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Commerce Committee Agenda Included Bipartisan Tech, Security and Safety Bills
Summary
The chair listed a slate of bipartisan bills at the Commerce Committee markup, covering gate safety, online fentanyl access, social‑media mental‑health warnings, satellite and aviation security, and reauthorizations for ocean partnerships and quantum research; formal consideration was postponed when many Democrats left the session.
The chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation outlined a slate of bipartisan measures scheduled for a markup that was later recessed after many Democratic members left the session.
He described the "Alex Gates Safety Act," offered by senators Curtis and Klobuchar, which would direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to address automatic sliding gates; the bill is named for Alex Kwanbeck, a 7‑year‑old who died in a gate incident in 2019. The chair said the "No Fentanyl on Social Media Act," introduced with Sen. Klobuchar and Sen. Blunt Rochester, would direct the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Health and Human Services to report on minors' access to fentanyl via social platforms.
Other listed measures included the "Stop the Scroll Act," which the chair said would require a warning label about social media mental‑health harms; the "Secure Space Act," which would bar FCC licenses and U.S. market access for certain satellite systems held or controlled by foreign adversaries; the "Satellite Cybersecurity Act," which would create a Department of Commerce clearinghouse of cybersecurity resources; and the "Safeguards Act," which would modify the mandatory aviation security fee to direct more funds to aviation security capital and checkpoint security technology.
The chair also noted two program reauthorizations: a reform and reauthorization of regional ocean partnerships and the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act, which he said would support new centers and testbeds to advance federal quantum research. Committee Republicans described the agenda as "overwhelmingly bipartisan," but the session did not produce votes before the recess called by the chair.
