May 1, 2015

The House passed the FY16 Budget Resolution conference report as well as the FY16 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Energy and Water appropriations bills. The House also passed a resolution disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014.The Senate confirmed Dava Newman to be Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and began consideration of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.

FY16 Appropriations

The FY16 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) and Energy and Water (E&W) appropriations bills were on the House floor this week. MilCon-VA passed by a vote of 255 to 163 and E&W passed by a vote of 240 to 177.

FY16 Energy & Water (E&W) Appropriations Bill

Final passage of the $35.4B FY16 E&W came after the House voted to adopt two climate-related amendments. One would bar funding for the Department of Energy to consider a report that analyzed the life cycle of greenhouse gas emissions when making determinations on liquefied natural gas exports and the other would bar funding for a DOE program that evaluates predictive models of the Earth’s climate. The House also adopted an amendment that would bar funding from being used to implement or enforce energy efficiency standards for incandescent light bulbs. Democrats who opposed the bill criticized the funding levels that lock in sequestration as well as policy riders including ones that would bar the Obama administration from implementing its National Oceans Policy and its clean water rule. The White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) threatening a veto of the measure.

White House FY16 E&W appropriations bill SAP:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr2028r_20150428.pdf

FY16 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) Appropriations Bill

The $76.1B MilCon-VA spending bill hit a roadblock when a series of amendments offered by Rep. Mulvaney (R-SC) and Rep. Van Hollen (D-MD) gained significant support and looked like they might pass. The amendments would have stricken $532M in military construction related funding from the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account citing the use of the OCO fund as a budget gimmick. The bill was pulled from the floor until Republicans were sure they had enough votes to defeat the amendments. Mulvaney and Van Hollen have vowed to bring up similar amendments to every spending bill that includes OCO funding, which may cause problems for the FY16 Defense appropriations bill when it comes to the House floor later this year. The House did adopt a number of amendments to the bill including one by Rep. Stefanik (R-NY) that would shift $30M from overall Defense Department construction funding to defense-wide planning and design funding with the goal of creating an East Coast missile defense site. The House also adopted an amendment prohibiting funding from being used to implement a new round of BRAC.

White House FY16 MilCon-VA appropriations bill SAP:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/114/saphr2029r_20150428.pdf

FY16 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill

The House Appropriations full committee approved its $3.3B FY16 Legislative Branch spending bill by voice vote this week. The bill could be on the House floor the week of May 18 after the House returns from recess.

FY16 Legislative Branch spending bill full committee:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-fc-ap-fy2016-ap00-legbranch.pdf

FY16 Legislative Branch draft committee report:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-legbranch.pdf

FY16 Transportation-HUD Appropriations Bill

The House Appropriations subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved its $55.3B FY16 spending bill this week, which is an increase of $1.5B over FY15, but $9.7B below the President’s budget request. The bill includes several policy riders including provisions that would continue to stall enforcement of trucker rest rules and allow longer double-trailers on highways. The chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. Diaz-Balart (R-FL) also included provisions that would block regularly scheduled flights to Cuba and prevent cruise ships from docking in Cuban ports. The bill now goes to the full committee for consideration.

FY16 Transportation-HUD subcommittee bill:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-sc-ap-fy2016-transhud-subcommitteedraft.pdf

FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) met this week in full committee to mark up its FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The committee worked its way through more than 300 proposed amendments and approved the $515B bill at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday by a vote of 60 to 2. Reps. Garamendi (D-CA) and Brooks (R-AL) voted against the measure. The bill authorizes $495.9B for the Pentagon’s base budget and $19B for national security programs within the Department of Energy. It also authorizes $89.2B in OCO funding. The bill will be considered on the House floor the week of May 11.

The committee adopted several amendments during consideration of the bill. Most notably was an amendment offered by Rep. McSally (R-AZ) that would prohibit the retirement of the A-10 Warthog. The bill authorizes $682.7M to keep the A-10s flying in FY16. Also adopted was an amendment by Rep. Conaway (R-TX) that would require congressional authorization before the Department of Defense enters into any contract to plan for, design, refurbish, or construct a biofuels refinery. The committee also passed two significant cybersecurity amendments. The first requires the Secretary of Defense to brief Congress on progress toward providing an annual budget justification for Cyber Mission Forces and related programs by the time the FY17 budget request is submitted. The second requires the Secretary of Defense to brief Congress on cyber risks introduced by smart building technologies including access control systems.

The panel rejected an amendment by ranking member Adam Smith (D-WA) that would have stripped provisions in the bill that limit the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to the U.S. and require certifications for international transfers and releases. Smith also offered but withdrew an amendment that would have authorized another BRAC round in 2017. He will instead push for a floor vote on the amendment. The panel also rejected an amendment from Rep. Gibson (R-NY) that would strike the provision in the bill that overhauls the DOD retirement system and would have replaced it with a requirement for the Pentagon to assess the modification further and report to Congress. And Rep. Speier (D-CA) failed in her amendment that would have redirected funding for six F-35s.

Text of the legislation and amendments as well as the recorded votes can be found at:

http://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=103288

FY16 Budget

The House adopted an FY16 Budget Resolution conference agreement by a vote of 226 to 197. All Democrats and 14 Republicans voted against the measure. The Senate will consider the measure next week. The budget resolution is not a bill and does not go the President for his signature.

The conference agreement reflects the FY16 statutory caps for discretionary spending of $523B for defense and $493.5B for non-defense, but it also calls for $96B for OCO funding. The agreement does not include the Senate point of order requiring a 60-vote threshold for OCO funding exceeding $58B in FY16 and $59.5B in FY17.

The compromise does include budget reconciliation instructions that could result in the partial repeal or changes to the 2010 Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Workforce committees in the House and the Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees in the Senate have until July 24 to write legislation to repeal or change the health care law. This provides legislators enough time to move a legislative response to a Supreme Court ruling on federal health care subsidies that is expected in June. Reconciliation legislation only needs a simply majority of 51 votes in the Senate. While it could pass both the House and the Senate, the President would likely veto the measure with Congress unable to override the veto.

DHS Acquisition Reform Legislation Introduced in House

Today a bipartisan group of House Homeland Security Committee members introduced HR 2199, the DHS Acquisition Accountability and Efficiency Act. The bill is similar to HR 4228, a bill that passed the House last June. This new bill requires that every major acquisition program have an approved Acquisition Program Baseline (APB); authorizes the Department’s Chief Acquisition Officer, the Undersecretary for Management, to approve, halt, modify, or cancel major acquisition programs as needed; compels DHS to submit to Congress major acquisition programs that fail to meet cost, schedule, or performance metrics through quarterly status and accountability reports; and requires that a Multiyear Acquisition Strategy be included in each Future Years Homeland Security Program. The committee is interested in additional ideas to improve the bill through amendment by regular order.

A copy of the bill can be found at:

http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/050115-HR2199.pdf

Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act Draft Guidance for Federal Agencies

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its draft guidance for federal agencies to ensure that the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) is applied consistently government-wide.

FITARA was passed by Congress and enacted into law on December 19, 2014. The Act outlines specific requirements related to:

1. Chief Information Officer (CIO) Authority Enhancements
2. Enhanced Transparency and Improved Risk Management in IT Investments
3. Portfolio Review
4. Expansion of Training and Use of IT Cadres
5. Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative
6. Maximizing the Benefit of the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative
7. Government-wide Software Purchasing Program

To implement the requirements of FITARA, combined with the need to update policy and guidance related to other modern IT practices, OMB is establishing this guidance. This guidance reflects input from a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO), Chief Acquisition Officer (CAO), Assistant Secretary for Management (ASAM), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and CIO communities.

OMB is seeking feedback and suggestions on the draft guidance. Comments are due May 30, 2015, but OMB is encouraging responders to submit more substantive comments by May 15. Feedback can be provided in three ways:

1. Email comments to fitara@cio.gov (to comment privately).
2. Submit comments/suggestions via GitHub issues. https://github.com/WhiteHouse/fitara Each issues is a conversation initiated by a member of the public. You can join in on discussions or start a new issue.
3. Use GitHub’s in-browser editor to edit files and submit a pull request. https://github.com/WhiteHouse/fitara

A copy of the guidance can be found at:

https://cio.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/OMB-Proposed-Guidance-Management-and-Oversight-of-Information-Technology-Resources.pdf

House May Agenda

House Majority Leader McCarthy (R-CA) sent a memo to House Republicans on Friday outlining the House agenda for the month of May. The May agenda includes legislation requiring the EPA and Corps of Engineers to withdraw proposed regulations for the Clear Water Act as well as three national security related measures – the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, and the USA Freedom Act. The agenda also calls for a week of science and technology related measures including: H.R. 880, the American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2015; H.R. 1806, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act; H.R. 1561, the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act; H.R. 1119, the Research and Development Efficiency Act; H.R. 1156, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Act; H.R. 1162, the Science Prize Competitions Act; H.R. 1158, the DOE Lab Modernization & Technology Transfer Act; and H.R. 874, the American Super Computing Leadership Act. The House will also consider the FY16 Legislative Branch spending bill, and members will need to act on the impending expiration of the authorities under the Highway Trust Fund.

