Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Gerry Connolly
cybersecurity

Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Mike Braun, R-Ind., introduced bipartisan legislation this week to broaden the scope of the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition. […]

IRS, taxes, tax season,

A bipartisan pair of senators has introduced legislation that would require the IRS to implement barcode technology to speed up the agency’s tax filing process while saving money for the agency. […]

New legislation introduced last week by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Gary Peters, D-Mich., would require agencies to share custom-developed source code with each other in an effort to reduce duplicative software contracts across the Federal government. […]

Budget Federal spending

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, are probing the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Treasury Department over incomplete Federal spending data on the USAspending.gov website. […]

A group of senators led by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called on the Department of Justice (DoJ) to conduct better oversight of the use of facial recognition technologies across the DoJ and its component agencies. […]

contract acquisition CFO

Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa., introduced legislation late last week that looks to streamline contract requirements across the Federal government. […]

Senate hearing Congressional-min

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Jan. 17 voted to approve two White House renominations that would bring the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) up to full strength. […]

Budget Federal spending

The Senate and House both voted Thursday afternoon to approve legislation that would provide Federal government funding at fiscal year (FY) 2023 levels through early March, and prevent a partial shutdown of government operations when current funding is set to expire at midnight on Friday. […]

Federal money spending government

House and Senate leadership over the weekend endorsed legislation that would extend Federal government funding through early March and avert a partial government shutdown that will begin on Friday night absent further action by legislators. […]

Expert witnesses this week offered members of Congress a menu of recommendations – ranging from innovation-fueled security practices to better efforts to protect educational networks – to meet security threats posed by foreign adversaries to communications technologies.  […]

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers have sent a letter warning Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen of what they call the “problematic relationship” that China-based Quectel Wireless has with being a “civil-military fusion arm” of the Chinese government. […]

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and Chinese Communist Party, and the committee’s ranking member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., urged Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in a Jan. 5 letter to stem U.S. reliance on “foundational” semiconductors produced in China.    […]

Budget Federal spending
generative AI, ChatGPT

Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., have introduced new legislation that aims to make artificial intelligence models more transparent by requiring the creators of these models to make certain information publicly available to consumers. […]

us passport government publishing office gpo

The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Dec. 13 voted unanimously to approve legislation that aims to speed up processing times for obtaining U.S. passports through a variety of actions including the application of commercially available technology. […]

Half a dozen Democratic senators introduced legislation on Dec. 12 that would require all Federal agencies that use AI technology to create an office of civil rights to manage concerns about the possibility of AI biases that could lead to discrimination. […]

quantum computing

The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Nov. 29 unanimously voted to approve legislation to reauthorize the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act, which will enable  Federal agencies to continue ongoing research into quantum computing technology. […]

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., has reintroduced three pieces of legislation focused on strengthening data privacy protections for Americans’ personal information, and tasking the Federal government with research work to improve online data privacy for consumers. […]

The Federal government will remain funded at fiscal year 2023 – which ended on Sept. 30 – levels through later in January 2024 after the Senate voted late Wednesday by an 87-11 margin to approve a continuing resolution funding bill. […]

Blockchain binary

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers has introduced legislation that would prohibit the Federal government from using blockchain technology developed in China or other nations deemed adversarial to the U.S. out of concern that the foreign-made technology could be used to access U.S. national security intelligence. […]

deep fakes, AI

A group of 30 House Democrats is raising concerns with private sector developers and users of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies about the use of AI to create “deepfake” content, and what those firms plan to do about identifying that content and pushing back against the risks that it poses. […]

Nancy Pelosi Chuck Schumer -min

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said today that Federal government investment in the artificial intelligence arena is being reckoned at a minimum of $32 billion based on consensus emerging from the Senate’s second in a series of AI forums held on Oct. 24. […]

AI

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) approved the Improving Government Services Act today by a vote of 10-1, with only Ranking Member Rand Paul, R-Ky., voting against the measure. The bill now heads to the Senate for further consideration. […]

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

A bipartisan group of House members has introduced the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act, which aims to improve customer experience and accountability across the Federal government in part by creating a new senior management position at the Office of Management and Budget devoted to improving customer experience. […]

A bipartisan pair of House members has introduced legislation to reform the Federal government’s security classification system to prevent the over-classification of documents and avoid possible mishandling of information. […]

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