Federal civilian employees stand to get a 3.1 percent annual pay increase under terms of a Fiscal Year 2020 budget deal that has been agreed to by House and Senate negotiators. […]
Infrastructure and workforce have “a long way to go” in the campaign to build out “smart cities” across the U.S., the co-chairs of the Congressional Smart Cities Caucus said on Dec. 10. […]
Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., introduced legislation on Dec. 10 that would provide $40 million in grants for state and local governments to purchase gunfire detection technologies. […]
House and Senate negotiators have agreed to a bipartisan compromise deal to ensure funding for the Federal government through the end of Fiscal Year 2020, according to reports from multiple media outlets today. […]
On Dec. 6, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Penn., introduced H.R. 5353, which will establish a policy that promotes and maintains “digital and software development expertise” in the Defense Department’s (DoD) workforce. […]
At a Brookings Institution event on Dec. 5, Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Mike Lee, R-Utah., made the case for their Facial Recognition Technology Warrant Act. […]
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is poised to take action next week on a range of tech-related legislation including bills dealing with making available spectrum for 5G wireless services, and further action to rein in robocalling. […]
The House Oversight and Reform Committee’s Government Operations Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. to discuss results of the subcommittee’s upcoming release of the ninth edition of its FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard. […]
Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and five major healthcare companies to “provide more information on how they are addressing bias in algorithms used in many healthcare systems.” […]
Days after Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, introduced data privacy legislation to the Senate, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing to examine legislative proposals to protect consumer data privacy. […]
A bill introduced last week by Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., would direct that the Federal government spend $100 million per year for five years on a program to provide mobile broadband “hotspot” devices to schools and libraries. […]
Democratic members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee led by Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., unveiled Federal data privacy legislation that aims to establish data privacy rights, outlaw harmful and deceptive practices by information service providers, and improve data security safeguards for online consumers. […]
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in a Nov. 21 report that the DOTGOV Online Trust in Government Act would cost very little to implement. […]
According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report released Nov. 21, the Advancing Cybersecurity Diagnostics and Mitigation Act, H.R. 4237, would cost less than $500,000 to implement over the next five years if the legislation becomes law. […]
A bipartisan group of House members introduced the Technology in Criminal Justice Act, which would establish an Office of Digital Law Enforcement within the Department of Justice (DoJ). […]
A bipartisan bill to develop a next-generation mobile communications strategy cleared the House Committee on Energy and Commerce (E&C) via a voice vote on Nov. 20. […]
The Senate voted 74-20 today in favor of a House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that will fund Federal government operations through Dec. 20. The CR will go to President Trump’s desk for signature. […]
The Network Security Information Sharing Act of 2019 cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee via a voice vote on Nov. 20. […]
The House Energy and Commerce Committee (E&C) voted on Nov. 20 to approve the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act (Broadband DATA Act). […]
With election security firmly in place as the popular policy de jour on Capitol Hill in the ramp-up to the 2020 election cycle, House members from both sides of the aisle voiced support at a Nov. 19 hearing for more focus on cyberattacks targeting election infrastructure, with a particular focus on ransomware exploits. […]
Leaders of several Senate committees with national security jurisdiction are urging Robert O’Brien, President Trump’s National Security Adviser, to appoint a single Federal policy coordinator for telecommunications policy with a particular focus on 5G wireless technologies. […]
The House voted today by a margin of 230-194 to approve a continuing budget (CR) resolution that will fund Federal government operations through Dec. 20. […]
Sens. Margaret Wood Hassan, D-N.H., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., signed a letter requesting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provide full funding to two key Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISAC). […]
The House will vote today on a continuing budget (CR) resolution that will fund Federal government operations through Dec. 20, pay for a 3.1 percent annual pay raise for military personnel, and provide funding to the Department of Commerce for 2020 Census work. […]
Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a bill on Nov. 15 that would require all Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) files to be submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a digital, searchable electronic format. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is making progress on improving cybersecurity, but with past weaknesses and upcoming modernization efforts, the department needs to address outstanding issues and set a solid security foundation, witnesses testified to the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization on November 14. […]
The House Science Committee voted to approve H.R. 4990, the Election Technology Research Act of 2019, on Nov. 14. […]
Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced a bill that would require Federal law enforcement to obtain a court-ordered warrant before using facial recognition to surveil the public on Nov. 14. […]
House Inspector General (IG) Michael Ptasienski recommended “centralizing procurement for commodity items and standardizing office technology and support” at a Committee on the Modernization of Congress hearing on Nov. 15. […]
Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., a co-chair of the House Cybersecurity Caucus and one of the few widely acknowledged experts in Congress on cybersecurity, said on Nov. 14 that a lack of data “baselines” on security issues continues to hamper efforts in Congress – and the nation as a whole – to improve security. […]