A copy of Majority Leader McCarthy’s memo can be found at:

http://www.majorityleader.gov/2015/05/01/memorandum-may-agenda/

Political Updates

Loretta Lynch was officially sworn in on Monday as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States, but the first African-American woman to hold the position.

Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) announced his intent to run for President this week giving Hillary Clinton her first official challenger in the Democratic primary. Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas is expected to announce his candidacy on Tuesday May 5 in Hope, Arkansas. This will be his second bid for President.

President Obama nominated Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger as Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration at the Department of Homeland Security and Gayle Smith as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Neffenger has served as the Vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard since May of last year. And Smith is a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Development and Democracy on the National Security Council. Prior to joining the administration, Smith was a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and lived and worked in Africa for almost 20 years.

Stephen Preston, General Counsel at the Department of Defense, will leave federal service at the end of June after serving for six years in the Obama administration. Preston previously served as General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and played a leading role in the administration’s counterterrorism and drone campaigns including in the preparation for the 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Preston will return to work in the private sector and has accepted an adjunct faculty appointment at Yale Law School.

Al Tarasiuk, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the Office of the Director for National Intelligence (ODNI), retired this week after more than 28 years in the federal government. Prior to joining ODNI, Taraksiuk spent five years as the CIO of CIA.

Michael Vickers, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence at the Department of Defense stepped down on Thursday. Vickers has held this position since March of 2011, but announced his decision to leave earlier this year. Vickers has not announced his next step.

Next Week

The House is in recess next week. When it returns the following week it could take up the FY16 Legislative Branch appropriations bill as well as the FY16 NDAA. The Senate will resume consideration of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and take up the FY16 Budget Resolution conference report. The Senate will also make its second attempt this year to override a presidential veto when they take up a measure (S J Res 8) that aims to block union election rules.

April 24, 2015

The House passed HR 1195, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Boards Act; HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act; and HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act. The Senate passed S 178, the Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking Act, and confirmed the nomination of Loretta Lynch to be US Attorney General by a vote of 56 to 43. Vice President Biden will swear in Lynch at the White House on Monday.

FY16 Appropriations

The House Appropriations full committee met this week to markup the FY16 Energy and Water and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) bills as well as approve their FY16 302(b) allocations for all of the 12 spending bills. The Legislative Branch appropriations subcommittee also met this week to mark up their FY16 spending bill in subcommittee. And the House will meet next Wednesday, April 29 at 9:30 am to mark up its FY16 Transportation HUD appropriations bill in subcommittee.

Energy and Water

The $35.4B FY16 Energy and Water spending bill is a $1.2B increase over the FY15 enacted level. The bill provides $12.3B for DOE’s nuclear weapons security programs, $5.6B for the Army Corps of Engineers, $5.9B for environmental management activities, $10.3B for energy programs within DOE, $5.1B for science research, $150M for the Nuclear Waste Disposal program, $50M for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue the adjudication of DOE’s Yucca Mountain License applications, and $1.1B for the Bureau of Reclamation. The report accompanying the bill includes language that blocks funding from being used to develop, adopt, implement, administer, or enforce the administration’s proposed Clean Water Rule. A similar rider was included in the House’s FY15 spending bill, but Democrats were able to strip it out during the omnibus negotiations. The report also includes language opposing the administration’s plan to replace Yucca Mountain and language allowing the possession of firearms on Corps of Engineers’ land.

House FY16 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-fc-ap-fy2016-ap00-energywater.pdf

House FY16 Energy and Water Appropriations Report Language:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-energywater.pdf

Military Construction-Veterans Affairs

The $76.6B FY16 MilCon-VA spending bill is a $4.6B increase over the FY15 enacted level. The bill provides a total of $68.7B for Veterans programs, $7.7B for military construction projects, and $71M for the Arlington National Cemetery. The report language accompanying the bill contains language that may open the door for another round of base closures.

House FY16 MilCon-VA Appropriations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-fc-ap-fy2016-ap00-milcon.pdf

House FY16 MilCon-VA Appropriations Report Language:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hrpt-114-hr-fy2016-milcon.pdf

Legislative Branch

The FY16 Legislative Branch bill marked up in subcommittee this week includes $3.3B in spending, excluding Senate-only items. While the bill maintains current funding levels, an increase is included for the Capitol Hill Police to provide for overtime pay and other personnel issues for events such as the Pope’s visit in September. The Library of Congress would also get an increase, as members were concerned about a recent GAO report stating that the library has significant weaknesses across several areas of its technological infrastructure. The bill also continues a pay freeze for members of Congress in FY16. House members’ pay has been frozen since 2010.

House FY16 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/leg_xml-subcommittee.pdf

302(b) Allocations

And the committee also approved its FY16 302(b) subcommittee allocations:

(in millions)

Cybersecurity

House Passes Cybersecurity Bills

Two cybersecurity information sharing bills were considered and passed on the House floor this week – HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act and HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act. The White House expressed its support (with some caveats) of the two bills earlier this week. After passage, the two bills were combined into one bill and sent to the Senate, but the Senate isn’t expected to consider them. Instead, Senate leadership has said that they intend to consider the Senate Intelligence Committee bill, S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA). However, the timeline on floor consideration of that bill continues to slip. It may come up after the Senate has completed consideration of the Iran and Trade bills.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) produced a side-by-side comparison of the two House bills:

https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43996.pdf

Department of Defense Releases Cyber Strategy

The Department of Defense (DoD) released their cyber strategy this week, which focuses on building cyber capabilities and organizations for DoD’s three primary cyber missions, which are:

1. DoD must defend its own networks, systems, and information.
2. DoD must be prepared to defend the United States and its interests against cyberattacks of significant consequence.
3. If directed by the President or the Secretary of Defense, DoD must be able to provide integrated cyber capabilities to support military operations and contingency plans.

In the cyber strategy, DoD sets five strategic goals for its cyberspace missions:

1. Build and maintain ready forces and capabilities to conduct cyberspace operations;
2. Defend the DoD information network, secure DoD data, and mitigate risks to DoD missions;
3. Be prepared to defend the U.S. homeland and U.S. vital interests from disruptive or destructive cyberattacks of significant consequence;
4. Build and maintain viable cyber options and plan to use those options to control conflict escalation and to shape the conflict environment at all stages;
5. Build and maintain robust international alliances and partnerships to deter shared threats and increase international security and stability.

The strategy also discusses the Cyber Mission Force, which will be comprised of cyber operators organized into 133 teams, primarily aligned as follows:

• Cyber Protection Forces will augment traditional defensive measures and defend priority DoD networks and systems against priority threats;
• National Mission Forces and their associated support teams will defend the United States and its interests against cyberattacks of significant consequence; and
• Combat Mission Forces and their associated support teams will support combatant commands by generating integrated cyberspace effects in support of operational plans and contingency operations.

DOD Cyber Strategy:

http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2015/0415_cyber-strategy/Final_2015_DoD_CYBER_STRATEGY_for_web.pdf

DOD Cyber Strategy Fact Sheet:

http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2015/0415_cyber-strategy/Department_of_Defense_Cyber_Strategy_Fact_Sheet.pdf

FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) subcommittees met this week to mark up their sections of the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The full committee will meet next Wednesday to mark up the bill.

Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee Mark:

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS26/20150422/103282/BILLS-114HR1735ih-U1.pdf

Military Personnel Subcommittee Mark:

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS02/20150423/103283/BILLS-114HR1735ih-U1.pdf

Readiness Subcommittee Mark:

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS03/20150422/103284/BILLS-114HR1735ih-U1.pdf

Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee Mark:

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS28/20150423/103285/BILLS-114HR1735ih-U1.pdf

Strategic Forces Subcommittee Mark:

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS29/20150423/103286/BILLS-114HR1735ih-U1.pdf

Tactical Air and Land Subcommittee Mark:

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/AS/AS25/20150423/103287/BILLS-114HR1735ih-U1.pdf

The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) said that he expects his subcommittees will begin marking up their portions of the NDAA either next week or the week after. The SASC voted this week to hold its FY16 NDAA markup in closed session. While the full committee will conduct its markup behind closed doors, McCain said that the subcommittees would be able to hold their markups in an open session if they so desired.

Department of Energy Quadrennial Energy Review

The Department of Energy released the initial installment of its first-ever Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) this week. This report focuses on energy transmission, storage, and distribution (TS&D) infrastructure pipelines, wires, storage, waterways, railroads, and other facilities and identifies opportunities and vulnerabilities of these systems.

Highlights from each of the chapters in this year’s QER, include:

Ensuring the Resilience, Reliability, Safety, and Security of TS&D Infrastructure

• Establishing a competitive program to accelerate pipeline replacement and enhance maintenance programs for natural gas distribution systems.
• Supporting the updating and expansion of state energy assurance plans, and establishing a competitive grant program to promote innovative solutions to enhance energy infrastructure resilience, reliability, and security.
• Analyze the policies, technical specifications, and logistical and program structures needed to mitigate the risks associated with loss of transformers.

Modernizing the Electric Grid

• Providing state financial assistance to promote and integrate TS&D infrastructure investment plans for electricity reliability, affordability, efficiency, lower carbon generation, and environmental protection.

Promoting grid modernization.

