Michael Kratsios and Mark Meador on Feb. 25. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Michael Kratsios, President Trump's nominee to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told senators on Tuesday it's "common sense" to evaluate agencies for possible DOGE cuts.
Why it matters: If confirmed, Kratsios will advise Trump and work with AI and crypto czar David Sacks on tech regulation and policy.
During the Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing for Kratsios and Republican FTC commissioner nominee Mark Meador, Chair Ted Cruz and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell held up Majorana 1 from Microsoft, which the company says is the world's first quantum chip that can scale to a quantum supercomputer.
- It was a show of the bipartisan desire for the U.S. to win the global tech race, but differences quickly emerged on the effectiveness of the Trump administration's approach.
Elon Musk's DOGE has impacted the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's teams focused on AI safety and CHIPS and Science Act implementation.
- Kratsios said he would defer to Trump and the Office of Management and Budget on whether NSF funding should be cut and how much. Cuts to the agency could reportedly be as deep as 66%.
Kratsios would be at the center of developing a new AI action plan, and the White House is currently fielding comments for it.
- Kratsios said some components of CHIPS are "extremely important" for AI.
- He deferred to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in response to Sen. Ted Young's request to commit that existing CHIPS agreements will be honored. Lutnick has said he intends to review the CHIPS program.
On freeing up spectrum for commercial use, Kratsios said it can be done while also making sure national security is not compromised.
- Lawmakers are looking to free up spectrum, as it can generate billions of dollars for the federal government, but there is pushback from the Defense Department and its allies on the Hill.
- Kratsios: "I think we just have to bring to bear the great science and technologists at OSTP to help solve the critical technical problems, or technical challenges, associated with freeing up some of the spectrum."
Catch up quick: Kratsios, managing director at Scale AI, was chief technology officer during Trump's first term and comes from tech billionaire Peter Thiel's world.
Also before the committee was Meador, a longtime government antitrust lawyer who's worked for DOJ, FTC and Sen. Mike Lee.
- He did not commit to continuing or shutting down any ongoing competition inquiries and cases, said the FTC would be looking into Big Tech censorship, and told Sen. Marsha Blackburn he wanted to work with Congress on updated laws to protect kids online.
- Sen. Ben Ray Luján pressed him on maintaining the agency's independence, an idea which Trump has gone after. Not specifically addressing ongoing court cases around that, Meador said he'd uphold the law in his position.
The bottom line: Kratsios and Meador are among Trump's less controversial nominees and are likely to be confirmed easily once they advance out of the committee.
