. In its decision, the Court explicitly overruled Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), which required deference to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes. By allowing such deference, the Court in Chevron enabled the ‘Administrative State’ to usurp the legislative authority that the Constitution grants exclusively to Congress in Article I. The Chevron decision led to broader, more costly and more invasive agency regulation of Americans’ lives, liberty, and property.   “Perhaps no administration has gone as far as President Biden’s in issuing sweeping Executive edicts based on questionable assertions of agency authority. The Biden administration has promulgated far more major rules, imposing vast costs and paperwork burdens, than either its most recent predecessors. Many of these rules...have been based on overreaching interpretations of statutes enacted by Congress years ago, before the issues now regulated were even imagined.   “The expansive Chevron deference has undermined our system of government, creating an unaccountable Administrative State. Thankfully, the Court has now corrected this pattern, reaffirming that ‘[i]t is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.’ Given the Biden administration’s record of agency overreach, we are compelled to underscore the implications of Loper Bright and remind you of the limitations it has set on your authority.”   CLICK HERE to read the letter to the Environmental Protection Agency. CLICK HERE to read the letter to the Federal Communications Commission.  CLICK HERE to read the letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.  CLICK HERE to read the letter to the Federal Trade Commission.  CLICK HERE to read the letter to Department of Commerce.   CLICK HERE to read the letter to the Department of Energy.  CLICK HERE to read the letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  CLICK HERE to read the letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  CLICK HERE to read the letter to the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration.

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee (E&C) Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), E&C Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chair Bob Latta (R-OH), E&C Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA), E&C Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, launched an investigation into grants made to an AI scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  The Chairs made requests for documents to UCLA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).  BACKGROUND :  On November 1, 2023, a Newsweek investigation found that the federal government awarded at least $30 million in federal research grants led by Mr. Song-Chun Zhu, who is now “at the forefront of China's race to develop the most advanced artificial intelligence.”  The investigation further revealed the NSF and DOD continued funding Mr. Zhu even as he “set up a parallel institute near Wuhan, took a position at a Beijing university whose primary goal is to support Chinese military research, and joined a CCP ‘talent plan’ whose members are tasked with transferring knowledge and technology to China.”  In particular, Newsweek found that the project once led by Mr. Zhu received $1.2 million in two grants from the Office of Naval Research in 2021, the year following his departure to China.  KEY LETTER EXCERPT:   “Mr. Zhu has openly discussed how if China takes the lead in developing a ‘truly universal intelligence,’ then it will ‘become the winner of the international technology competition.’ He has also referred to the AI race as being equivalent in military importance to the race for the atomic bomb. In a period of intensifying geopolitical competition with the CCP, ceasing federal government support for Chinese AI development is a critical national security imperative.”  CLICK HERE to read the letter to UCLA Chancellor Gener Block.  CLICK HERE to read the letter to NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan.  CLICK HERE to read the letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.