States have a big opportunity to provide internet service to millions of unconnected citizens people with billions in broadband funding provided by Congress in bipartisan infrastructure legislation, but states have a lot of work to do to make the most of the funds, according to a McKinsey & Co. report released on June 7. […]

With $1.3 trillion of investments to infrastructure projects on tap in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, National Cyber Director Chris Inglis today emphasized the importance of making sure each of those projects are made secure from a cyber perspective. […]

The White House today announced its plans for a cross-agency effort to speed the permitting process for items in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, including broadband deployment. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a new memo instructing agencies to include IT leaders on teams that will help oversee and implement the trillion-dollar Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. […]

The White House has released a “Rural Playbook” to help familiarize state, local, tribal, and territorial governments in rural areas with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and assist them in applying for funding under the law. […]

Unsurprisingly, today’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) focused largely on the commission’s efforts to improve broadband affordability and access, as well as its work to close the digital divide and homework gap. […]

Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) Administrator, asking that the $65 billion in broadband funding included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act be prioritized for broadband affordability and digital inclusion. […]

Former White House Director for Cybersecurity Robert Knake is joining the Office of National Cyber Director (ONCD) as deputy national cyber director for strategy and budget, an ONCD spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk today. […]

Congressional attention is turning over the next three weeks to negotiating and approving full-year Fiscal Year 2022 (ending Sept. 30) appropriations legislation after the Senate on Feb. 17 voted to approve a continuing resolution (CR) funding bill to keep government operations funded until March 11. […]

The Senate on Jan. 11 voted to approve the nomination of Alan Davidson as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, and head of the agency’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). […]

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) published a notice on the Federal Register today looking for input on how to best distribute over $48 billion in new broadband funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. […]

The Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) has appointed Nick Leiserson – who spent the previous decade working his way up to be Rep. Jim Langevin’s, D-R.I., Chief of Staff – deputy chief of staff for National Cyber Director Chris Inglis’ office. […]

The year 2021 has played out as a non-stop whirlwind of activity for the Federal IT community – one unprecedented in recent memory for new policy direction, funding pushes, and urgency to improve network security. […]

The House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better (BBB) Act this morning, sending the more than $1.75 trillion reconciliation package to the Senate. The bill includes billions for supply chain resiliency, as well as additional cybersecurity and IT modernization funding. […]

The White House said today it has created a task force made up mostly of top Federal agency officials to “coordinate effective implementation” of the many new programs and mandates created by the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Biden on November 15.  The task force is being created through a new executive order. […]

After its passage by the House of Representatives Nov. 5, President Biden plans to sign the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on Monday, Nov. 15, authorizing billions of new funding for broadband and cybersecurity, in addition to traditional infrastructure, the administration announced Nov. 10. […]

After more than two months of angling and dealmaking, the House of Representatives voted to approve the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework – on November 5, sending the bill along with its $2 billion in cyber funding and $65 billion in broadband appropriations to President Biden’s desk for final approval. […]

The House of Representatives is expected to hold votes on its fiscal year (FY) 2022 reconciliation package – known as the Build Back Better Act (BBB) – as well as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) – today after the House Rules Committee finalized a rule for debate on the now $1.75 trillion “soft” infrastructure legislation late on Nov. 4. […]

The Democratic leaders of the House and Senate made official over the weekend what had become obvious by late last week: the hoped-for late September votes on two big Federal infrastructure funding bills were sliding into October. […]

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) has received over 230 applications, totaling more than $2.5 billion in funding requests for its Broadband Infrastructure Program, Commerce announced August 25. […]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has pledged to schedule a vote on the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act by September 27. […]

With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and a $3.5 trillion budget resolution now passed in the Senate, the House is looking for ways to combine votes the two pieces of legislation in order to speed up the process of approving them, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in an August 15 Dear Colleague Letter. […]

The Senate is on break until September 15, but while on recess major committees will be working on legislative language for the $3.5 trillion budget resolution passed August 11. While the bill largely looks to tackle “soft infrastructure” and climate change, there are a variety of tech objectives in the resolution as well. […]

The Senate on August 11 approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2022 by a vote of 50-49. […]

Infrastructure week finally arrived in Washington, D.C. with the Senate’s approval of the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on Tuesday morning. The bill – whose main tech-related titles include $65 billion for broadband and around $2 billion for cybersecurity – cleared the Senate by a vote of 69-30. […]

Following a pair of votes on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act over the weekend, the bipartisan infrastructure measure is nearing the finish line in the Senate. The bill is currently on track for a final vote in the Senate on Tuesday morning. […]

The Senate’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – the bipartisan infrastructure plan currently working its way through the amendment process – totals about $2 billion in cybersecurity funding, the White House said in an August 3 fact sheet about the legislation. […]

Newly released legislative text of the Senate’s $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan – now titled the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – explains that the bill proposes to spend $65 billion on broadband-related items, headlined by $42.45 billion in funding for a Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. […]

The much-anticipated $1 trillion Senate bipartisan infrastructure bill unveiled on August 1 shows big cybersecurity funding wins for state and local governments with a $1 billion for a cybersecurity grant program, and electric utilities that will be receiving $1.25 billion through a cybersecurity grant program to protect the electric grid. […]