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Congress
Latest Headlines
Latest Headlines
Gang of 8 immigration bill ties legalization to border security measures
An immigration reform bill proposal unveiled April 17 by a bipartisan group of eight senators would tie a path to citizenship for the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants to increased border security measures.
Spotlight: Obama signs STOCK Act change into law
Thousands of federal employees won't have their financial disclosure forms publicized online after all. President Obama signed into law April 15 modifications to the Stop Trading on Congressional...
House approves two federal cybersecurity bills
The Federal Information Security Amendments Act of 2013 ( H.R. 1163 ), secured a 416-0 vote with 16 representatives not present; it would amend the Federal Information Security Management Act in ways similar to legislation the House approved in 2012 but which the Senate did not take up.
CISPA heads to House floor; White House issues veto threat
The White House veto threat (.pdf), issued before the rules committee approved the final rule via voice vote, cites CISPA's ( H.R. 624 ) broad authorization of information sharing between companies and the federal government, stating that the Homeland Security Department should be the point of entry for private sector threat information. CISPA would permit civilian, military or intelligence agencies to directly receive private sector threat information, a feature opponents say would undermine civilian control of national cybersecurity measures and amount to surveillance of Internet users.
CISPA clears House Intelligence Committee
Privacy advocates continue to oppose the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act ( H.R. 624 ) after the House Intelligence Committee voted 18-2 for it April 10, saying that amendments added to the bill don't account for all their objections. T he committee defeated four amendments that would gone further to address critics, including one (.pdf) proposed by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) that would have restricted the flow of cyber threat information sharing from companies to civilian agencies.
House Intelligence to markup CISPA with amendments
The House Intelligence Committee will consider a number of amendments meant to address privacy criticism of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act when it meets to mark up the bill on April 10, its sponsors said during an April 8 press call. The committee staff has worked with the White House to address Obama administration concerns, although not all of them have been satisfied, bill sponsors acknowledged during the call.
Tech firms criticize anti-Chinese technology spending bill provision
A group of technology company associations say a provision in the continuing resolution funding the government through the rest of the fiscal year that requires some federal agencies to certify a national interest before purchasing any technology made by a company with any direct ties to the Chinese government is counterproductive.
Social media accounts becoming ubiquitous in Congress
Nearly all members of Congress had official Twitter or Facebook accounts as of last year, a new report from the Congressional Research Service says. In the House, three-fourths of members had official accounts on both websites as of January 2012, compared to about two-thirds of senators, says the report, dated March 22 and posted online by Secrecy News .
Congress needs institutionalized sources of expertise, paper says
The paper says the Congressional Research Service and Government Accountability Office have been inadequate. Their reports are "dense and text-heavy even as the demographic of congressional staff gets younger, more tech-dependent and more expectant of tweet-sized input."
App challenge targets partisan gridlock
"I do think that apps, app contests, coverage thereof and other related activities can help make people more aware and knowledgeable about problems," said Tom Lee, director of Sunlight Foundation's Sunlight Labs. "Gridlock, in particular, might benefit from more awareness."
