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Politico
22-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
DOGE sought access to Government Publishing Office - Live Updates
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative sought last week to gain access to the government's central publishing operation, a congressional offshoot that provides public access to federal documents. The Government Publishing Office is the fourth legislative branch agency that President Donald Trump's administration has recently attempted to access. DOGE made an inquiry about placing a cost-cutting team at GPO, and leadership of the legislative branch agency declined, according to two people on Capitol Hill with oversight responsibility for the agency. The GPO prints official documents and provides digital access to publications across the legislative, executive and judicial branches. While it services all three branches of government, the GPO is overseen by Congress and funded alongside other congressional support agencies. A GPO spokesperson declined to comment. GPO Director Hugh Halpern testified last month to House and Senate spending subcommittees that the agency's head count is currently 1,644 — down from 2,284 in fiscal 2010 when its budget was 8.2 percent higher. Last week DOGE made attempts to place a downsizing team at the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog that roots out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, and the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, which fields and manages complaints about discrimination, harassment, accessibility and other workplace issues. Both legislative branch agencies declined access to DOGE teams. 'Everybody has been saying 'get lost,'' New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said of legislative branch agencies who have been approached by DOGE. 'As they should — they have no business.' House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) said Monday evening that his panel already works with legislative support agencies on possible improvements. "There's efficiencies we can create at all these agencies while also maintaining Article One authority, so I think we're in a good spot," Steil said in a brief interview. The White House also launched a purge of officials at the Library of Congress, including Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and the head of the copyright office two weeks ago and attempted to install hand-picked replacements from within Trump's Department of Justice.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republicans consider reining in power to fire certain government positions
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are considering a proposal to hand lawmakers the power to appoint the leaders of key legislative branch agencies after the Trump administration abruptly fired top officials in the Library of Congress and U.S. Copyright Office without congressional approval. 'I think what we're going to have to do with some of these organizations — like the Library of Congress, (the Government Accountability Office) — is have Congress appoint the head to make it crystal clear that these are congressional entities,' Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters on Wednesday. No legislation has been filed on the issue, but the suggestion comes in response to President Donald Trump unilaterally firing Carla Hayden as the librarian of Congress and Shira Perlmutter, head of the copyright office, earlier this month. Although those positions must be approved by the Senate, the president has the authority to nominate, and remove, individuals. Hayden's removal took several lawmakers by surprise as she was the first female and first Black American to hold the top library position. The timing of her firing was also considered unusual as her term was set to expire next year. However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the decision, claiming there were 'quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children.' Trump has since named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as the acting librarian of Congress. Other Republicans have suggested interest in reining in those powers, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., telling reporters last week there should be 'consultation' to clarify congressional authority around certain agencies. 'There are equities that both Article One and Article Two branches have when it comes to the Library of Congress, and it might suggest that in future, we may need to delineate those more clearly,' Thune said. The proposals also come as lawmakers have looked at ways to limit the Department of Government Efficiency's ability to gain access to certain government entities as part of its efforts to root out waste, fraud and abuse. For example, DOGE officials have sought to gain access to the GAO, which Collins has described as an 'organization that serves and responds to Congress.' 'I do not think it's appropriate for DOGE to be trying to reorganize it or enter it in any way, she said. It's not the first time lawmakers have sought more authority over presidential-appointed positions. For example, Democrats spearheaded efforts to establish congressional oversight for the architect of the Capitol under the Biden administration. Now, Congress should do the same for entities such as the Library of Congress, some lawmakers say. 'Just like we changed the rules with the architect of the Capitol, we should change them here,' Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who authored the Biden-era bill, said.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chaos At The Copyright Office: Trump's Firing Of Register Shira Perlmutter Came After AI Report's Release, Leaving Industry Wondering What's Next
