MANUFACTURERS’ AI PLAY: The National Association of Manufacturers has rolled out a framework outlining how it would like to see artificial intelligence regulated, encouraging lawmakers to make sure inaugural guardrails for the technology look beyond generative AI like the ChatGPTs of the world. — “All possible futures for modern manufacturing in the U.S. involve AI,” NAM board chair and Johnson & Johnson executive Kathryn Wengel writes in a new white paper this morning. The paper examines how AI is being deployed across the manufacturing sector and “offers policymakers a window into the future of AI in modern manufacturing — and a roadmap to help us get there,” she wrote. — Unsurprisingly, NAM’s priorities emphasize the need to avoid “duplicative and burdensome requirements” for AI developers and those deploying it, which the organization says could hamstring growth. — NAM is warning policymakers not to assume that laws and regulations already on the books can’t be reworked to account for AI-related concerns, while advocating that they avoid a one-size-fits-all approach that isn’t tailored to specific use cases of the technology. — One such example of a burdensome compliance requirement would be third-party audits, the framework says, adding that “policymakers should remain mindful that the deployers of an AI system would depend on representations … made by the system’s developer” when crafting a compliance regime. — As European policymakers pull ahead in formulating landmark AI rules, NAM is pushing for a “globally aligned regulatory environment” led by the U.S. “rather than a patchwork of redundant or incompatible laws,” investments in career and technical education programs, and a federal data privacy law that “also protect[s] manufacturers from frivolous litigation.” VAUGHN HEADS TO BGR: Longtime GOP spokesperson Emma Vaughn has joined BGR Group as a vice president of public relations. Vaughn has spent most of the past four years at the RNC, serving as one of its top spokespeople in Florida, and for the committee’s joint fundraising venture with the 2020 Trump campaign before serving as national press secretary and, most recently, deputy communications director. She’s also done several stints on the Hill with Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Dave Joyce (R-Ohio). CHAMBER SWIPES BACK AT GOP TAX INQUIRY: “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing back on an investigation by the House Ways and Means Committee into donations it received from a left-leaning nonprofit and reporting by a right-wing outlet that prompted the inquiry,” per The Hill’s Taylor Giorno. — “The chair of the chief tax-writing committee, Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), sent a letter Monday to Chamber President and CEO Suzanne Clark and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation President Carolyn Cawley requesting information on donations from the Tides Foundation,” a nonprofit that has received donations from Democratic megadonor George Soros’ nonprofit group Open Society Foundations. — “Between 2018 and 2022, tax records first reported by the right-wing outlet Breitbart News indicate the Tides Foundation gave more than $12 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation for purposes including ‘economic development,’ ‘project support’ and ‘equality, human rights and economic empowerment.’” — “Citing the Breitbart report, Smith said in his Monday letter that the Tides Foundation ‘partners with and sponsors several anti-business organizations’ that appear to conflict with the Chamber’s mission to support small businesses and raised questions about the business lobbying giant’s tax-exempt status.” — But the head of the Chamber foundation’s Hiring our Heroes program, Eric Eversole, said the Breitbart report’s assertion that the Chamber is leaning on “Soros-funded groups and Democrats to keep dwindling operations alive” was “inaccurate.” Eversole told The Hill that the donations in question “were charitable contributions from corporations made to the donor advised fund” run by Tides, meaning it’s almost impossible to trace the flow of individual donations. DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING!: Our Rebecca Kern reports that “TikTok and its parent company ByteDance sued Tuesday to challenge a law President Joe Biden signed to force the sale or ban of the video sharing app.” — “The petition filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit claims the law violates the First Amendment rights of its 170 million American users. It says the law shuts down the platform based on ‘speculative and analytically flawed concerns about data security and content manipulation.’” — “For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban,” the companies said in their complaint. TikTok and ByteDance are being represented by Covington & Burling and Mayer Brown in the case. MORE JUUL INFLUENCE EFFORTS COME TO LIGHT: “Two New York University professors collaborated directly with executives of the vaping company Juul without disclosing those relationships to academic journals or Congress,” per Stat News’ Nicholas Florko. — “At the height of the youth vaping crisis, when many public health experts were calling for sweeping action that could upend the entire industry, David Abrams and Ray Niaura emerged as two authoritative voices willing to defend vaping — despite its growing popularity among youth — as an effective public health strategy to help adults cut back or quit smoking.” — “There is no evidence either professor was paid for his work with the company. However, conflict-of-interest experts STAT spoke to said that even non-financial ties to Juul should have been reported, as did editors at several journals that published papers by Abrams and Niaura.” FLY-IN SZN: The fitness industry kicked off a fly-in today to rally support for legislation that would let people use pre-tax medical accounts like FSAs and HSAs to pay for fitness-related expenses. — Members of the Health and Fitness Association have more than 120 meetings on the books, and the fly-in is timed to the release of new data commissioned by the trade group that’s aimed at highlighting the fitness industry’s economic impact and making the case that the industry should be considered an important stakeholder in the policy shift toward preventive health care. — The American Land Title Association, which represents the land title industry, kicked off its fly-in on Monday, with more than 250 members from across the country in town to meet with 60 different lawmakers and staff from 200 offices on the Hill. — The Household & Commercial Products Association brought representatives from 18 member companies to town today to push for an increase in EPA funding for IT modernization at the agency and for addressing regulatory backlogs the industry says hamper innovation. Executives were slated to meet with staff for House Speaker Mike Johnson and more than a dozen other offices. — Tomorrow, meanwhile, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is flying in 75 volunteer leaders from around the country. Participants have more than 130 House and Senate offices on their schedules, where they will push for expanded access to health care around hearing, balance, speech, language, swallowing and cognition. — The American Recovery Association, which represents the repossession industry, will hold its first in-person fly-in tomorrow. The group will meet with more than a dozen congressional offices and administration officials to talk about how to prevent unintended consequences to consumers and ways to boost the auto-finance industry. — Also tomorrow, members of the Construction Employers of America will wrap up a three-day fly-in during which they have discussed reviving key business tax cuts, increased enforcement of the new Davis-Bacon Act, independent contractor and project labor agreement rules and apprenticeship issues.
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