Congress is kicking off budget talks for FY2025, and the heads of tech agencies are warning that any cuts will be dire for science and research, Maria reports.

Why it matters: Lawmakers and administration officials are piling on work for federal agencies as the U.S. competes in a global tech race.

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Science Foundation are flooded with CHIPS and Science Act and AI executive order mandates.
• The directors of both agencies were on the Hill this week telling lawmakers that budget cuts will hurt their efforts to outcompete China and support advanced technologies in the U.S.

State of play: House Appropriations Committee Republicans want nondefense cuts across the board, with NIST targeted for a 6% slash in FY25.

• NIST is requesting an increase of $13.9 million for quantum and $47.5 million for AI research, as well as nearly $312 million for facility needs.
• NIST director Laurie Locascio said at a hearing yesterday that budget cuts would make it hard to protect existing federal staff.
• The FY24 budget cuts resulted in a hiring freeze and letting go of students and postdocs who were working on electric vehicle, clinical and biological standards, she said.

Locascio noted that the agency is on track meet all of its AI executive order deadlines but said that "it will be very, very tough moving forward if we don't get additional funding for the AI Safety Institute," which is housed at NIST.

NSF is requesting $10.2 billion next year, $1.14 billion more than Congress provided in FY24.

• The agency wants $30 million for the second year of its AI research pilot, more than $2 billion for R&D in critical technology areas like AI and quantum, and $1.4 billion for STEM education and workforce development programs.
• At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing today, NSF director Sethuraman Panchanathan said the agency is "essentially just catching up" from the FY24 budget cuts with the president's FY25 request.
• "At the same time as we're having this going on, China invested 10% more in their science budget," he told appropriators.

What we're watching: Even though Congress is behind on funding the CHIPS and Science programs they passed into law, lawmakers are pushing proposals for more funding.

• One goal in the Senate AI report is to funnel $32 billion a year to nondefense AI work, a spending level proposed by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
• The Senate working group suggested that committees develop emergency appropriations language to fill the gap between current spending levels and this $32 billion ask.

The American Privacy Rights Act and the Kids Online Safety Act advanced today out of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee markup, despite members raising many tweaks they'd like to see before the bills are final, Ashley reports.

The big picture: A new draft of APRA, released this week, has already received considerable criticism from industry and members of Congress.

• As we reported yesterday, Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer need to see major changes to APRA before offering support.
• The Kids Online Safety Act advanced out of the subcommittee by voice vote.

What they're saying: Tech and business industry representatives still opposed to APRA need to "start being honest that they really don't want a viable solution, perhaps … but they really don't want to admit that," said E&C Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers.

Friction point: Members brought up various issues with the draft APRA bill, including definitions, civil rights, extra protections for minors and the treatment of data brokers.

• Members said this version is stronger than it was before, but they don't yet consider it a finished product.

On KOSA, Rep. Lori Trahan said she wanted to see the bill include an original provision that would allow for independent research led by the Department of Commerce.

• Rep. Jay Obernolte said he was concerned about KOSA's "duty of care" provision, saying it was unclear and would confuse companies.
• Ranking Member Frank Pallone also pushed back against the duty of care language, saying he worried it "could cause social media companies to over-filter content out of an abundance of caution about legal risk, and as a result some young people could lose access to helpful and even lifesaving content."

What's next: The full committee can now take up both KOSA and APRA, but expect a lot of fighting over the details before the bills get past that step in the House.

⚛️ New AI bill: Sens. Maria Cantwell and Jerry Moran today introduced the bipartisan NSF AI Education Act, which would authorize the agency to award scholarships and create fellowships in AI and quantum.

🤝 AI readout: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer yesterday convened committee chairs to discuss the future of AI legislation after the release of the working group's roadmap.

• "Our committees are well on their way to making a critical down payment on AI legislation," he said.

✍️ Export controls: The ENFORCE Act advanced out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday, 43–3.

• The legislation would give Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security authority to use export controls on AI and other emerging tech.

📺 AI in ads proposal: FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel wants the commission to consider new disclosure requirements for AI in political ads.

✔️ New Dem-AI: The New Democrat Coalition Artificial Intelligence Working Group — led by Chair Derek Kilmer and Vice Chairs Don Beyer, Jeff Jackson, Sara Jacobs, Susie Lee and Haley Stevens — today endorsed 10 bipartisan AI bills.

• The bills include the Protect Elections From Deceptive AI Act and the CREATE AI Act.

💰 AI fine: The AP reports today that the FCC "has issued a $6 million fine against a political consultant who sent AI-generated robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden's voice to voters ahead of New Hampshire's presidential primary."

⚡️ AI energy chatter: The energy industry's policy wish list is piling up in the face of skyrocketing power demand from AI, electrification and chips manufacturing, our Axios Pro Energy colleague Nick Sobczyk writes.