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News and updates

What We’re Reading, April 20-24

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Here’s a selection of articles the Office of Federal Relations is reading this week.

Earth from James Web Telescope. (Smithsonian Air and Space Museum)

Murray-Ryan 2.0? – Republicans are also feeling the chafe from the Sequester spending caps. That’s the problem with a deal no one wanted in the first place. Read more at Politico. 

Serious Flaws – The piece looks at the 10 serious underlining issues and assumptions in both the House and Senate budgets. Read more at CPBP.

College Ratings – Insider Higher Ed has a better look at the Administration’s plans for their College Ratings system…something obtained after a FOIA request. Read more here.

Not as Bad as It Used to Be – A new study suggests this Congress is “healthier” than previous Congreses and shows an inclination to do more and work together. Read more at USA Today. 

Share the Blame – A new books, using the Univ. of Montana as an example, says college towns fail students on reporting sexual assult as much as colleges fail victims. Read more at Vox.

Drones –  In partnership with a branch of the 32 Advisors consulting firm, the American Red Cross is set to release a report this morning on how drones can help first responders and improve disaster relief efforts, making several policy recommendations to the FAA on allowing drones for emergency and disaster response. The report recommends that the FAA allow small commercial drones to be flown over populated areas during declared emergencies and within controlled airspace within disaster areas. The report also suggests the FAA ensure it can scale up staff resources to process drone flight requests during disasters. The report is here. A six page summary is here.

Resign, Please – Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp is asking senior leadership to submit open-ended resignation letters in advance of incoming-president Michael Young’s start date. Sharp says the move is designed to allow more lattiude for Young to establish his leadership team, which are all at-will employees, and the effort will “be easier on the president” and “cause less conflict”. Fifteen vice presidents and advisers have been asked to submit letters. Read more at Insider Higher Education.

Medicare > Higher Ed – A recent  Moody’s Analytics report found that, nationwide, state Medicaid spending will increase as a share of overall state spending to 17.9 percent by fiscal 2024, up from 15.6 percent in fiscal 2013. This means that higher ed funding is directly shortchanged due to Medicare funding. Read more at Diversity Education.

 

 

 

House Passes Two Cyber Security Bills

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It was cybersecurity week for the House as it considered and passed two measures dealing with cybersecurity and information sharing to better address cyber threats. Lawmakers, government officials and most industry groups have strongly backed this idea of needing to share information safely, and all made cyber info-sharing a top 2015 legislative priority. The House today wrapped up the work week today as it finished considering the second of two cybersecurity bills. The legislation is the first two of three measures Congress must pass to finally get a cyber info-sharing law in place.

On Wednesday, the House passed the first major cybersecurity bill since the calamitous hacks on Sony Entertainment, Home Depot and JPMorgan Chase. Passed by a vote of 307-116, HR 1560 – the Protecting Cyber Networks Act (PCNA), was backed by House Intelligence Committee leaders and would give companies liability protections when sharing cyber threat data with government civilian agencies, such as the Treasury or Commerce Departments. The goal of the measure is to increase the public-private flow of information about hacking attempts. Advocates of the legislation say such an exchange is the biggest first step the country can take to thwart hackers.  Privacy advocates and other opponents argue the bill will simply shuttle more sensitive information to the National Security Agency (NSA), further empowering its surveillance authority.

On Thursday, the House considered and passed HR 1731 — National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act by a 355-63. The intent of the law is to enhance the flow of information about hackers’ tactics between the government and private sector. Advocates say both sides need more data on the threats they face so they can bolster the nation’s faltering network defenses. Again, opposition to the legislation cautioned that this would just further empower the NSA. Shifting these abilities and empowering the Department of Homeland Security, however, has been more politically palatable. The DHS is seen as the agency most technically capable of stripping personal information from any data received before it is shared with the rest of the federal government. A cyber info-sharing hub at the department — with its established privacy oversight measures —  is also considered the ideal locale under which to consolidate domestic cyber efforts.