• Improving grid communication through standards and interoperability.

Modernizing U.S. Energy Security Infrastructures in a Changing Global Marketplace

• Investing to optimize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR’s) emergency response capability.
• Updating SPR release authorities to reflect modern oil markets.
• Supporting fuels diversity through research, demonstration, and analysis.

Improving Shared Transport Infrastructures

• Supporting a new program of competitively awarded grants for shared energy transport systems.
• Supporting alternative funding mechanisms for waterborne freight infrastructure.

Integrating North American Energy Markets

• Establishing programs for academic institutions and not-for-profits to develop legal, regulatory, and policy roadmaps for harmonizing regulations across borders.
• Increasing the integration of energy data among the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
• Promote Caribbean energy TS&D infrastructure.

Addressing Environmental Aspects of TS&D Infrastructure

• Improving quantification of emissions from natural gas TS&D infrastructure.
• Supporting funding to reduce diesel emissions.
• Enacting financial incentives for the construction of CO2 pipeline networks.

Enhancing Employment and Workforce Training

• Supporting an energy-job skills training system through the interagency Skills Working Group.
• Expanding support for an open-source learning community to develop, facilitate, and expand use of state-of-the art courses in energy-related fields.
• Facilitating national credentials for energy occupations.

Siting and Permitting of TS&D Infrastructure

• Enacting statutory authorities to improve coordination across agencies.
• Prioritizing meaningful public engagement through consultation with Indian Tribes, coordination with state and local governments, and facilitation of non-Federal partnerships.
• Expanding landscape and watershed-level mitigation and conservation planning.

A copy of the QER can be found at:

http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/04/f22/QER-ALL%20FINAL_0.pdf

The administration also announced two executive actions to modernize and enhance the resilience of the grid:

Executive Action 1: Partnership for Energy Sector Climate Resilience

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing a new Partnership for Energy Sector Climate Resilience that will improve U.S. energy infrastructure resilience against extreme weather and climate change impacts with the leading providers of electricity services. The partnership will begin with a convening at DOE with CEOs from the following 17 companies on April 30, 2015. The participating companies represent a broad array of investor-owned, Federal, municipal, and cooperative utilities, including:

• Con Edison
• Dominion Virginia Power
• Entergy
• Exelon
• Great River Energy
• Hoosier Energy
• Iberdrola USA
• National Grid
• New York Power Authority
• Pacific Gas and Electric
• PEPCO Holdings
• Public Service Electricity and Gas
• Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
• San Diego Gas and Electric/Sempra
• Seattle City Light
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
• Xcel Energy

Executive Action 2: Funding for Rural Electric Infrastructure

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing $72 million to support six new rural electric infrastructure projects including major investments to drive solar energy. The loans will be used for transmission line improvements, including smart grid projects. For nearly 80years, USDA’s Electric Programs have financed safe, reliable, and affordable electricity to help strengthen rural economies. Today’s announcement reinforces that commitment.

Department of Defense Rapid Innovation Fund

The Department of Defense (DOD) released a broad agency announcement (BAA) last week seeking offers for their Rapid Innovation Funding. The Rapid Innovation Fund’s goal is to transition innovative technologies that resolve operational challenges or save costs into DOD acquisition programs. Those selected for award may receive up to $3M, and there is preference given to small businesses. Approximately $225M was appropriated in FY15 for the fund. White papers (1st phase) must be submitted by June 15. Full proposals (2nd phase) are by invitation only. Offers in white papers should resolve operational challenges or other critical national security needs as characterized by the DOD Components’ requirements. The requirements can be found in Section 13.0 in this link to the BAA:

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=cd85175835c504efe2f3a85a3ebba525&tab=core&_cview=0

DHS Acquisition Innovations in Motion (AIiM)

DHS released an announcement to industry this week regarding their Acquisition Innovations in Motion (AIiM). At the February 25, 2015 DHS Strategic Industry Conversation event in DC, DHS Secretary Johnson and Deputy Secretary Mayorkas said that DHS would continue to engage with industry and pursue acquisition initiatives over the course of the year to improve their business processes. Through AIiM, DHS has developed a series of initiatives and industry engagement events and conversations focused on reciprocal learning between DHS and industry. The link below contains a high level calendar of events that DHS will continue to update.:

http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Acquisition%20Innovations%20in%20Motion.pdf

The updates will be available at:

http://www.dhs.gov/how-do-i/do-business-dhs

Questions about the AIiM initiative can be directed to the DHS Industry Liaison, Harrison Smith (Harrison.Smith@hq.dhs.gov).

Political Updates

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced on Sunday that he plans to seek reelection in 2018 and does not intend to run for governor next year.

The President nominated Adam Szubin to be Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes at the Treasury Department.

Next Week

The House will consider the FY16 Energy and Water and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bills as well as a potential FY16 budget resolution conference report. The Senate will resume consideration of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and vote on the nomination of Dava Newman to be Deputy Administrator of NASA.

April 17, 2015

The House passed HR 650, the Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act; HR 685, the Mortgage Choice Act of 2015; HR 1562, the Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2015; HR 622, the State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act; and HR 1105, the Death Tax Repeal Act. The Senate passed HR 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which replaced the sustainable growth rate formula by which Medicare pays doctors. The bill was sent to the President who signed it on Thursday. The Senate also confirmed Russell Deyo to be Under Secretary for Management at the Department of Homeland Security and Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri to be Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

FY16 Budget

FY16 Budget Resolution Conference Committee

The House and Senate appointed conferees this week. Conferees will work to meld the differences between the two chambers FY16 budget resolutions.

House Budget Conferees are as follows: House Budget Committee Chairman Price (R-GA), Ranking Member Van Hollen (D-MD), Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Black (R-TN), Rokita (R-IN), Moolenar (R-MI), Yarmuth (D-KY), and Moore (D-WI).

Senate Budget Conferees are as follows: Senate Budget Committee Chairman Enzi (R-WY), Grassley (R-IA), Sessions (R-AL), Crapo (R-ID), Graham (R-SC), Portman (R-OH), Toomey (R-PA), Johnson (R-WI), Ayotte (R-NH), McCain (R-AZ), Wicker (R-MS), Corker (R-TN), Perdue (R-GA), Ranking Member Sanders (I-VT), Murray (D-WA), Wyden (D-OR), Stabenow (D-MI), Whitehouse (D-RI), Warner (D-VA), Merkley (D-OR), and Baldwin (D-WI).

Conferees are scheduled to meet on Monday, April 20 at 3 pm to begin working out the differences between their two FY16 budget resolutions (H Con Res 27 and S Con Res 11). House and Senate leaders are hopeful to have a final budget resolution by the end of the month.

Two main issues for conferees to consider are defense spending and the budget reconciliation process. With respect to Defense funding, the Senate budget resolution includes a budgetary point of order against spending more than $58 billion in the Overseas Contingency Operations account. A budgetary point of order requires 60 votes to waive. It is likely that this point of order will be dropped in any final conference agreement in order to win the support of military hawks. With respect to the budget reconciliation process, the House resolution contains much broader reconciliation instructions than the Senate version, which limits its instructions to the two committees with jurisdiction over health care programs. Republicans are planning to use the budget reconciliation process to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, but some want the process to be used only for that and not for changes to mandatory spending programs.

FY16 Budget Amendments Submitted by Administration to Congress

The Administration submitted to Congress several FY16 budget amendments for the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, the Interior, Justice, State, and Transportation, as well as the General Services Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Small Business Administration, and the Social Security Administration. These amendments are fully offset and do not change the overall discretionary budget authority. These amendments were requested in order to reflect correctly policies assumed in the President’s FY16 budget request. The amendments decrease by $2.7 million the overall discretionary budget authority in the FY16 budget request.

The amendments and their details can be found at:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/budget_amendments/amendment_04_14_15.pdf

FY16 Appropriations Process Begins in House

Two House Appropriations subcommittees met this week to mark up their FY16 spending bills. The Energy and Water Subcommittee marked up its $35.4B measure first followed by the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) Subcommittee with their $76.6B measure. Both bills received a boost over their FY15 funding levels – a $1.2B increase for Energy & Water and a $4.6B increase for MilCon-VA.

The House Appropriations Committee will meet next Wednesday morning to mark up both bills in full committee as well as approve their FY16 suballocations or 302(b)s. And the bills are scheduled to be on the House floor the following week (week of April 27).

FY16 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-sc-ap-fy2016-energywater-subcommitteedraft.pdf

FY16 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill Text:

http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-114hr-sc-ap-fy2016-milcon-subcommitteedraft.pdf

Cybersecurity

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scored the three cybersecurity bills this week – HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015; HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act; and S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. CBO estimates that the requirements imposed by HR 1731 would cost approximately $20M over the FY16-FY20 period. For the same time period, HR 1560 would cost $186M and S 754 would cost $20M. The House Intelligence Committee’s bill (HR 1560) is significantly more because it contains a provision codifying the President’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Center.

