Broadband and AI in the Next Congress

An all-day event at the National Press Club
Tuesday, December 1, 2026, 8:30 a.m.

Early Bird Rate until Friday, Oct. 16!

Artificial Intelligence is now driving infrastructure investment and public policy. AI's future will depend not only on breakthroughs in computing, but on the networks, data centers, energy systems, workforce, and institutions that support it.

Beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, December 1, 2026, Broadband Breakfast brings together lawmakers, regulators, industry leaders, and technology innovators at the National Press Club to examine the infrastructure behind intelligence, and the policies that will shape America's competitiveness in the AI era.

Grand Ballroom, National Press Club
529 14th Street NW
13th Floor
Washington, DC 20045

Sponsors

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Panel 1: What Do We Have to Fear? AI and Catastrophic Risk

Concerns over data centers and the risks of artificial intelligence, including artificial superintelligence, have transformed the midterm elections. And, in the next Congress, policymakers will be forced to confront the risks confronting America, both from rogue machines and rogue humans. Which threats deserve Washington's attention first? Should the most powerful AI models be restricted before release? How can the U.S. government hold bad actors accountable when the tools they use are cheap, powerful and widely available?

Panelists

Panelists have been invited
Cat Zakrzewski (moderator), White House Reporter, The Washington Post

Panel 2: Permitting Reform and the AI Race

The federal government wants the United States to lead the global race in artificial intelligence. But the telecom providers and hyperscalers face years of red tape before they can lay fiber or break ground. Congress is weighing the American Broadband Deployment Act (H.R. 2289), which would streamline local and federal permitting, as well as creative right-of-way solutions. Pressure is also mounting to speed environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act. How quickly can Washington act?

Panelists

Chip Pickering, CEO, INCOMPAS
Other panelists have been invited
Christopher Cole (moderator), Senior Reporter, Telecom, Law360

Panel 3: The Data Center Power Crisis and Ratepayer Protection

AI data centers require unprecedented amounts of power. That demand has triggered intense concern in Congress that they have driven up utility bills for everyday consumers. The Power and Water for Families Act (H.R. 9419) aims to force large-load facilities to pay for their own grid upgrades. Major hyperscalers have signed the White House's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, but are voluntary commitments enough? Beyond consumers, Congress must decide how to modernize the grid itself, including incentives for off-grid power, nuclear energy from small modular reactors.

Panel 4: Federal Preemption vs. State AI Patchworks

With Congress slow to pass comprehensive technology laws, states have stepped in. California, Colorado and Illinois have enacted aggressive AI regulations, creating a complex operating environment for interstate telecom networks and platforms. Hence the debate over federal preemption: Should Congress should set a single national framework to reduce compliance burdens?

Panelists

Panelists have been invited
Rebecca Kern (moderator), Senior Correspondent, The Capitol Forum

Panelist Bios

Panel 1 – What Do We Have to Fear? AI and Catastrophic Risk

Cat Zakrzewski (moderator) is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. She focuses on the ways tech billionaires are shaping the Trump administration. Previously, she spent a decade covering technology from Washington and San Francisco. Most recently, she was The Post's national technology policy reporter, tracking global efforts to regulate Silicon Valley. In that role, she exposed the limits of the government’s attempts to rein in new technologies and the secretive ways tech companies wielded their influence in D.C. She joined The Post in 2018 as the first anchor of The Technology 202 newsletter, The Washington Post's daily guide to the relationship between the tech industry and regulators. Before that, she worked as a venture capital reporter based in San Francisco for the Wall Street Journal.

Panel 2 – Permitting Reform and the AI Race

Chip Pickering is CEO of INCOMPAS, the internet and competitive networks association, which he has led since 2014. For nearly three decades, Pickering has played a prominent role in telecommunications policy, beginning as a Senate Commerce Committee staffer helping shape the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He subsequently served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Mississippi's Third District, where he served on the Energy and Commerce Committee and chaired a subcommittee overseeing the transition to the commercial internet, domain names and internet governance. Under his leadership, INCOMPAS has advanced broadband competition, infrastructure investment and permitting reform. Pickering also founded the association's Artificial Intelligence Competition Center, expanding its work into AI policy, data center development and the energy infrastructure needed to support emerging technologies.

Christopher Cole (moderator) is a senior reporter covering telecommunications for Law360, where he has reported on federal communications policy and litigation since 2018. His reporting has followed major legal battles over net neutrality, including the Sixth Circuit's 2025 decision overturning the Federal Communications Commission's rules, as well as the Supreme Court challenge to the Universal Service Fund. Cole has also covered congressional efforts to streamline broadband permitting and disputes involving utility pole access. Before joining Law360, he worked at Inside Washington Publishers, covering federal health and labor policy, and held reporting and editing positions at BH Media Group and the Uvalde Leader-News in Texas. He studied at Georgia Southern University.

Panel 4 – Federal Preemption vs. State AI Patchworks

Rebecca Kern (moderator) is a senior correspondent at The Capitol Forum, covering antitrust and competition issues on Capitol Hill. She has more than 15 years of experience reporting on technology policy and politics in Washington, including previous roles at POLITICO and Bloomberg Government. Her reporting has covered social media platforms, children's online safety, data privacy, cybersecurity and the legal protections afforded to technology companies. Kern also served as a public affairs officer at the Federal Trade Commission under Chair Lina Khan, where she oversaw communications concerning major technology enforcement actions, including the agency's children's privacy case against TikTok. She holds a degree in journalism from American University