[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 101 (Thursday, June 10, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4045-S4048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION
By Mr. PADILLA (for himself, Ms. Warren, Mrs. Feinstein, and Mr.
Markey):
S. 2004. A bill to provide for the basic needs of students at
institutions of higher education; to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mrs. President, I rise to speak in support of the
``BASIC Act,'' which I introduced today.
I know how important it is to help students cover the full cost of
attending college, including tuition and fees, housing, food,
transportation, books, medical, childcare and supplies.
In California, even though State and institutional aid programs cover
full tuition and fees for about half of students attending a California
State University, University of California and California Community
College, students struggle to pay for the remaining cost of attendance.
Each year, over 300,000 eligible applicants do not receive a state
Cal Grant because of limited availability. Non-tuition college costs
can exceed $20K annually. Low-income students may spend about half
their family income on out-of-pocket costs after grant aid. This bill
will help accelerate California's work to make college affordable and
provide funding to reach more schools across California and across our
Nation. This is especially important at a time when community college
enrollment has slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among
students of color, lower-income students, and students who have left to
work or take care of family members.
As we work to build back better and increase affordability and
accessibility
[[Page S4046]]
of higher education, we must help our students stay in school.
That is why I am proud to introduce this bill to authorize $1 billion
for a new grant program to help institutions of higher education meet
students' basic needs.
This funding represents an essential aspect of building more
equitable paths to higher education, and it represents an investment in
our students, our institutions, and our future.
This legislation recognizes the disproportionate impact this pandemic
has on vulnerable populations and it helps coordinate assistance across
federal agency lines.
I want to thank Senator Warren and Representative Torres for
introducing this bill with me, and I hope our colleagues will join us
in support of this bill that ensures no student is forced to choose
between their education and food or housing.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
______
By Mr. REED (for himself, Ms. Collins, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Cortez
Masto, and Ms. Klobuchar):
S. 2008. A bill to strengthen the United States Interagency Council
on Homelessness; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs.
Mr. REED, Mr. President, along with Senator Collins, I am
reintroducing legislation that would eliminate the sunset date for the
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (the Council or
USICH) so that this agency can build upon its success in helping to
prevent and end homelessness nationally.
The Council was established under the Reagan Administration as part
of the landmark Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, Since
that time, it has worked across the Federal government and the private
sector to coordinate homeless assistance nationally. In 2009, e
Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act,
which I authored along with Senator Collins, expanded the Council's
role to work with public, non-profit, and private stakeholders to
develop a national strategic plan to end homelessness. According to the
Council, the Council's work ``has helped drive homelessness down by 9%
and helped 82 communities effectively end veteran homelessness and four
end chronic homelessness'' since 2010.
Even with this progress, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development's 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress found
that on ``a single night in 2020, roughly 580,000 people were
experiencing homelessness in the United States'' and ``2020 mark] ed]
the first time since data collection began that more individuals
experiencing homelessness were unsheltered than were sheltered.''
Clearly, we have more work to do. and if anything, COVID-19 has
further highlighted the critical importance of housing. Indeed, for
many families, their homes may be the single most effective and
accessible form of personal protective equipment. And we also know that
continuing to invest in programs to address homelessness and increase
affordable housing pays additional dividends. According to Crossroads
Rhode Island, a homeless services organization, ``In 2016,
approximately 90% of individuals experiencing homelessness in Rhode
Island were on Medicaid,'' and ``The average annual Medicaid cost for a
person experiencing homelessness in Rhode Island ($14,723) was 80%
higher than that of the average Medicaid recipient ($8,200).'' In
short, helping families avoid homelessness can actually save taxpayers
money.
This is what we call a win-win, and the Council is uniquely
positioned to facilitate a whole of government approach that marshals
the resources of the Council's 19 federal member agencies to help more
communities effectively address homelessness and also potentially save
taxpayer funds. Our bipartisan legislation ensures that the Council's
doors remain open until there truly is an end to homelessness
nationwide.
I thank the many groups that support our legislation including the
National Low Income Housing Coalition, Local Initiatives Support
Corporation, the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities,
HousingWorksRI, and others. I urge our colleagues to join Senator
Collins and me in supporting this legislation.