CBO Score of HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015:

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50116

CBO Score of HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act:

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50110

CBO Score of S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015:

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/50113

The House Homeland Security Committee marked up HR 1731 in committee this week. The bill includes liability protection for companies sharing cyberthreat information with the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) or other private entities. The committee approved an amendment during the markup that clarifies that the shared cyberthreat information processed by the NCCIC could not be used for law enforcement purposes. The legislation would require private companies to remove personally identifiable information (PII) unrelated to cybersecurity risk before sharing the information with the NCCIC or other private entities. It would also require the NCCIC to conduct a second scrub and destroy any personal information that is unrelated to the cybersecurity risk before further sharing it with other government agencies or private organizations. The bill also allows companies to monitor their own networks with liability coverage and to engage in defensive measures, which are clarified to say that they cannot include harming another network. And it provides for “sector specific agency” information-sharing agreements, which will allow critical infrastructure sectors to maintain pre-existing relationships with regulators. The bill was passed out of the committee by a unanimous voice vote.

HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015:

http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20150420/CPRT-114-HPRT-RU00-HR1731.pdf

HR 1731 Bill Summary:

http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/04-14-15-NCPA-Act-Summary.pdf

List of Full Committee Amendments and Roll Call Votes:

http://homeland.house.gov/markup/markup-hr-national-cybersecurity-protection-advancement-act-2015

Both HR 1731 and HR 1560 will be considered on the House floor next week. They will be considered separately according to the process released by the House Rules Committee. House members have until 3 pm on Monday to submit amendments to the Rules Committee.

Trade Promotion Authority

The House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee released a Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill this week, the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (TPA-2015). TPA (aka “fast track authority”) expired in 2007. TPA-2015 would give the administration the ability to negotiate two big trade pacts (the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), but would require the President to consult with Congress at key points in the negotiations. The President would be required to publish a trade agreement 60 days before he signs it and sends it to Congress for a vote. And Congress could only vote agreements up or down, not change them.

Labor (AFL-CIO), consumer, and environmental groups are launching campaigns to oppose the bill, while business groups (US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers) support it.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is planning an April 23 markup of the bill. Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) is hoping to move the bill in tandem with legislation to renew trade adjustment assistance for workers and businesses adversely affected by trade.

TPA-2015 Bill Text:

http://www.finance.senate.gov/download/?id=FEC41212-F7AF-4A6D-BF83-978401999DAF

Summary of TPA-2015:

http://www.finance.senate.gov/download/?id=070F3045-8E10-4284-896C-95344D75ECDE

Section-by-Section Summary of TPA-2015:

http://www.finance.senate.gov/download/?id=0009D10C-38FD-4D67-AC17-C9F29ABEAF05

Political Updates

Jonathan Levy, Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Energy (DOE) announced this week that he’s leaving for a job in the private sector. His last day will be April 28. Also at DOE, Don Adcock, the Deputy CIO announced this week that he’s leaving the government April 17 and will be joining the private sector. It’s unclear who will replace Adcock, but Michael Johnson was recently named to be the new DOE CIO.

The President nominated Gabriel Camarillo to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserves at the Department of Defense and Jonathan Elkind to be an Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the Department of Energy. At the Treasury Department, the President nominated Adam Szubin for Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes and Victoria Esser for Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.

The White House announced that Deesha Dyer was promoted to Special Assistant to the President and Social Secretary. Dyer currently serves as Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary.

Maj. Gen. Joseph A. Brendler has been promoted to chief of staff at U.S. Cyber Command. Brendler was formerly Cybercom’s director of plans and policy.

Next Week

The House will take up HR 1195, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Boards Act; HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act; and HR 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act. The Senate will resume consideration of S 178, the Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking Act, followed by the nomination of Loretta Lynch for US Attorney General, and then S 615, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.

April 10, 2015

The House and Senate were in recess this week.

House April Schedule

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) circulated a memo to House Republicans this week that outlined the House agenda for the next three weeks. Each week focuses on a different theme:

April 13th – 16th | Tax Freedom and Financial Independence

Bills to be considered:

• R. 299, Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act of 2015 (Stivers)
• R. 601, Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act (Luetkemeyer)
• R. 1195, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Advisory Boards Act (Pittenger)
• R. 1259, Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act (Barr)
• R. 1265, Bureau Advisory Commission Transparency Act (Duffy)
• R. 1367, Applying the Expedited Funds Availability Act to American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands (Radewagen)
• R. 1480, SAFE Act Confidentiality and Privilege Enhancement Act (Dold)
• R. 650, Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act of 2015 (Fincher)
• R. 685, Mortgage Choice Act of 2015 (Huizenga)
• R. 1058, Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act of 2015 (Roskam)
• R. 1152, Prohibiting officers and employees of the Internal Revenue Service from using personal email accounts to conduct official business (Marchant)
• R. 1026, Taxpayer Knowledge of IRS Investigations Act (M. Kelly)
• R. 1314, Providing for a right to an administrative appeal relating to adverse determinations of tax-exempt status of certain organizations (Meehan)
• R. 1295, Improving the process for making determinations with respect to whether organizations are exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(4) of such Code (Holding)
• R. 709, Prevent Targeting at the IRS Act (Renacci)
• R. 1104, Fair Treatment for All Donations Act (Roskam)
• R. 1563, Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2015 (Chaffetz)
• R. 1562, Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2015 (Chaffetz)
• R. 1105, Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015 (K. Brady)
• R. 622, Permanent State & Local Tax Deduction (K. Brady)

April 21st – 23rd | Cybersecurity

Several House committees are working on legislation to secure cyber networks and prevent data breaches. The bills focus on facilitating greater information sharing about cyber-threat information between the private sector and government while protecting civil liberties and promoting best practices.

April 28th – May 1st | Appropriations

The first two FY16 appropriations bills the House will consider will be:

• Military Construction / Veterans Affairs (Dent)
• Energy and Water Development (Simpson)

The House will also continue to work toward completion of a FY16 budget conference report and will bring it to the floor when the conference committee has completed its work. And they may consider reauthorization of key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, which expire at the end of May.

A copy of the Majority Leader’s memo can be found at:

https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=382

DHS Science and Technology Directorate Strategic Plan

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate released its Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2015-2019. The Strategic Plan outlines strategic objectives, initiatives, and activities for the S&T Directorate for the next five years.

Part I of the plan introduces the directorate and characterizes the strategic context it operates within. Part II of the strategic plan details the specific objectives, initiatives, and activities S&T will conduct in the next five years. And, Part III of the plan details S&T’s R&D Capability Roadmaps, which will guide investments in the years to come.

A copy of the strategic plan can be found at:

http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/st/ST_Strategic_Plan_2015_508.pdf

DOD Better Buying Power 3.0 Implementation Directive

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall released an implementation directive for Better Buying Power (BBP) 3.0 this week. Warning that “our technological superiority is at risk” from other nations rapidly modernizing their militaries, BBP 3.0’s goal is to reestablish our technological advantage by making it possible for the Pentagon to be able to buy new generations of weapons and systems as quickly and cheaply as possible, using competition, cost controls and other reforms.

DOD circulated a draft version of BBP 3.0 last year. This new implementation directive contains two new additions to that original draft – cybersecurity and reducing unnecessary paperwork regulations imposed on DOD suppliers.

New Emphasis Areas in BBP 3.0:

• Long-range research and development
• Cybersecurity
• Commercial technology
• Prototyping and experimentation
• Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA)
• Global technology
• Organic engineering capabilities
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education

Link to the implementation directive memo:

http://bbp.dau.mil/docs/BBP3.0ImplementationGuidanceMemorandumforRelease.pdf

Link to the Fact Sheet:

http://bbp.dau.mil/docs/BBP3.0FactSheetFINAL.pdf

Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations and Subcommittee Vice Chairs

The House Appropriations Committee is expected to begin work on its FY16 appropriations bills next week with subcommittee markups in Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Energy & Water.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers also announced this week the Republican Members who will serve as Vice Chairs of the 12 Appropriations subcommittees for the 114^th Congress. These Members will serve as Chair of the subcommittee in the absence of the Chairperson, and assist them in official Committee duties.

The Subcommittee Vice Chairs are as follows:

Agriculture: David Valadao, California

Commerce, Justice, Science: Robert Aderholt, Alabama

Defense: Kay Granger, Texas

Energy and Water: Chuck Fleischmann, Tennessee

Financial Services: Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington

Homeland Security: Rodney Frelinghuysen, New Jersey

Interior and Environment: Mike Simpson, Idaho

Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education: Steve Womack, Arkansas

Legislative Branch: Mark Amodei, Nevada

Military Construction and Veterans Affairs: Jeff Fortenberry, Nebraska

State and Foreign Operations: Charlie Dent, Pennsylvania

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development: Kevin Yoder, Kansas

Political Updates

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced earlier this week that he’s running for President in 2016.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) was officially elevated to Ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stepping in for Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) after he was indicted on corruption charges. While Menendez stepped aside on this committee, he is not giving up his ranking position on the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced this week that he intends to run for re-election in 2016. McCain is currently the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and is a member of the Indian Affairs and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees. He will be 80 years old when he runs for re-election.

Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) announced her intention to retire at the end of the 114^th Congress via a YouTube message. Capps has served in Congress since March 1998 and is on the Energy and Commerce and Natural Resources Committees.

Keith Hall officially took over as Director of the Congressional Budget Office on April 1, replacing Doug Elmendorf who had served in the role for six years.

