i2Coalition Internet Infrastructure Policy Brief: July 2026

Your brief update on important Internet policy issues

OUTLOOK

In late July, the U.S. House departed Washington for a 5-week break, enabling members to spend significant time in their districts and around the country campaigning in preparation for the fast-approaching November midterm elections. Before the recess, the House passed three key measures: its version of the annual defense authorization bill (NDAA), a $95 billion budget resolution laying the groundwork to provide supplemental funding for the US-Iran conflict, and a continuing resolution through December 4 which would avoid a federal government shutdown at the close of the current fiscal year. The Senate, which has planned to be in session through early August, worked on priority measures including a Russia sanctions bill, a Senate-drafted continuing resolution to fund the federal government through December 4, and priority Cabinet nominations. While the Senate confirmed Jay Clayton as Director of National Intelligence, the confirmation process for Todd Blanche to serve as Attorney General (AG) was stalled. Two Republican retiring members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, blocked the initial committee vote to approve Blanche. They demanded that the Trump Administration formally end a $1.776 billion fund created to compensate individuals who claim they were targeted or mistreated by improper government actions, and narrow the government’s tax audit protections for the president, his family, and his businesses. At month’s end, the stalemate on the Blanche AG confirmation continued. The President separately amplified his complaints about Senate Republican Majority Leader Thune’s refusal to bring the controversial voter I.D. bill, the SAVE Act, to a Senate floor vote, despite Thune’s insistence that the bill lacks sufficient support to pass in the Senate. Democrats in the House and Senate meanwhile closed out the summer work period determined to emphasize in their midterm campaign messaging that ordinary Americans are mired in an affordability crisis, deepened by the collateral economic damage of the US-Iran conflict that the president launched without Congressional approval, and which has no apparent end in sight. 

TECH POLICY PRIORITIES 

Intermediary Liability/Content Moderation. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) led an effort to include the STOP CSAM Act within the Senate version of the annual defense bill, the NDAA. The full Senate has not yet passed its NDAA measure. In the fall, the Senate may focus instead on engaging in negotiations with the House to craft a final, negotiated NDAA measure that can pass in both bodies by year-end. 

Federal Privacy. The Senate Commerce Committee noticed an August 5 markup that will address kids online safety bills, including the Senate version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the SCREEN Act, a bill designed to prevent minors from accessing online adult content. The House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders continued to defer committee action on the comprehensive federal data privacy bill, the Secure Data Act, until after the long summer recess period. 

Copyright/IP. A federal judge approved Anthropic’s $1.5 billion settlement with authors and publishers over the company’s use of copyrighted books to train its Claude AI models, marking the largest copyright settlement in U.S. history. The decision still leaves key questions unresolved surrounding the legality of AI training on copyrighted content. 

Antitrust/Competition. Republican Utah Sen. John Curtis introduced legislation to require at least three members of the FTC to act whenever the agency formally adopts new regulations or broad policies. President Trump nominated Adam Candeub to head the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice. Candeub currently serves as the FCC general counsel. 

Broadband. The Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee scheduled a July 30 hearing to explore AI’s role in transforming U.S. telecom networks, focusing on reliability, cybersecurity, and innovation. The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the Accelerating Broadband Permits Act of 2026, a measure sponsored by Majority Leader Thune (R-SD) and Senator Luján (D-NM). This bill would make specified changes to improve processes for federal review of communications and broadband infrastructure projects in the BEAD program.

Find Out More

For more in-depth updates on Internet policy, including issues that specifically impact your organization, please contact us about joining the i2Coalition.