Elizabeth Warren wants to hire an army of nerds to defeat Google’s lobbyists

Over the past few years, some of the largest tech firms have come under fire by US lawmakers for a whole host of issues. Whether it’s potential antitrust violations or historic data breaches, Google and Facebook have been forced to beef up their lobbying arms to stave off regulation and shut up members of Congress.

On Friday, 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced a new plan aimed at making lawmakers less susceptible to these lobbyists and their “disinformation” over sensitive issues like tech consolidation and climate change: an army of government-mandated tech nerds housed in a reinstated Office of Technology Assessment (OTA).

“Members of Congress aren’t just dependent on corporate lobbyist propaganda because they’re bought and paid for,” Warren said. “It’s also because of a successful, decades-long campaign to starve Congress of the resources and expertise needed to independently evaluate complex public policy questions.”

Over the years, offices like the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Congressional Research Service were created to provide better resources for lawmakers when making policy decisions. They conduct independent reports over government spending and act as a nonpartisan check on partisan lawmakers. Over time, some groups have been defunded, including the OTA.

The OTA was established in the 1970s to help Congress understand and legislate complicated issues involving science and technology. But in the 1990s, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich led a successful effort to dissolve it. Warren wants to reinstate it.

In her plan proposal, Warren argues that a reinstated OTA would help lawmakers grapple with policy issues involving some of the country’s largest tech firms, like Google and Facebook. Under her administration, the OTA would compile short-term requests from members as they prepare for hearings and house experts on specific issues like climate change and technology consolidation.

Warren specifically calls out how members like Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) behaved in last year’s hearing with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Blunt bragged about putting his “Facebook address” on his business cards, and Hatch questioned the company’s business model, resulting in the iconic “senator, we run ads,” remark from Zuckerberg.

“Even Senators well-versed in social media struggled to ask about difficult concepts like end-to-end encryption, location tracking, and the competitive landscape of Silicon Valley,” Warren said. “When Congress decides whether it should break up big tech companies, our representatives shouldn’t have to rely on Google’s policy team to understand the effects of technology consolidation.”

Congress isn’t the only government body having a difficult time forcing tech to change. The Federal Trade Commission could only get $5 billion out of Facebook for its Cambridge Analytica scandal, a measly sum in comparison to the company’s total profits. As a response to these tech companies, the FTC created its own body, the tech task force, to focus on these issues, specifically. The OTA could be that, but for Congress.

It’s not just Warren calling for OTA to make a comeback. Over the past few months, other members of Congress have led efforts to reinstate it. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) have led a bipartisan effort in the Senate and Reps. Bill Foster (D-IL) and Mark Takano (CA) have led a corresponding one in the House by introducing the Office of Technology Assessment Improvement and Enhancement Act.

Warren’s plan also calls for competitive salaries for congressional staffers and an increase in funding for congressional support agencies like the Congressional Budget Office and the GAO.