Former Representative Brad Carson was named acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. Prior to this appointment, Carson was serving as Undersecretary of the Army and Army Chief Management Officer. Carson served in the House of Representatives from 2001-2005. He earned a Bronze Star during a deployment to Iraq in 2009-2010 as an active-duty Navy intelligence officer.

The President nominated Gabriel Camarillo to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Camarillo is currently the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisitions, Logistics, and Technology.

April 3, 2015

The House and Senate were in recess this week.

Cybersecurity

Protecting Cyber Networks Act

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released a transcript of its markup of HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act (PCNA). A manager’s amendment making technical changes to the bill was adopted by voice vote prior to final passage in committee this week. The markup was closed to the public, so the transcript provides a little more information about some of the changes in the manager’s amendment as well as other amendments that were offered and withdrawn by committee members.

The transcript can be found at:

http://intelligence.house.gov/sites/intelligence.house.gov/files/documents/HR%201560%20W%20Markup%20and%20Amendments.pdf

Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities Executive Order

President Obama issued an executive order this week that creates a new, targeted authority for the US government to respond to malicious cyber-enabled activities originating from, or directed by, persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States. The executive order authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, to impose sanctions on individuals or entities that engage in significant malicious cyber-enabled activities that are reasonably likely to result in, or have materially contributed to, a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States, and that have the purpose or effect of:

• Harming or significantly compromising the provision of services by entities in a critical infrastructure sector;
• Significantly disrupting the availability of a computer or network of computers (for example, through a distributed denial-of-service attack); or
• Causing a significant misappropriation of funds or economic resources, trade secrets, personal identifiers, or financial information for commercial or competitive advantage or private financial gain (for example, by stealing large quantities of credit card information, trade secrets, or sensitive information).

The new Executive Order further authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, to impose sanctions on certain individuals or entities that:

• Knowingly receive or use trade secrets that were stolen by cyber-enabled means for commercial or competitive advantage or private financial gain, where the underlying theft of the trade secrets is reasonably likely to result in, or has materially contributed to, a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States (for example, where a corporation knowingly profits from stolen trade secrets); or
• Attempt, assist in, or provide material support for any of the above harms.
• This authority will be used in a targeted manner against the most significant cyber threats that we face, whether they are directed against our critical infrastructure, our companies, or our citizens.  The United States will continue to employ all available means, including diplomatic and law enforcement mechanisms, to counter these threats.

The President’s Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities Executive Order:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/04/01/executive-order-blocking-property-certain-persons-engaging-significant-m

The President’s letter to the Speaker of the House and President of the Senate on the Executive Order:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/04/01/letter-blocking-property-certain-persons-engaging-significant-malicious-

House FY16 National Defense Authorization Act Markup

House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) released the committee’s markup schedule for the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The committee will meet to mark up the legislation in subcommittee and full committee as follows:

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

2:30 PM – Subcommittee on Emerging Threats & Capabilities Markup (Room 2118)

4:00 PM – Subcommittee on Readiness Markup (Room 2212)

Thursday, April 23, 2015

8:30 AM – Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces Markup (Room 2118)

9:30 AM – Subcommittee on Military Personnel Markup (Room 2212)

10:30 AM – Subcommittee on Seapower & Projection Forces Markup (Room 2118)

12:00 PM – Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Markup (Room 2212)

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

10:00 AM—Full Committee Markup (Room 2118)

Politico is reporting that the HASC is considering marking up a FY16 NDAA that authorizes $561B for base funding, which was the level requested by the Obama administration. They would then designate $38B of that funding for Overseas Contingency Operations.

House Homeland Security Committee Bills Introduced

Six freshmen Republican members of the House Homeland Security Committee introduced bills this week aimed at curbing waste, fraud, and abuse, and at increasing transparency at the Department of Homeland Security. The bills were introduced by Reps. Carter (R-GA), Hurd (R-TX), Loudermilk (R-GA), McSally (R-AZ), Ratcliffe (R-TX), and Walker (R-NC).

The freshmen Homeland Security Committee members introduced the following legislation:

HR 1615, the DHS FOIA Efficiency Act of 2015, introduced by Rep. Carter, directs DHS’s Chief FOIA Officer to make certain improvements in the implementation the Freedom of Information Act.

A link to the bill:

http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/032515-HR1615.pdf

HR 1626, the DHS IT Duplication Reduction Act of 2015, introduced by Rep. Hurd, requires a report to Congress as they seek to reduce duplication of information technology at the department.

A link to the bill:

http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/032515-HR1626.pdf

HR 1633, the DHS Paid Administrative Leave Accountability Act of 2015, introduced by Rep. Loudermilk, requires improvements to the tracking and reporting of DHS employees placed on administrative leave, or any other type of paid non-duty status, for personnel matters.

A link to the bill:

http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/032515-HR1633.pdf

HR 1634, the Border Security Technology Accountability Act of 2015, introduced by Rep. McSally, chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications, strengthens accountability for DHS’ deployment of border security technology.

A link to the bill:

http://homeland.house.gov/bill/hr-1634-border-security-technology-accountability-act

HR 1637, the Federally Funded Research and Development Sunshine Act of 2015, introduced by Rep. Ratcliffe, chairman of the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies Subcommittee, requires annual reports on the activities and accomplishments of DHS’s federally funded research and development centers.

A link to the bill:

http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/032515-HR1637.pdf

HR 1640, the Department of Homeland Security Headquarters Consolidation Accountability Act of 2015, introduced by Rep. Walker, directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit to Congress a report on DHS’s headquarters consolidation project at St. Elizabeth’s.

A link to the bill:

http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/032515-HR1640.pdf

Global Entrepreneurship Summit

The Government of Kenya has agreed to co-host the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) this July. Organized annually since 2009, the GES has emerged as a global platform connecting emerging entrepreneurs with leaders from business, international organizations, and governments looking to support them. This will be the first time the GES will take place in sub-Saharan Africa. President Obama will travel to Kenya in July, where he will hold bilateral meetings and participate in the GES. This will be President Obama’s fourth trip to sub-Saharan Africa during his presidency.

Political Updates

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was indicted by a grand jury this week on federal corruption charges. The charges stem from a Justice Department and FBI probe of Menendez and his longtime friend Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida opthamologist. Menendez was the Ranking Democrat, but sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stating that he would give up his post temporarily. Next in line on the committee is Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) who is expected to stay on as ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. After Boxer is Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) who is the likely successor.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) confirmed this week that he plans to announce his candidacy for President and/or US Senate re-election at 5:30 PM on April 13 likely from the Freedom Tower in Miami, FL.

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced this week that she is running for Senate in 2016 against incumbent Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL). She is the first Democrat to declare for what could be a crowded race against Kirk. Other democrats eyeing candidacies include Reps. Robin Kelly (D-IL), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), and Bill Foster (D-IL).

Rob Nabors, the former Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy is now taking over as the new Chief of Staff at the Veterans Affairs Department. Prior to joining OMB, Nabors worked for the House Appropriations Committee as Minority Staff Director. Nabors replaces Joe Riojas, who has served as Chief of Staff since July 2013.

The Chief Technology Officer for the Department of Health and Human Services, Bryan Sivak announced that he is leaving government and his last day will be at the end of April.

Next Week

The House and Senate are in recess and return the week of April 13.

March 27, 2015

The House and Senate both passed their FY16 budget resolutions this week. The House also passed HR 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. The Senate passed S 535, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act and confirmed William Doyle to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner. 

FY16 Budget Resolution

The House and Senate approved their FY16 budget resolutions this week setting up a conference committee on the measures when they return from recess the week of April 13. If they can come to agreement on a conference report, they can then start work on the FY16 appropriations bills as well as the reconciliation process. The last time Congress agreed on a budget resolution was in 2009.

House FY16 Budget Resolution

The House passed its FY16 budget resolution on Wednesday by a vote of 228 to 199, with 17 Republicans voting in opposition. The House utilized a “Queen of the Hill” or “winner takes all” approach when considering six budget resolutions on the floor, meaning that they would adopt the resolution that got the most votes out of those that got a simple majority. The winning budget resolution offered by House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) keeps defense and nondefense spending at $523 billion and $493 billion, respectively, in line with the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA); but it increases by $38 billion the limit on the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account to $96 billion and removes a requirement that any of this increase be offset.

Senate FY16 Budget Resolution

The Senate passed their FY16 budget resolution by a vote of 52 to 46 in the wee hours Friday morning. The Senate resolution also adheres to the spending caps set in the 2011 BCA and includes $96 billion in OCO funding. However, the resolution also includes a budgetary point of order against spending more than $58 billion in the OCO account. A budgetary point of order requires 60 votes to waive. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) had intended to offer an amendment to raise the point of order threshold from $58 billion to $96 billion, but in the end decided not to because of opposition from fiscal hawks in his own party. This budgetary point of order could complicate the FY16 defense appropriations process later this year as any FY16 defense spending bill that funds the OCO account above $58 billion would require 60 votes to overcome the budgetary point of order.