Both measures have the tepid approval of the White House.

The Senate had been hoping to bring its companion bill, known as the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, to the floor sometime in April. Timing for consideration of a cyber bill in the upper chamber remains fluid.

To learn more about HR 1731 – National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015, click here.
To learn more about HR 1560 – Protecting Cyber Networks Act, click here.

DOD Announces Silicon Valley Outpost for Cyber

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In a speech at Stanford today, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced a new initiative designed to improve Department of Defense  (DOD) innovation through the creation of a permanent Pentagon presence in Silicon Valley, a move already taken by the Department of Homeland Security.  The Department plans to create the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental in Northern California to serve as a permanent office that will be a conduit between the California technology community, military reservists, and the DOD.

Secretary Carter emphasized increasing innovation with better partnering between industry, startups, and academia with government funded research and development. The Defense Innovation Unit will be designed to reach out to the commercial sector to drive new technologies, better connect DOD activities with those in Silicon Valley, and find better ways to transition DOD discoveries.

This effort is part of department’s work to regain technological superiority as announced in November through the Defense Innovation Initiative (DII). DII is intended to focus on three themes: increasing competitiveness by attracting talented workforce, develop and field breakthrough technologies and to use current capabilities in different ways, and finding new ways to fight, train and create organizational constructs. In addition, DOD recognizes the need to be more open to global, commercial technology and learn from advances in the private sector.

This annoucment is a significant update to the Pentagon’s four year-old cyber-strategy. It will commit DOD to creating an effective deterrent to cyberattacks against America, but also stresses the limits of the military’s role in cyberspace. Two key components of that deterrent will be denying attackers the benefits they hope to gain from a cyberattack and ensuring there’s a U.S. response to every major attack, even if it’s just a strongly-worded public statement, the official said.

Other strategy goals include strengthening DOD’s cyber infrastructure, improving the department’s cyber intelligence and warning capabilities, and working with the DHS to share information The strategy also reflects a shift to more actively incorporating the military’s Reserve and National Guard components into Cyber Mission Forces.

 

House Science Marks Up COMPETES Reauthorization

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Today, the full House Science Committee marked up HR 1806, the America COMPETES Reauthorization bill, which the House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith introduced late last week. Thirty four amendments were offered for consideration over the five hour mark up, and these amendments largely fell along party lines. Several controversial amendments passed, while amendements to restore certain directorate’s funding or amend climate change provisions.

Highlights of some amendments considered include:

  • An amendment offered by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) to amend the bill and add “human activity impacts climate change” to the DOE Science mission.
  • An amendment offered by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) to officially authorize the Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) program, which passed.
  • An amendment offered by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) to direct and broaden DOE’s Fusion Energy Sciences. which passed.
  • An amendment offered by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici to have a report on STEAM education, which failed.

The amended bill was passed out of committee by a vote of 19-16, which was a party line vote. The next step for the bill is consideration by the full House. While there has been no definite timeline stated by House leadership as to consideration of HR 1806, it is expected to be considered soon.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor the bill and its progress.

House Appropriations Committee Approves FY16 Discretionary Spending Levels

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The House Appropriations Committee adopted Fiscal Year 2016 subcommittee discretionary allocations, also known as 302(b)s, by voice vote following two markups Wednesday. The 302(b)s are the levels of federal discretionary spending per measure and the adoption will allow the committees to move forward with their work in crafting the 12 annual appropriations measures.

In addition, the House Appropriations Committee marked up the FY16 Energy-Water and FY16 Military Construction-VA spending bills today, along with voting to approve the FY16 spending allocations for all 12 regular bills. The Energy-Water committee report contains language pushing back against the Obama administration’s proposed Clean Water Rule, as well as language addressing the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The MilCon-VA bill, meanwhile, has language that a step toward providing a basis for a politically unpopular round of military base closures and realignments.

The Senate will follow suit, but the levels passed by the two respective legislative bodies might not be similar. This discrepancy will add to the FY16 appropriations challenges.