A House-Senate conference committee has pegged FY 2019 funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) at just $25 million, according to text of legislation made public by the House Rules Committee and set to be considered by the committee, and possibly by the House, next week. […]
Reps. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md.; Jim Himes, D-Conn.; Will Hurd, R-Texas; and Mike Conaway, R-Texas, have introduced legislation to create an Office of Critical Technologies & Security at the White House to coordinate action across Federal agencies and develop a “whole of government” strategy to combat theft of U.S. technologies by state actors including China, and to reduce risks to “critical supply chains.” This bill is a companion bill to one that was introduced in the Senate on Jan. 4 by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. […]
Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and John Kennedy, R-La., reintroduced the Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act on Thursday, which would strengthen privacy notices and breach disclosure requirements for online platforms. […]
Members of the House and Senate are giving the bipartisan Securing Energy Infrastructure Act another go in the current Congress, after passing the bill in the Senate in December 2018 but failing to get the bill through the House before the 115th Congress ended. […]
A group of House Democrats said today they plan to introduce a bill on Friday that would require the Treasury Department to offer zero-interest loans of up to $6,000 to Federal government employees that have not been getting paid as a result of the partial Federal government shutdown. […]
Members of the House and Senate announced introduction of the Telecommunications Denial Order Enforcement Act today, which would require the Trump administration to issue export denial orders for Chinese telecommunications companies caught breaking export control laws and sanctions. […]
The Federal CIO Authorization Act, sponsored by Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Robin Kelly, D-Ill., passed the House today unanimously on a voice vote, setting the stage for an elevated, more empowered Federal CIO position. […]
The Federal CIO Authorization Act of 2019, spearheaded by Reps. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., and Will Hurd, R-Texas, was added to the list of bills up for consideration this week late Friday evening. Rep. Kelly’s office confirmed to MeriTalk that the bill was on the House’s docket, but said given the snow that blanketed D.C. this weekend, things may shift around. MeriTalk previously reported that Rep. Kelly’s office believed that the legislation would be shelved until after the government reopened, but things appear to have shifted later in the day on Friday to move the legislation back on to the schedule. […]
Democrats in both the House and the Senate have introduced a bill to prohibit landlords and creditors from taking action against employees at Federal agencies impacted by the partial government shutdown. […]
The bipartisan Federal CIO Authorization Act, sponsored by Reps. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., and Will Hurd, R-Texas, will likely be shelved until after the partial Federal government shutdown ends. […]
President Trump said today that he was getting closer to calling a national emergency in order to get a wall built on the southern U.S. border, while at the same time the Democratic-led House continued to pass separate spending bills that would re-open Federal agencies, but which have little chance of passing in the GOP-led Senate. […]
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., has reintroduced legislation that that would create and impose data standards for information that recipients of Federal grants and cooperative agreements must report to the Federal government. […]
Congressman Doug Collins, R-Ga., is expected to introduce legislation that will require FCC Connect America Fund (CAF) broadband subsidy recipients to provide additional information about their internet speed and latency testing. […]
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Mark Warner, D-Va., along with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voiced strong opposition Tuesday and Wednesday to the reported sale of user location data by telecom service providers including Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T. […]
H.R. 1, the For The People Act introduced in the House yesterday, includes new restrictions for Federal employees on participating in work related to their former private sector employers, and stronger restrictions on government personnel leaving for private sector employment. […]
On Thursday, President Trump signed the Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act into law, speeding up IT modernization efforts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). […]
Whether the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) will receive any funding for fiscal year 2019 remained an open question late Thursday as the House voted to approve a full-year FY 2019 appropriations bill that includes no funding for TMF. […]
On their second day in charge of the House, Democrats debuted H.R. 1, the For The People Act, which features a wide range of election security and modernization measures, including cybersecurity standards for voting machines, an election security bug bounty program, and a requirement for online voter registration. […]
Reps. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., and Will Hurd, R-Texas reintroduced today their Federal CIO Authorization Act, which is intended to elevate and reauthorize the role of the Federal CIO. A previous version of the legislation passed unanimously out of the House on Nov. 30, 2018. […]
The House of Representatives’ rules package, which will be introduced later today, includes a new “Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.” The package, which is backed by newly minted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., includes three titles and is expected to pass. The title that includes the new Select Committee will be up for a vote on Friday. […]
On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary Government Data Act as part of the larger Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2017. […]
President Trump said in a statement on Thursday that he would veto any spending bill that doesn’t include funding for a border wall. […]
The House and Senate have approved H.R. 7387–the SECURE Technology Act–which combines existing bills that would aim to reduce Federal government supply chain threats and establish a bug bounty program and vulnerability disclosure policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). […]
On Monday, the Senate unanimously passed the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act. The READI Act will “ensure more people receive relevant emergency alerts on their mobile phones, televisions, and radios, explore new ways of alerting the public through online video and audio streaming services, track and study false alerts when they occur, and improve the way states plan for emergency alerts,” according to a press release from the bill’s sponsor Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. The bipartisan legislation was also championed by Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss. […]
The Senate on Dec. 13 approved by unanimous consent HR 6227, the National Quantum Initiative Act, which would create a Federal program to speed quantum research and development “for the economic and national security” of the United States. […]
A group of 15 Democratic senators introduced a new piece of data privacy legislation on Wednesday. The legislation, named the Data Care Act, will, according to the bill’s lead sponsor Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, “require websites, apps, and other online providers to take responsible steps to safeguard personal information and stop the misuse of users’ data.” […]
As MeriTalk reported earlier this month, the Senate today took action on the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA Act) and passed the legislation under unanimous consent. […]
Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., will introduce new legislation this week to “address cyber vulnerabilities created by the adoption of Internet-connected devices,” and specifically cyber threats of internet of things (IoT) devices owned and used by the Federal government. […]
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on Dec. 6 introduced a bill that aims to modernize the Federal government’s security clearance system and reduce the government’s backlog of security clearances which the senator said now stands at about 600,000. […]
The Senate unanimously approved the DHS Data Framework Act on Friday, which would require the Department of Homeland Security to develop a data framework to integrate all existing DHS databases. […]