Medicare Physician Payment Formula – “Doc Fix”

The current payment patch for the Medicare physician payment formula expires on March 31, causing a 21% cut in physicians’ reimbursement rates. The House passed HR 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 this week, which provides a permanent fix for the Medicare doctor payments dictated by the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, and extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that the Senate would take up the legislation after they return from their two-week recess. Senate Democrats were requesting votes on a limited number of amendments including a four-year extension of the CHIP instead of the two-year extension included in the House-passed bill. While the current “doc fix” patch expires during the recess, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could hold off on processing claims for two weeks giving the Senate time to act when it returns the week of April 13. The agency has done this in the past, but has not yet announced its intentions for this expiration date.

Cybersecurity

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence marked up and passed out of committee by voice vote HR 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act (PCNA) (http://intelligence.house.gov/ProtectingCyberNetworksAct). A manager’s amendment making technical changes to the bill was adopted by voice vote prior to final passage in committee this week. The bill would increase the sharing of cyberthreat indicators between the government and the private sector. To allay privacy concerns, the bill specifies that private companies must make reasonable attempts to scrub any personally identifiable information from the data before they share it with the government. The civilian agency receiving the data must do another round of scrubbing private data before it can be shared with NSA or DoD. And the bill specifically prohibits the use of data collected for any government surveillance purposes.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has also passed a similar cybersecurity bill, S 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) (https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=369). Both Intelligence Committee bills are expected to be considered in their respective chamber’s floors after the two-week recess, with the Senate likely to go first.

The House Homeland Security Committee has also released a draft information sharing bill, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act (https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=372), which provides a path for companies to share cyberthreat data with the Department of Homeland Security. The committee hopes to mark up that bill after the return from the two-week recess.

Defense Acquisition Reform

House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA) released a draft acquisition reform bill (HR 1597) this week that focuses on a set of reform measures to be included in the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act. According to Thornberry, these measures are just the first step in a multiyear, incremental reform program for the Department of Defense, based on a guiding principle of “first do no harm,” and built upon the notion that a successful acquisition system is proactive, agile, transparent, and innovative.

The draft acquisition reform bill focuses on the following four areas:

People

• Removes the barriers that discourage the best uniformed personnel from pursuing an acquisition profession including by ensuring they receive appropriate credit for joint duty – a vital requirement for officers who hope to attain senior ranks.
• Makes permanent the Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund (DAWDF), a temporary pool of money Congress established in 2009 to boost hiring and professional development within DoD. The DAWDF pilot program is currently set to expire in 2018.
• Requires all DoD acquisition personnel receive mandatory acquisition ethics training as well as training on commercial markets and commercial market research.
• Requires training on the commercial market including commercial market research to help close the gap between government and industry.

Acquisition Strategy

• Requires every program to have an upfront, written acquisition strategy, which will include things like what type of contract vehicle is best suited for the program objectives and the level of program risk, whether multi-year is appropriate, risk mitigation strategies, incentives (such as shared savings on services), etc. This would eliminate six different bureaucratic requirements. The strategy would be updated as needed throughout the life of the program.
• Reverses Pentagon procurement rules that give preference to fixed-price contracts that require contractors to pick up the tab if projects go over budget. The draft bill would make it easier for program managers to choose other contract types, including cost-plus deals in which contractors and the government share in paying for cost overruns.
• Encourages shared savings through the use of value engineering in which contractors identify ways to reduce the cost of performance on existing contracts and shares with the government any savings produced.

Streamline the Chain of Command for Acquisition Decisions

• Reduces extensive, non-productive legal reviews and certifications that DoD has to make at key acquisition decision points and instead converts them into simpler go-or-no-go management decisions.
• Streamlines the acquisition strategy approval process, including by raising the dollar threshold for simplified acquisition procedures.
• Clarifies that the roll of the testing community is to just test, not to manage the program or make acquisition decisions. Allows those close to the program to make the determination for moving from development to acquisition stages.
• Eliminates a rule that mandates that competitive prototyping be used in acquisition programs unless program managers get a waiver.

Thin Out Regulations and Paperwork

• Eliminates some reporting requirements for program managers.
• Eliminates dozens of reports Congress currently requires DoD to draft and deliver each year.

The committee also released draft report language that lays the groundwork for reform in future years. For example, the report language requests DoD to provide additional data on service contracts, which have been experiencing significant problems. While Thornberry would like to address this issue this year, the committee lacks sufficient information to draft a legislative solution right now. Thornberry said that he is trying to avoid creating new regulations and therefore more bureaucracy with this legislation.

Thornberry intends to use the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as the vehicle for this acquisition reform bill. The NDAA will be marked up in the HASC full committee on April 29.

A copy of the draft bill can be found at:

http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=0536B323-C097-4A25-979E-983AB6210B13

A copy of the report language can be found at:

http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=71F8382B-D158-4358-9171-85B688F18BE3

The HASC Defense Reform Fact Sheet can be found at:

http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=6BA52738-8917-46EB-8777-84B1E6A704C4

Chairman Thornberry’s remarks can be found at:

http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=8D259E50-DF11-441B-880B-4E008B65E396

FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Creates Office of Technology Research and Innovation

This week the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection announced that it had formed an Office of Technology Research and Investigation (OTRI). The FTC is tasked with protecting consumers from deceptive and unfair practices involving new technologies. The new OTRI succeeds the FTC’s Mobile Technology Unit in its role of protecting consumers in emerging marketplaces. However, OTRI will have a broader mandate looking beyond the technology just surrounding mobile devices. The new office will focus on investigative research on technology issues involving all facets of the FTC’s consumer protection mission, including privacy, data security, connected cars, smart homes, algorithmic transparency, emerging payment methods, big data, and the Internet of Things.

House Appropriations Subcommittee Assignments

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) announced updated Republican rosters for the 12 Appropriations subcommittees for the 114^th Congress. The changes were prompted by the addition of Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) joining the Appropriations Committee.

The subcommittee Chairs and Members are as follows:

Agriculture Subcommittee:

Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-AL)

Kevin Yoder (R-KS)

Tom Rooney (R-FL)

David Valadao (R-CA)

Andy Harris (R-MD)

David Young (R-IA)

Steven Palazzo (R-MS)

Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee:

Chairman John Culberson (R-TX)

Robert Aderholt (R-AL)

John Carter (R-TX)

Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA)

Martha Roby (R-AL)

David Jolly (R-FL)

Steven Palazzo (R-MS)

Defense Subcommittee:

Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)

Kay Granger (R-TX)

Ander Crenshaw (R-FL)

Ken Calvert (R-CA)

Tom Cole (R-OK)

Steve Womack (R-AR)

Robert Aderholt (R-AL)

John Carter (R-TX)

Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)

Tom Graves (R-GA)

Energy and Water Subcommittee:

Chairman Mike Simpson (R-ID)

Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)

Ken Calvert (R-CA)

Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN)

Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)

Kay Granger (R-TX)

Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA)

David Valadao (R-CA)

Financial Services Subcommittee:

Chairman Ander Crenshaw (R-FL)

Tom Graves (R-GA)

Kevin Yoder (R-KS)

Steve Womack (R-AR)

Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA)

Mark Amodei (R-NV)

Scott Rigell (R-VA)

Homeland Security Subcommittee:

Chairman John Carter (R-TX)

John Culberson (R-TX)

Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)

Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN)

Andy Harris (R-MD)

Chris Stewart (R-UT)

David Young (R-IA)

Interior Subcommittee:

Chairman Ken Calvert (R-CA)

Mike Simpson (R-ID)

Tom Cole (R-OK)

David Joyce (R-OH)

Chris Stewart (R-UT)

Mark Amodei (R-NV)

Evan Jenkins (R-WV)

Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee:

Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK)

Mike Simpson (R-ID)

Steve Womack (R-AR)

Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN)

Andy Harris (R-MD)

Martha Roby (R-AL)

Charlie Dent (R-PA)

Scott Rigell (R-VA)

Legislative Branch Subcommittee:

Chairman Tom Graves (R-GA)

Mark Amodei (R-NV)

Scott Rigell (R-VA)

Evan Jenkins (R-WV)

Steven Palazzo (R-MS)

Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee:

Chairman Charlie Dent (R-PA)

Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)

Tom Rooney (R-FL)

Martha Roby (R-AL)

David Valadao (R-CA)

David Joyce (R-OH)

David Jolly (R-FL)

State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee:

Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX)

Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)

Charlie Dent (R-PA)

Ander Crenshaw (R-FL)

Tom Rooney (R-FL)

Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)

Chris Stewart (R-UT)

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee:

Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)

David Joyce (R-OH)

John Culberson (R-TX)

Kevin Yoder (R-KS)

David Jolly (R-FL)

David Young (R-IA)

Evan Jenkins (R-WV)

Appropriations Members Assigned to the Budget Committee:

Tom Cole (R-OK)

Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)

Steve Womack (R-AR)

Political Updates

In a video announcement released this morning, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that he would not seek re-election in 2016. Reid said that his recent accident and eye injury in January gave him some “downtime” and “time to think,” which played a part in his decision. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) declared his bid to succeed Reid and received Reid’s endorsement as well as commitments from an overwhelming majority in the 46-member Senate Democratic caucus. As Minority Whip, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is next in line, but he instead also endorsed Schumer for the position. Reid was first elected to the Senate in 1986.

