Though the legislative machinations may be tricky, the bottom line is that the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is headed to likely Senate approval early next week. […]
A group of eight House Democrats is pushing House leadership to include in the next round of COVID-19 relief legislation the $9 billion boost to the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) proposed by President Biden earlier this month. […]
Nine Democratic senators are pressing the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the U.S. Courts for a briefing and information about exactly what data was compromised by the SolarWinds hack in a letter to the departments. […]
The Senate today voted to confirm President Biden’s pick for Secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD) Lloyd Austin. […]
The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) annual assessment of acquisition programs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found 10 programs to have been in breach of either baseline cost or schedule at some point in 2020 and five were in breach as of September 2020. […]
Ret. Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Defense Secretary, faced a barrage of cybersecurity questions during his Jan. 19 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. […]
In a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), laid out his vision for the nation’s cybersecurity and promised to make it a priority if confirmed. […]
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., asked Office of Management and Budget (OMB) leaders in a Jan. 15 letter to halt implementation of the Trump administration’s 2020 executive order that created a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions. […]
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. […]
The citywide curfews in the District of Columbia and Virginia suburbs Alexandria and Arlington expired at 6 am on Thursday, Jan. 7, after multiple security breaches at the U.S. Capitol building by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6. […]
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser has issued a citywide curfew beginning at 6 p.m. ET for the entire city of Washington following multiple and continuing security breaches today at the U.S. Capitol complex. […]
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking public comment on how to best distribute $3.2 billion of funding approved by Congress late last month as part of combined FY 2021 government funding and COVID-19 relief legislation to help low-income Americans access internet services. […]
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. […]
A bill introduced on Dec. 11 by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, would require Federal agencies to report to Congress within seven days about any cyber attacks they have faced that would cause significant harm to national security or agency operations. […]
President Trump followed through today on threats to veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Dec. 23. Both houses of Congress have already set up post-Christmas sessions to conduct votes aimed at overriding the presidential veto. […]
After congressional Democrats and Republicans broke a nine-month deadlock on Fiscal Year 2021 spending and further COVID-19 relief funding with their agreement on both fronts earlier this week, President Trump put the fate of the combined spending bill in doubt with suggestions to change the terms of payouts in the stimulus portion of the legislation. […]
A long weekend of deals and a late night of voting turned a nine-month stalemate into a 5,593-page COVID relief and omnibus measure to fund the Federal government through September 2021. The House and Senate approved the legislation late on Dec. 21, and sent the bill to President Trump for his signature. […]
The House and Senate were poised late Monday to vote on a $1.4 trillion omnibus Federal spending bill, that includes $25 million of new funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). […]
After months with no movement and a weekend full of deal-making, Congress is expected to pass a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package as part of a broader Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) omnibus spending bill. The relief includes a new round of Payment Protection Program (PPP) funding, money for broadband deployment and emergency use, and money to remove banned Huawei and ZTE equipment. […]
Senior House Republicans pointed today to the still-unfolding situation on Russian-backed hacking of government networks via SolarWinds software to call for passage of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the cybersecurity elements that the legislation features. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned today that threats to government networks caused by previously reported breaches of SolarWinds Orion products pose a “grave risk” to Federal government, state, tribal and territorial governments, critical infrastructure entities, and other private-sector organizations. […]
In a politically charged Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing today, former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Chris Krebs reassured the committee and the general public that the 2020 General Election was the most secure in U.S. history. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the completion of all IT initiatives for the implementation of the Forever GI Bill – also known as the Colmery Act – and the full deployment of associated software and systems, finishing the implementation of a policy initiative that initially put VA’s IT in the headlines for the wrong reasons. […]
House members led by Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., introduced legislation on Dec. 15 that will monitor any “midnight” regulations put into place in the waning days of the Trump administration. […]
The $908 billion emergency COVID relief package debuted Dec. 14 by a bipartisan group of senators proposed another big round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) work for the Small Business Administration (SBA), along with a $10 billion lifeline for broadband connectivity and distance learning programs. […]
The Senate unanimously passed the weeklong continuing resolution (CR) by a voice vote on Dec. 11, clearing the way to avoid a Federal government shutdown at midnight. The Senate approved the CR passed by the House of Representatives earlier in the week. The CR will now go to President Trump’s desk for final approval. […]
The Senate passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021 on Dec. 11 with a veto-proof 84-13 vote. This follows the House passing the bill earlier this week, also with a veto-proof majority. The bill now goes to President Trump’s desk, who has repeatedly Tweeted that he plans to use his veto power. […]
New legislation being prepared by House leaders will aim to track the promulgation of any “midnight” regulations by the outgoing Trump administration with an eye to amending or eliminating any eleventh-hour rules that are not based on “evidence and research.” […]