______
By Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. Grassley):
S. 2009. A bill to promote transparency by permitting the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board to allow its disciplinary
proceedings to be open to the public, and for other purposes; to the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Mr. REED. Mr. President. the Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board (PCAOB) Enforcement Transparency Act, which I reintroduce today
with Senator Grassley, will bring needed transparency to the
disciplinary proceedings the PCAOB has brought against auditors and
audit firms earlier in the process.
Nearly two decades ago, in response to a series of massive financial
reporting frauds, including those involving Enron and WorldCom. the
Senate Banking Committee held multiple hearings, which produced
consensus on various underlying causes, including weak corporate
governance, a lack of accountability, and inadequate oversight of
accountants charged with auditing public companies' financial
statements. Later, in a 99 to 0 vote, the Senate passed the Sarbanes-
Oxley Act of 2002 to address the structural weaknesses revealed by the
hearings. Among its many provisions, this law called for the creation
of an independent board, the PCAOB, responsible for overseeing auditors
of public companies in order to protect investors who rely on
independent audit reports on the financial statements of public
companies.
Today, the PCAOB, under the oversight of the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), oversees more than 1,700 registered
accounting firms, as well as the audit partners and staff who
contribute to a firm's work on each audit. The Board's ability to begin
proceedings that can determine whether there have been violations of
its auditing standards or rules of professional practice is a crucial
component of its oversight. However, unlike other oversight bodies, the
Board's disciplinary proceedings cannot be made public without consent
from the parties involved. Of course, parties subject to disciplinary
proceedings have no incentive to consent to publicizing their alleged
wrongdoing and these proceedings typically remain cloaked behind a veil
of secrecy. In addition, the Board cannot publicize the results of its
disciplinary proceedings until after the appeals process has been
completely exhausted, which can often take several years.
This lack of transparency invites abuse and undermines the
Congressional intent behind the PCAOB, which was to shine a bright
light on auditing firms and practices, deter misconduct and bolster the
accountability of auditors of public companies to the investing public.
Our bill will restore transparency by making hearings by the PCAOB,
and all related notices, orders, and motions, transparent and available
to the public unless otherwise ordered by the Board. This would more
closely align the PCAOB's procedures with those of the SEC for
analogous matters.
Increasing transparency and accountability of audit firms subject to
PCAOB disciplinary proceedings bolsters investor confidence in our
financial markets and better protects companies from problematic
auditors. I hope our colleagues will join Senator Grassley and me in
supporting this legislation to enhance transparency in the PCAOB's
enforcement process.
______
By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. Kelly, and Mr. Menendez):
S. 2022. A bill to enable States to better provide access to whole
genome sequencing clinical services for certain undiagnosed children
under the Medicaid program, and for other purposes; to the Committee on
Finance.
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the ``Ending
the Diagnostic Odyssey Act.'' This legislation gives States the option
of providing whole genome sequencing (WGS) clinical services through
edicaid for children with a disease that is suspected to have a genetic
cause, at an enhanced Federal matching rate for three years. I am
pleased to be joined by Senators Kelly and Menendez.
Children with rare diseases will spend on average five to seven years
on a diagnostic odyssey, and 30 percent of
[[Page S4047]]
those children will not survive beyond the age of five years old. The
average patient sees seven different physicians in that time. The wait
to find a cause--never mind a cure--can be excruciating. Parents try to
project a calm and reassuring presence for their child while facing a
whirlwind of doctor appointments, hospital visits, and unanswered
questions.
Undeniably, we are making progress in both accelerating research
funding for rare diseases as well as in the development of diagnostics.
In 2014, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a program
called the Undiagnosed Disease Network (UDN). In its first 20 months,
the UDN accepted 601 participants undiagnosed by traditional medical
practices. Of those who completed their UDN evaluation during this
time, 35% were given a diagnosis. Many of these diagnoses were rare
genetic diseases including 31 previously unknown syndromes.
In May 2019, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr.
Francis Collins, wrote a blog post on how whole genome sequencing--
combined with artificial intelligence (AI)--can now be used to diagnose
genetic diseases in seriously ill babies in fewer than 24 hours. Dr.
Collins writes ``I would submit that there is no other technology in
the history of planet Earth that has experienced this degree of
progress in speed and affordability.''
For parents of children with an undiagnosed illness, answers cannot
come soon enough. There are approximately 7,000 rare diseases known
today. Approximately 80 percent of rare diseases are genetic, and about
one-half of all rare diseases affect children. For example, Alstrom
syndrome is an extremely rare and complex genetic disorder.