A link to Sen. Reid’s retirement announcement video:

http://www.reid.senate.gov/press_releases/thank-you

Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN) also announced this week that he would not run for reelection in 2016. Coats said that he wants to focus on his work in the Senate rather than spending the next two years campaigning for reelection. Coats served in the Senate from 1989 to1999 and then returned again in 2011.

Rep. Steve Russell (R-OK) was given a seat on the House Armed Services Committee filling Rep. Palazzo’s (R-MS) seat. Palazzo moved to the Appropriations Committee last week. Russell had a 21-year career in the US Army prior to running for office. He completed the US Army Ranger School and deployed to assignments in the Arctic, the desert, the Pacific, Europe, Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Before retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel, Russell earned the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with Valor Device, and Oak Leaf Cluster.

President Barack Obama named Shailagh Murray, a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporter, to serve as his new senior adviser, and tapped Jason Goldman, a Silicon Valley veteran, to become the White House’s first-ever chief digital officer. Murray replaces Dan Pfeiffer as a member of the president’s core team of advisers, and Goldman will take over and expand Pfeiffer’s role overseeing digital outreach by heading up an amped-up Office of Digital Strategy.

President Obama also nominated Dr. Wanda Austin to be a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Austin is President and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center.

Next Week

The House and Senate are in recess for the next two weeks and return the week of April 13.

March 20, 2015

The House passed HR 1029, the EPA Science Advisory Reform Act of 2015; HR 1030, the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015; and S J Res 8, a resolution to block a rule from the National Labor Relations Board that would speed up union elections. The Senate confirmed the nominations of Carlos Monje to be Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy at the Department of Transportation and Manson Brown to be an Assistant Secretary at the Commerce Department. The Senate failed five times to invoke cloture on S 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 by votes of 55 to 43, 55 to 43, 57 to 41, 56 to 42, and 56 to 42. Sixty votes were needed for the bill to advance. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said yesterday that he is planning to schedule more roll call votes on S 178 and won’t schedule a vote on Loretta Lynch for attorney general until work on this bill is done.

FY16 Budget Resolution

The House and Senate Budget Committees released their FY16 budget resolutions and marked them up in committee this week. Both budgets adhered to the spending caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) and included reconciliation instructions for repealing the Affordable Care Act. The Senate used the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund to placate defense hawks’ demands for increased defense spending as well as fiscal hawks who fought to keep the BCA caps in place. The OCO fund is not subject to the BCA spending caps. The House attempted to do a similar maneuver, but did not have the votes to pass the amendment in committee. The House will instead look to the Rules Committee to resolve the funding issue next week. Both chambers will consider their budget resolutions on their respective floors next week.

House FY16 Budget Resolution

The House Budget Committee passed its FY16 budget resolution on a straight party line vote this week, but punted on voting on a plan to increase defense spending. The House base budget plan keeps defense and nondefense spending at $523B and $493B, respectively (in line with BCA caps), but proposes $94B in OCO (or Global War on Terrorism) funding, $20B of which is included in a “Defense Readiness and Modernization Fund.” The $94B is well above the administration’s $58B FY16 OCO request, but before the extra $20B can be allocated, equal savings must be found elsewhere. Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN) had offered an amendment to remove the language that fenced off the additional $20B to appease Republican defense hawks, but was opposed by fiscal conservatives. So the fate of the amendment to increase defense funding will now be decided by the House Rules Committee next week. The Rules Committee will decide whether or not the amendment’s costs ($20B) need to be offset and how it will be incorporated into the rule for floor consideration. The rule could include language that would automatically make the OCO amendment in order or adopted. As Democrats are not expected to vote in favor of the budget resolution, any agreement in the Rules Committee will need to have the support of 218 Republicans for passage on the House floor. More than 70 House Republicans led by House Armed Services Committee Member Michael Turner (R-OH) have vowed to vote against the budget resolution if it doesn’t boost defense spending. But it is unclear if fiscal hawks will drop their support for the resolution if defense spending is increased.

Senate FY16 Budget Resolution

The Senate Budget Committee also passed its FY16 budget resolution along a party line vote of 12 to 10 and in line with the 2011 BCA spending caps. Before final passage, the committee adopted an amendment offered by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that increased OCO funding by $38B to $96B in FY16. But they rejected a two-year plan offered by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to replace sequestration and raise the defense and nondefense spending caps.

Cybersecurity

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the updated text of its Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) that was marked up in committee last week. The committee chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) said that he hopes to have the bill on the Senate floor after the Easter recess.

A copy of the Senate CISA bill can be found at:

https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=369

A Vantage Point Strategies’ summary of the Senate CISA bill can be found at:

https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=370

The House Homeland Security Committee also released a draft information sharing bill this week. The bill provides a path for companies to share cyberthreat data with the Department of Homeland Security. The committee hopes to mark up the bill after they return from the Easter recess, the week of April 13.

A copy of the Draft National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act can be found at:

https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?p=372

And the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence held a rare open hearing this week on cybersecurity. Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) said that his committee will introduce their cybersecurity legislation “soon,” which may be as early as next week. During the hearing, private sector witnesses from IBM, TSYS, FireEye, and the Financial Services Roundtable testified about current cyberthreats, countermeasures and information sharing including liability protection and privacy.

FY16 National Defense Authorization Act

The House Armed Services Committee will begin marking up its FY16 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in subcommittees the week of April 20 with a full committee markup the following week on April 29. The committee hopes to have the bill on the House floor starting on May 13.

On the Senate side, the new Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) said that he is considering changing the way his committee marks up the NDAA to an open forum, but that he will follow the wishes of the majority of the committee members. In the past the markup was done behind closed doors.

Political Updates

Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) announced his resignation effective March 31 following several weeks of questioning about his spending of taxpayer and campaign funds. Schock was first elected in 2008 for the seat vacated by former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Schock held seats on the House Administration, Budget, and Ways and Means committees.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) announced this week that Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) was approved by the House Republican Steering Committee to serve on the Appropriations Committee in the 114^th Congress. Palazzo fills the seat vacated by former Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS), who passed away earlier this year.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced this week that Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), who has served as an Assistant Whip on the Democratic Whip team, has been promoted the position of Chief Deputy Whip for the 114th Congress. Castro joins the current 114th Congress Chief Deputy Whip team: Senior Chief Deputy Whip Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Chief Deputy Whips Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), Rep Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

Former White House Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel left the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on March 13 after only six months. VanRoekel left the White House in September to serve as USAID’s chief innovation officer, overseeing the application of technology to help treat and contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. VanRoekel was the Obama administration’s second CIO, following Vivek Kundra. VanRoekel said that he does not have another job lined up, and was leaving to spend more time with his family.

Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Dr. Michael Vickers notified President Obama and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter that he will be retiring effective April 30. Vickers assumed this position in March 2011 earning him the honor of being the longest serving under secretary in this position in the department’s history. Previously, he served as the department’s first and only assistant secretary of defense for special operations/low-intensity & interdependent capabilities. He also served in the U.S. Army as a Special Forces non-commissioned officer and Special Forces officer, and was a CIA operations officer.

The President nominated Douglas Kramer to be Deputy Administrator at the Small Business Administration. Kramer is General Counsel at the United States Agency for International Development, a position he has held since 2013. Prior to this, he served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary, Deputy Associate Counsel for Presidential Personnel, and Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President. Prior to serving in the White House, he served as Counsel in the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice, an Associate at the law firm Covington & Burling, and as a Judicial Clerk in the Chambers of the Hon. Walter L. Carpeneti of the Alaska Supreme Court.

David Shulkin was nominated by the President to be the Under Secretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Shulkin is President of Morristown Medical Center. He has served as President of the Atlantic Accountable Care Organization and as a Vice President of Atlantic Health. Dr. Shulkin has also been the President and CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, Chief Medical Officer of Temple University Hospital, Chief Medical Officer of the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital, Chief Quality Officer of the Drexel University School of Medicine, Chairman and CEO of DoctorQuality, Inc., and Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

The President also nominated LaVerne Horton Council to be Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Horton Council is the CEO of Council Advisory Services and a former Corporate VP and CIO at Johnson & Johnson. She has also worked at Dell, Ernst & Young, Mercer Management Consulting, Accenture, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and State Farm Insurance. The positions Horton Council has been nominated for has been filled on an interim basis for nearly two years by Stephen Warren who stepped in after Roger Baker departed for the private sector.

Juan Garcia was nominated by the President to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs at the Department of Defense. Garcia is the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. In 2006, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives and has served as an attorney at Hartline, Dacus, Barger, Dreyer & Kern. Garcia was a Naval Aviator in the U.S. Navy, and after leaving active duty, he commanded a unit of Flight Instructors in the U.S. Navy Reserve where he continues to serve as a Reservist today.

Stephen Welby was nominated by the President to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering at the Department of Defense. Welby is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Systems Engineering at DOD and in the past, he was Director of Systems Engineering. He has worked at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

Next Week

Both chambers will consider their FY16 budget resolutions next week. Votes on amendments could start as early as Monday evening in the Senate. The House will also take up a measure to replace Medicare’s physician payment formula, otherwise known as the “doc fix” (HR 1470).

