Sen. Klobuchar Fails To Address Bipartisan Concerns In Amended S. 2992

WASHINGTON , May 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, CCIA's Don't Break What Works campaign released the following statement regarding the revised version of S. 2992 that Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is proposing.

"This revised legislation concedes all of the bill's problems but solves none of them. The bill still fails to address the deep concerns raised by senators on both sides of the aisle during January's markup. Despite promises to senators to improve the legislation, it continues to be dangerous on multiple fronts: It greatly disadvantages American companies to the benefit of Chinese competitors, jeopardizes Americans' privacy and device security, and weakens our nation's cybersecurity all while breaking the services American consumers love. What's more, new language explicitly carves out large telco and payments companies, showing the influence of corporate lobbying on Senator Klobuchar," said Chandler Smith Costello, a spokeswoman for the "Don't Break What Works" campaign.

Background
As evidenced from the legislative text, the changes to this bill were done through a closed-door process without input from key members of both parties, including some that raised objections at the Judiciary mark-up in January.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) would undermine U.S. global competitiveness, break some of Americans' most popular products and services, limit innovation, weaken cybersecurity, and increase prices.

Learn more about how AICOA would break some of American consumers' favorite products, hurt small businesses and disadvantage American companies here.

National security experts and several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have detailed their concerns about risks the bill poses for national security, cybersecurity and data protection. You can read more here, here, here, here, and here. Twelve former national security officials, including former directors of the CIA and a former Director of National Intelligence, also sounded the alarm around the national security implications of proposals like S. 2992. (Read more here.) More about the impact S. 2992 would have on data security and national security is available here and here.

S. 2992 would also exacerbate inflation at a time when Americans are struggling amid 40-year record high inflation. Digital services can combat inflation by lowering prices as more consumers use each good or service, making it easier for consumers to compare prices and ensuring price transparency. This leads to further productivity, improvements in supply chain efficiency, and lower supply costs—ultimately resulting in lower prices.

More on the highly-problematic legislation here.

The Don't Break What Works campaign is powered by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). Learn more here.

SOURCE The Computer and Communications Industry Association