Donald Trump's abrupt firing of the head of the U.S. Copyright Office has generated confusion and doubt over his ability to terminate her, and also speculation about the role that a long-awaited report on AI may have played in his action. Shira Perlmutter, who had been register of copyrights and director of the Copyright Office since 2020, was informed over the weekend that she was fired, according to sources familiar with what happened. The White House on Thursday fired the woman who appointed her, Librarian Of Congress Carla Hayden, who was named to the post by President Barack Obama. More from Deadline Cannes Chief Thierry Frémaux Addresses Trump's Tariffs: "Cinema Always Finds A Way Of Existing & Reinventing Itself" Hulu To Premiere ABC News Studios Documentary "Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything" Donald Trump Touts Reduction In China Tariffs For At Least 90 Days: "I Take Them At Their Word" This morning, two men delivered a letter to the Copyright Office stating that Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, would be appointed the acting librarian of Congress, according to a source. They also showed a separate email stating that Brian Nieves, a Justice Department official, was appointed deputy librarian, and Paul Perkins, the associate deputy attorney general, was appointed acting register of copyrights and director of the office. They were not allowed into the office and left this morning, as officials at the office are awaiting direction from Congress as it is a legislative branch agency, the source said. Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), the top Democrat on the Committee on House Administration, which oversees the library, said in a statement that Perlmutter's firing is a 'brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis.' 'This action once again tramples on Congress's Article One authority and throws a trillion-dollar industry into chaos,' Morelle said. 'When will my Republican colleagues decide enough is enough?' Morelle also claimed that it was 'surely no coincidence' that Perlmutter was fired a day after the release of a report on the use of copyrighted materials to train generative AI models. That is the source of a raging debate between the content and tech industries, as AI companies have defended their use of material by claiming that it is a 'fair use.' The report was rather nuanced in conclusions over when the use of protected content in training models may infringe on copyright and when it may not. Entertainment attorney Aaron Moss, in his Copyright Lately blog, wrote, 'For creators and rights holders pushing back against unauthorized AI training, it offers a detailed—and often forceful—rebuttal to sweeping fair use defenses.' He added that 'whether courts will adopt the Office's reasoning—or whether the report will even remain official policy under new leadership—is very much an open question.' Courts weigh a number of factors in judging whether the context of a work is fair use, so it was hardly surprising that the AI report did not establish bright lines over the use of copyrighted content. The report did state that 'making commercial use of vast troves of copyrighted works to expressive content that competes with them in existing markets, especially where this is accomplished through illegal access, goes beyond established fair use boundaries.' The report found that government intervention was 'premature,' and that licensing markets should continue to development. What it didn't do is give AI companies a definitive fair use defense as they fight lawsuits from the likes of The New York Times and News Corp. Morelle, though, said that it was 'surely no coincidence' that Perlmutter was fired 'less than a day after she refused to rubber stamp Elon Musk's effort to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.' Last month, Twitter's co-founder Jack Dorsey wrote on X, 'Delete all IP law,' and Musk replied 'I agree.' Whether Perlmutter's firing was related to the AI report is unclear, as the Trump administration has been purging officials throughout the government and installing the president's loyalists. Perlmutter was appointed during Trump's first term, but she was selected by Hayden, one of Obama's nominees. The White House did not return a request for comment. The American Federation of Musicians released a statement saying that Perlmutter 'has served the American people with unrivaled expertise for decades. Her unlawful firing will gravely harm the entire copyright community. She understood what we all know to be true: human creativity and authorship are the foundation of copyright law — and for that, it appears, she lost her job.' Best of Deadline List Of Hollywood & Media Layoffs From Paramount To Warner Bros Discovery To CNN & More A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump sacked Copyright Office director a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Musk's plan to train AI models, top Dem says
Rep. Joe Morelle has denounced President Trump's removal of Shira Perlmutter as an unprecedented power grab, suggesting it was done following a report that found that AI companies sometimes breach copyright laws. Major AI firms like OpenAI, which Elon Musk cofounded, are facing ongoing lawsuits over alleged unauthorized use of copyrighted materials in their model training. A top Democrat has called the recent firing of Director of the U.S. Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, "a brazen, unprecedented power grab." In a press release, Rep. Joe Morelle said: 'Donald Trump's termination of Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis. It is surely no coincidence he acted less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models." 'Register Perlmutter is a patriot, and her tenure has propelled the Copyright Office into the 21st century by comprehensively modernizing its operations and setting global standards on the intersection of AI and intellectual property," he said in the statement, adding the action violates Congress's Article One authority and risks throwing a trillion-dollar industry into chaos. In the statement, Morelle pointed to a newly released draft from the U.S. Copyright Office—part three of a broader series—examining the intersection of intellectual property and AI. The document warns that AI companies shouldn't assume 'fair use' automatically covers their training on copyrighted materials. However, it suggests that academic research and critical examination are permissible. The report did not call for government intervention but it did note that mass commercial use of copyrighted works—particularly via unauthorized access—may exceed fair use limits. The report said that "making commercial use of vast troves of copyrighted works to produce expressive content that competes with them in existing markets, especially where this is accomplished through illegal access, goes beyond established fair use boundaries." Perlmutter has been in the role since October 2020, during the first Trump administration, and has advised Congress on copyright policy. In a post on Facebook over the weekend, the American Federation of Musicians union said that Perlmutter's firing "will gravely harm the entire copyright community." Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fortune. Copyright issues have long been a thorn in the side of leading AI companies, including OpenAI. The company is currently fighting several lawsuits accusing it of copyright infringement during the training of AI models. In December 2023, The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the company of training ChatGPT on its articles without permission and alleging that the models reproduce large portions of its content. Earlier that year, Getty Images filed suit against Stability AI—the company behind Stable Diffusion—claiming they ingested over 12 million protected photographs and metadata to build their AI image‐generation tools. Recently, several tech companies and industry leaders have been pushing the Trump Administration to consider loosening intellectual property constraints for training data. In its recent "AI Action Plan," OpenAI urged the U.S. government to codify 'fair use' protections for AI development, calling for a copyright strategy that protects "American AI models' ability to learn from copyrighted material." 'America has so many AI startups, attracts so much investment, and has made so many research breakthroughs largely because the fair use doctrine promotes AI development,' OpenAI wrote. Musk, who heads up the AI company behind Grok, has also supported a looser approach to intellectual property. In a post on X last month, Musk threw his weight behind a statement from Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter (now X), that said, 'delete all IP law.' In a reply, Musk said: 'I agree.' This story was originally featured on
New York Post
12-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Trump fires head of US Copyright Office — stoking fears about deregulation of AI
President Donald Trump fired the nation's top copyright official — a move critics say threatens the independence of the US Copyright Office and could upend efforts to regulate artificial intelligence companies' use of protected material. Shira Perlmutter, who has served as Register of Copyrights since 2020, was informed Saturday afternoon that her employment had been 'terminated,' according to internal communications from the Library of Congress reviewed by Politico. Her dismissal comes just two days after the White House also fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the official responsible for appointing and overseeing the Copyright Office. 3 Shira Perlmutter, who has served as Register of Copyrights since 2020, was informed Saturday afternoon that her employment had been 'terminated.' Hayden, who was confirmed by the Senate in 2016 for a 10-year term, had appointed Perlmutter. Neither dismissal came with a formal explanation, but lawmakers are already drawing connections between Perlmutter's ousting and a recent Copyright Office report that questioned the legality of how artificial intelligence companies use copyrighted content to train generative models — a core business issue for Elon Musk, a longtime Trump ally. 'It is no coincidence [Trump] acted less than a day after [Perlmutter] refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models,' said Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which has oversight of the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office. Perlmutter's office had just released a detailed report on copyright and artificial intelligence, the third installment in an ongoing series examining the legal and economic implications of AI-generated content. While the report stopped short of recommending immediate regulatory action, it cast doubt on the sweeping 'fair use' defenses many AI firms rely on to justify scraping copyrighted materials. 3 President Trump's decision raised eyebrows among lawmakers. Yuri Gripas/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock 'But making commercial use of vast troves of copyrighted works to produce expressive content that competes with them in existing markets, especially where this is accomplished through illegal access, goes beyond established fair use boundaries,' the report stated. Though the report encouraged the development of licensing markets and floated ideas like extended collective licensing to address gaps, it warned against premature government intervention — a stance that may not align with the priorities of tech moguls seeking fewer legal roadblocks. Morelle accused the Trump administration of overstepping its constitutional boundaries. 'This action once again tramples on Congress's Article One authority and throws a trillion-dollar industry into chaos,' he said. 'When will my Republican colleagues decide enough is enough?' The White House has not responded to requests for comment. Musk, who helped launch OpenAI and now leads the rival xAI (which is merging with X, formerly Twitter), recently backed a call by Jack Dorsey to 'delete all IP law.' 3 Perlmutter's dismissal could upend efforts to regulate artificial intelligence companies' use of protected material. AFP via Getty Images His AI ventures are among several currently facing lawsuits from content creators alleging copyright infringement. In May 2024, OpenAI and The Post's parent company News Corp announced a landmark multi-year agreement granting OpenAI access to a vast array of News Corp's current and archived news content. The Post has sought comment from News Corp and the News/Media Alliance. Under current law, the Register of Copyrights is appointed by the Librarian of Congress, not the president — although the Librarian's position itself is subject to presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. Trump's direct involvement in the dismissals has prompted alarm over political interference in what has traditionally been a nonpartisan regulatory domain. With the leadership of both the Library and Copyright Office now vacant, it remains unclear how future disputes over AI and copyright will be handled.
