Blackburn Focused on Judiciary Committee’s Privacy Bill Jurisdiction
The Senate Privacy Subcommittee is focused on the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction over privacy legislation, but expect collaboration with the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told us Thursday. Other senators offered views on the White House's plans to work with tech companies to build a healthcare data-sharing system (see 2507310067).
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Blackburn chaired the subcommittee’s Wednesday hearing on comprehensive privacy (see 2507300073). Asked if she’s preparing a comprehensive bill with ranking member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., she said, “We’ll see where we get with this. [Wednesday] was really a positive, helpful hearing. We discussed what the foundational elements should be and the need to get it done in front of a lot of the AI legislation. And there was complete agreement on that” from witnesses.
Blackburn’s opposition to the Senate’s proposed AI moratorium last month was fueled by her interest in defending intellectual property rights against AI-generated content (see 2507210042).
Asked about any privacy-related conversations with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, she said, “We’re just focused on what we’re doing at Judiciary. I know that you’ll see something come from Commerce also, and I’m sure we’ll all work together.”
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us last month she’s had recent conversations with committee members, but not Cruz, about privacy legislation (see 2507170046). Cruz said earlier this year he believes kids’ privacy measures are more likely to move than comprehensive privacy (see 2501030039). The committee in June unanimously passed legislation that would expand the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to cover teens up to the age of 16.
Senate Commerce Democrats told us Thursday there’s increased urgency for a federal privacy law after President Donald Trump’s healthcare announcement. A New York legislator told us last week that the White House plan increases the urgency to sign into law her health privacy bill that passed the state legislature in January (see 2507310030). Consumer advocates also raised concerns with Trump's plan (see 2508040021).
“I’m very worried about privacy,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a Judiciary member. “There appear to be no safeguards for consumer information, and I’m worried about how it will be shared and potentially exploited.” Blumenthal said members are “talking all the time about” comprehensive privacy legislation.
Statistical analysis should allow medical professionals to do a better job of understanding conditions and treatment, but “at what cost?” asked Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., a Commerce member. These healthcare datasets will benefit large language models owned by a small number of companies and a small number of investors, he said: “Of course” it raises privacy concerns.
The lack of proper safeguards for consumer data is a “dangerous prescription” for putting Americans’ healthcare more at risk, said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., a Commerce member.
Trump and the White House have emphasized that the data-sharing agreement will be “opt-in” for consumers.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., attended the announcement ceremony. He said the agreement reflects the direction of modern healthcare. It will bring a “lot of people together and allow them to feed the information back to individuals,” he said. “I’m convinced it’s not only going to lead to a higher quality of life for a lot of people out there, it’s actually going to be the first step at saving dollars long-term on healthcare in the U.S.”
“You should always have concerns about [privacy], but I think we can handle those concerns because right now, we’ve got strong laws on the books regarding that today,” he added. “Simply making decisions faster and gathering more data doesn’t change the need for privacy. Nor does it impact our ability to protect their information.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who has been vocal on the need to better protect health-related data that isn’t covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (see 2507250042), also attended the announcement ceremony.