Legislation to invest in 21st century security technology, bolster Transportation Security Administration (TSA) funding and its workforce, and end diversion of passenger security fees was reintroduced by a bipartisan group of House representatives on March 11. […]

President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act today, a day ahead of schedule due to a speedy transmission of the legislation by the House. The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill forms the centerpiece of the Biden administration’s initial legislative agenda. […]

Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., reintroduced the Information Privacy and Data Transparency Act that would adapt state privacy laws and proposals into a national standard for data privacy. She introduced a similar version of the legislation in 2019, but it ultimately did not gain traction. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., long a prime mover in the House for Federal IT modernization, today hailed the inclusion of $1 billion of new funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act approved by the House.  […]

A newly introduced bill in the House of Representatives would give Americans the ability to make claims in Federal or state courts against foreign states that engage in cyberattacks against U.S. citizens. […]

After the transmittal of the bill took longer than initially expected, the House of Representatives now plans to vote on the Senate version of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act on Wednesday, March 10, according to multiple reports.  The House vote had been expected on March 9. […]

The House plans to vote Tuesday, March 9 on the version of the American Rescue Plan Act approved by the Senate over the weekend, setting the stage for the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill to become law with President Biden’s signature later this week. […]

The Senate version of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan approved over the weekend features an amendment with a provision to extend relief to government contractors for paid leave, if they can’t work through the end of the fiscal year ending in September. […]

The Senate voted March 6 to approve the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act after a lengthy amendment and debate process that pushed the vote into the weekend. […]

The Senate as of late Friday afternoon was continuing to debate the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, which contains considerable increases in Federal government funding for agency IT modernization and security upgrades. […]

A bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on March 4 introduced the Democratic Technology Partnership Act, which would create an interagency effort aimed at forming technology partnerships among democratic countries to counter Chinese tech dominance. […]

After some delay waiting for an official bill “score” from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Senate voted today to begin debate on legislation that embodies the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. […]

The Senate was expected later today to introduce its version of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Act, and to begin 20 hours of scheduled debate on the legislation. […]

After the House version of the reconciliation bill passed last week, the Senate will bring its version of the bill to a vote by week’s end, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. While the Senate is still working on finalizing its draft of the legislation, parameters for votes and amendments have already been set, according to internal Senate communication. […]

The House version of the American Rescue Act – born from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal unveiled in January – now features a provision that would provide $2 billion for the Department of Labor (DoL) to use to help states upgrade their unemployment insurance (UI) systems. […]

The bipartisan Cyber Diplomacy Act was reintroduced in the house this week. The legislation, cosponsored by Reps. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Bill Keating, D-Mass., will require the State Department to open the Bureau of International Cyberspace Policy. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said today he was reintroducing legislation to create a stronger Federal workforce by reauthorizing the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and requiring Federal agencies to report publicly about their workforce diversity and inclusion efforts. […]

The House Budget Committee has completed its markup of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Act, keeping the bill on schedule for a vote in the full House later this week before it heads to the Senate for consideration. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee completed its portion of the budget reconciliation process, voting late on Feb. 12 to transmit the final part of the legislative language it was considering. […]

With IoT devices exploding in popularity and use in recent years, Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and John Katko, R-N.Y., reintroduced a bill that would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to collect data from devices that connect to the Internet to ensure there is enough spectrum capacity. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is nearing the completion of its portion of the legislative language writing process for the budget reconciliation process. After a long night Feb. 11 and another full day of meeting in committee, the committee is nearly done finalizing the language it will send to the House Budget Committee. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee met Feb. 11 to begin marking up the legislative language it will report to the House Budget Committee as part of the reconciliation process. Currently, there is $7.6 billion allocated by the committee to bolster the E-Rate program, as well as funding for COVID-19 testing and data management. […]

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced new legislation on Feb. 10 that would provide $500 million of Federal funding to help states deploy new technologies to improve performance of their unemployment insurance systems – many of which have had trouble dealing with higher demand during the coronavirus pandemic. […]

Congressional Democrats are moving forward this week with the budget reconciliation process that aims to create the legislative language for President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. […]

Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., reintroduced legislation on Feb. 3 that would work to improve information sharing between health IT systems to aid in the distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccines. […]

Following a Senate vote earlier this week to proceed with debate on a budget resolution, the House of Representatives passed a concurrent budget resolution with reconciliation instructions on Feb. 3. […]

A bill introduced in the House by Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Ryan Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., on Jan. 13 aims to invalidate a controversial executive order issued by the Trump administration in October 2020 that created a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions and makes it easier to hire and fire them. […]

Reps. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, have released a new bill that aims to improve science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science (STEM) education in rural communities. […]

After being excluded from the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the 117th Congress made the Federal Risk Assessment and Management Program (FedRAMP) Authorization Act one of the first bills passed in the House, passing by voice vote today. […]

After an unusually noisy holiday news week, here’s a quick catch-up. After threatening to derail a combined $2.3 trillion spending bill, President Trump on Dec. 27 signed combined FY 2021 government funding and COVID relief legislation. President Trump on Dec. 31 issued an executive order that will give all Federal government civilian employees a one percent pay raise in 2021. The House on Dec. 28 and the Senate on Jan. 1 voted to override President Trump’s Dec. 23 veto. […]