Approximately 1200 affected individuals have been identified worldwide,
which makes a obtaining a correct diagnosis challenging.
Characteristics of Alstrom syndrome include vision disturbances,
sensorineural hearing impairment, cardiomyopathy, obesity, kidney
dysfunction, and diabetes. Robin Marshall, Executive Director of the
Alstrom Syndrome International, located in Mount Desert Island, Maine,
has said that ``Whole Genome Sequencing has changed the lives of those
we represent by enabling earlier and more accurate diagnosis, fostering
more timely and appropriate medical care, and unlocking a host of
social services to combat the educational and psycho-social
complications that our children confront.''
By giving states an incentive to provide whole genome sequencing for
eligible children through Medicaid, my legislation will ensure that
more children and their families can obtain the right diagnosis and
treatment from the start. The ``Ending the Diagnostic Odyssey Act'' has
the support of more than one hundred patient advocacy organizations,
including Alstrom Syndrome International, the Genetic Alliance, the
Personalized Medicine Coalition, and many others. I urge my colleagues
to support this legislation.
______
By Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Moran, Mrs.
Blackburn, Mr. Warner, and Mr. Schatz):
S. 2024. A bill to require that internet platforms give users the
option to engage with a platform without being manipulated by
algorithms driven by user-specific data; to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 2024
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Filter Bubble Transparency
Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Algorithmic ranking system.--The term ``algorithmic
ranking system'' means a computational process, including one
derived from algorithmic decision-making, machine learning,
statistical analysis, or other data processing or artificial
intelligence techniques, used to determine the order or
manner that a set of information is provided to a user on a
covered internet platform, including the ranking of search
results, the provision of content recommendations, the
display of social media posts, or any other method of
automated content selection.
(2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Trade Commission.
(3) Connected device.--The term ``connected device'' means
a physical object that--
(A) is capable of connecting to the internet, either
directly or indirectly through a network, to communicate
information at the direction of an individual; and
(B) has computer processing capabilities for collecting,
sending, receiving, or analyzing data.
(4) Covered internet platform.--
(A) In general.--The term ``covered internet platform''
means any public-facing website, internet application, or
mobile application, including a social network site, video
sharing service, search engine, or content aggregation
service.
(B) Exclusions.--Such term shall not include a platform
that--
(i) is wholly owned, controlled, and operated by a person
that--
(I) for the most recent 6-month period, did not employ more
than 500 employees;
(II) for the most recent 3-year period, averaged less than
$50,000,000 in annual gross receipts; and
(III) collects or processes on an annual basis the personal
data of less than 1,000,000 individuals; or
(ii) is operated for the sole purpose of conducting
research that is not made for profit either directly or
indirectly.
(5) Input-transparent algorithm.--
(A) In general.--The term ``input-transparent algorithm''
means an algorithmic ranking system that does not use the
user-specific data of a user to determine the order or manner
that information is furnished to such user on a covered
internet platform, unless the user-specific data is expressly
provided to the platform by the user for such purpose.
(B) Inclusion of age-appropriate content filters.--Such
term shall include an algorithmic ranking system that uses
user-specific data to determine whether a user is old enough
to access age-restricted content on a covered internet
platform, provided that the system otherwise meets the
requirements of subparagraph (A).
(C) Data provided for express purpose of interaction with
platform.--For purposes of subparagraph (A), user-specific
data that is provided by a user for the express purpose of
determining the order or manner that information is furnished
to a user on a covered internet platform--
(i) shall include user-supplied search terms, filters,
speech patterns (if provided for the purpose of enabling the
platform to accept spoken input or selecting the language in
which the user interacts with the platform), saved
preferences, and the user's current geographical location;
(ii) shall include data supplied to the platform by the
user that expresses the user's desire that information be
furnished to them, such as the social media profiles the user
follows, the video channels the user subscribes to, or other
sources of content on the platform the user follows;
(iii) shall not include the history of the user's connected
device, including the user's history of web searches and
browsing, geographical locations, physical activity, device
interaction, and financial transactions; and
(iv) shall not include inferences about the user or the
user's connected device, without regard to whether such
inferences are based on data described in clause (i).
(6) Opaque algorithm.--
(A) In general.--The term ``opaque algorithm'' means an
algorithmic ranking system that determines the order or
manner that information is furnished to a user on a covered
internet platform based, in whole or part, on user-specific
data that was not expressly provided by the user to the
platform for such purpose.
(B) Exception for age-appropriate content filters.--Such
term shall not include an algorithmic ranking system used by
a covered internet platform if--
(i) the only user-specific data (including inferences about
the user) that the system uses is information relating to the
age of the user; and
(ii) such information is only used to restrict a user's
access to content on the basis that the individual is not old
enough to access such content.
(7) Search syndication contract; upstream provider;
downstream provider.--
(A) Search syndication contract.--The term ``search
syndication contract'' means a contract or subcontract for
the sale, license, or other right to access an index of web
pages on the internet for the purpose of operating an
internet search engine.
(B) Upstream provider.--The term ``upstream provider''
means, with respect to a search syndication contract, the
person that grants access to an index of web pages on the
internet to a downstream provider under the contract.
(C) Downstream provider.--The term ``downstream provider''
means, with respect to a search syndication contract, the
person that receives access to an index of web pages on the
internet from an upstream provider under such contract.
(8) User-specific data.--The term ``user-specific data''
means information relating to an individual or a specific
connected device that would not necessarily be true of every
individual or device.
[[Page S4048]]
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO ALLOW USERS TO SEE UNMANIPULATED
CONTENT ON INTERNET PLATFORMS.
(a) In General.--Beginning on the date that is 1 year after
the date of enactment of this Act, it shall be unlawful--
(1) for any person to operate a covered internet platform
that uses an opaque algorithm unless the person complies with
the requirements of subsection (b); or
(2) for any upstream provider to grant access to an index
of web pages on the internet under a search syndication
contract that does not comply with the requirements of
subsection (c).
(b) Opaque Algorithm Requirements.--
(1) In general.--The requirements of this subsection with
respect to a person that operates a covered internet platform
that uses an opaque algorithm are the following:
(A) The person provides notice to users of the platform
that the platform uses an opaque algorithm that makes
inferences based on user-specific data to select the content
the user sees. Such notice shall be presented in a clear,
conspicuous manner on the platform whenever the user
interacts with an opaque algorithm for the first time, and
may be a one-time notice that can be dismissed by the user.
(B) The person makes available a version of the platform
that uses an input-transparent algorithm and enables users to
easily switch between the version of the platform that uses
an opaque algorithm and the version of the platform that uses
the input-transparent algorithm by selecting a prominently
placed icon, which shall be displayed wherever the user
interacts with an opaque algorithm.
(2) Nonapplication to certain downstream providers.--
Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to an internet
search engine if--
(A) the search engine is operated by a downstream provider
with fewer than 1,000 employees; and
(B) the search engine uses an index of web pages on the
internet to which such provider received access under a
search syndication contract.
(c) Search Syndication Contract Requirement.--The
requirements of this subsection with respect to a search
syndication contract are that--
(1) as part of the contract, the upstream provider makes
available to the downstream provider the same input-
transparent algorithm used by the upstream provider for
purposes of complying with subsection (b)(1)(B); and
(2) the upstream provider does not impose any additional
costs, degraded quality, reduced speed, or other constraint
on the functioning of such algorithm when used by the
downstream provider to operate an internet search engine
relative to the performance of such algorithm when used by
the upstream provider to operate an internet search engine.
SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT BY FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.
(a) Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices.--A violation of
this Act by an operator of a covered internet platform shall
be treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or
deceptive act or practice prescribed under section
18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.
57a(a)(1)(B)).
(b) Powers of Commission.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (3), the
Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this Act in the same
manner, by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction,
powers, and duties as though all applicable terms and
provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41
et seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of this Act.
(2) Privileges and immunities.--Except as provided in
paragraph (3), any person who violates this Act shall be
subject to the penalties and entitled to the privileges and
immunities provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act (15
U.S.C. 41 et seq.).
(3) Common carriers and nonprofit organizations.--
Notwithstanding section 4, 5(a)(2), or 6 of the Federal Trade
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 44, 45(a)(2), 46) or any
jurisdictional limitation of the Commission, the Commission
shall also enforce this Act, in the same manner provided in
paragraphs (1) and (2) of this paragraph, with respect to--
(A) common carriers subject to the Communications Act of
1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) and Acts amendatory thereof and
supplementary thereto; and
(B) organizations not organized to carry on business for
their own profit or that of their members.
(4) Authority preserved.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to limit the authority of the Commission under any
other provision of law.
____________________