March 13, 2015

The House was in recess this week. The Senate was expected to take up S 625, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tabled the measure. Senate Democrats threatened to filibuster it saying that they wouldn’t vote for a bill about congressional approval of a potential Iran nuclear deal until after the key March 24 negotiation date has passed. The Senate instead turned to S 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. This too was set aside after Democrats learned that the measure included a provision expanding the reach of the Hyde Amendment barring federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. The Senate did approve the nominations of Christopher Hart to be Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Tho Dinh-Zarr to be a member of the NTSB, Daniel Henry Marti to be the White House’s Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Michelle Lee to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and Jeffrey Hall and Dallas Tonsager to be members of the Farm Credit Administration Board.

Congressional Budget Office Score of President’s FY16 Budget Request

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its updated 10-year baseline projection of spending, revenue, and deficits on Monday. According to CBO, the President’s FY16 budget request would shrink the deficit in FY16 to $380B, but deficits would grow from FY17-FY25 reaching $801B in FY25. The decrease in the deficit in FY16 would come from revenue increases including increased income tax receipts, comprehensive immigration reform, as well as spending reductions from lower Medicare and war spending. CBO also estimates that mandatory spending will be about 13% of GDP through FY21 and then rise to 14.1% by FY25. This is in contrast to the average of 9.3% of GDP over the past 50 years. Armed with CBO’s analysis, House Republicans continued their criticism of the President’s FY16 budget saying that the President wasn’t serious about solving the nation’s fiscal and economic problems.

In related news, the Treasury Department announced this week that the deficit has reached $386.5B so far in FY15, which is $10B more than at this time last year. Treasury is forecasting a $582.5B deficit for FY15 and $474.2B for FY16 compared to $483B in FY14.

White House TechHire Initiative

President Obama announced a new initiative this week aimed at training more people for well-paying jobs in the technology sector, including in cybersecurity, software development, and network administration. The initiative will empower Americans with the skills they need, through universities and community colleges but also nontraditional approaches like “coding bootcamps,” and online courses that can rapidly train workers. Key elements of the initiative include: Public/Private partnerships between communities and national employers, $100M in new federal investments for the Department of Labor H-1B grant program to support innovative approaches to providing lower skilled workers with training and employment opportunities, and commitments from private sector leaders to provide the tools and resources to scale continued innovation in technology training, with a focus on reaching underserved populations.

Debt Ceiling

Last February Congress passed the Temporary Debt Limit Extension Act, suspending the statutory debt limit through March 15, 2015. Beginning on Monday 3/16, the Treasury Department will take extraordinary measures to continue financing the government. Secretary Jack Lew sent a letter to Congressional leadership last Friday urging them to raise the debt limit as soon as possible. Lew also informed Congress that as of today “Treasury will suspend, until further notice, the issuance of State and Local Government Series (SLGS) securities. SLGS are special-purpose Treasury securities issued to states and municipalities to assist them in conforming to certain tax rules. When Treasury issues SLGS, they count against the debt limit.” CBO has estimated that the Treasury Department will exhaust its extraordinary measures by October or November. That could bring a debt ceiling showdown around the same time that the FY16 spending bills are due on Oct. 1.

Congress has voted three times since 2013 to suspend the debt limit. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has indicated that Senate Republicans may use a vote to raise the debt limit as an opportunity to pass other legislation. McConnell has also said that the debt limit will be handled over a period of months and vowed to avoid another debt limit crisis. The nation’s debt currently stands at $18.3T.

A copy of Secretary Lew’s letter to Congress can be found at:

http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/Documents/Treasury%20Letter%20to%20Congress%20030615.pdf

FY16 Budget Resolution

The Senate Budget Committee is expected to unveil and markup its FY16 budget resolution next Wednesday and Thursday. The Republican resolution will balance the budget within 10 years and maintain the FY16 caps on defense and non-defense spending that were set in the 2011 Budget Control Act. Floor consideration may take place the week of March 23 before Congress adjourns for the Easter recess. Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will not offer an alternative Democratic budget resolution, and will instead focus on promoting their fiscal priorities (ending sequestration, investing in job creation, and increasing the minimum wage) through amendments to the Republican budget during committee markup and floor consideration.

The idea of including a reserve fund in the budget resolution is being considered by Senate Budget Committee Republicans who are trying to balance the demands of both defense and fiscal hawks. Fiscal hawks support the lower level sequestration funding caps, while defense hawks have threatened to oppose any budget that limits defense spending. A reserve fund could allow limits on discretionary defense and non-defense spending to rise above sequestration levels as long as the higher spending was offset with spending cuts or revenue increases. Five (Ayotte, Wicker, Kaine, King, and Graham) of six senators who serve on both Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and Budget Committee are considering this new reserve fund. SASC Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) said this week that he is considering drafting an FY16 defense authorization bill that exceeds the sequestration caps.

On the House side, no date has been set yet for markup in the Budget Committee, but it is expected to take place next week. Ranking Democrat Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said that he plans to introduce an alternative Democratic budget resolution.

Cybersecurity

The Senate Intelligence Committee approved their Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) in a closed-door meeting yesterday by a vote of 14 to 1. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) was the only member of the committee to oppose the measure citing concerns that it was a surveillance bill just by another name. The bill provides expanded legal liability to companies so that they can more easily share information with the government. Since the original draft was circulated a few weeks ago, some changes were made to the bill prior to markup to strengthen privacy protections. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) hopes to bring the bill to the Senate floor in mid-April.

On the House side, both the Homeland Security and Intelligence Committees have been working on cybersecurity legislation and drafts could be out by the end of the month. The Homeland Security Committee’s bill will be limited by the committee’s jurisdiction and will likely focus on establishing a DHS information-sharing portal. The Intelligence Committee’s bill will be more in line with the Senate CISA bill. The House Judiciary Committee is providing the liability language for both bills. House Leadership is hoping to bring these cyber bills to the floor the third week of April, but it isn’t clear if they would be voted on individually or as amendments to each other.

Senate Homeland Security Agenda

In a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce this week, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) talked about his agenda for the committee for 2015. Johnson said he is focused on advancing bills that can get at least 60 votes, which includes a permit-streamlining bill cosponsored by Sens. Portman (R-OH) and McCaskill (D-MO). He is also planning on holding several hearings on border security and other immigration issues. And since cybersecurity is a priority, he said that he is open to having his committee consider some sort of compromise bill, as he believes the Senate Intelligence Committee’s CISA bill may be too ambitious. The compromise would fall somewhere between what the Administration proposed earlier this year and the CISA bill. Johnson said another priority is to untangle the web of congressional oversight for DHS, consolidating the number of Senate Committees with jurisdiction over the agency. Finally, Johnson encouraged US Chamber of Commerce members to bring up their proposals for individual regulatory changes they would like to see enacted. He cautioned that smaller, piecemeal bills would be more practical than any big regulatory overhaul bill.

Political Updates

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) announced that she would run for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Mikulski (D-MD) when she retires at the end of 2016. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) announced his intention to run for the seat last week.

Terry Halvorsen, who became the Defense Department’s acting chief information officer (CIO) almost a year ago, has assumed duties as its permanent CIO as of March 8.

Next Week

The House may take up HR 1029, the EPA Science Advisory Reform Act of 2015 and HR 1030, the Secret Science Reform Act of 2015 after returning from a recess week. The Senate may consider the nomination of Loretta Lynch for attorney general. Lynch has been waiting several weeks for a floor vote facing opposition from Senate Republicans who disagree with Lynch on the President’s immigration actions. The Senate will also vote on the nominations of Carlos Monje to be Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy at the Department of Transportation and Manson Brown to be an Assistant Secretary at the Commerce Department. And the Senate will hold a cloture vote on Tuesday morning on S 178, the anti-human trafficking bill.

February 28, 2015

The House and Senate passed a one-week stopgap spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which the President then signed averting a shutdown of the agency. The House passed HR 529, a bill that would expand the use of 529 educational savings plans by allowing tax-free distributions for students to buy computers and software. The House postponed a vote on HR 5, the Student Success Act, a bill to overhaul No Child Left Behind. The Senate passed a full-year, clean FY15 Department of Homeland Security spending bill and sent the measure to the House. President Obama issued his third veto of his presidency this week vetoing the Keystone XL Pipeline Act that was passed by Congress earlier this month. The bill authorized TransCanada to construct, connect, operate, and maintain the pipeline and cross-border facilities specified in an application they filed with the Department of State in 2012. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that the Senate would hold another vote to override the veto by March 3.

FY15 DHS Appropriations

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was set to expire at midnight on February 27, but a shutdown was averted by passage of a one-week extension of the FY15 DHS continuing resolution. The Senate passed the measure by voice vote after the House failed to pass a three-week stopgap bill. The Senate then adjourned leaving the House with the options of either accepting the one-week bill or forcing DHS to shutdown. House leaders decided to pass the one-week bill under suspension of the rules. The House vote was 357 to 60 (55 Republicans and 5 Democrats voted against passing the bill). DHS is now funded through midnight March 6.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also announced a motion to agree to the House’s request for a conference committee on a full year spending bill. The Senate will hold a cloture vote on the motion on Monday evening. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that Senate Democrats would not vote for cloture as they will only accept the clean, full-year spending bill they already passed.

Senate leaders finally reached an agreement this week on how to proceed on the FY15 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations bill after failing four times to invoke cloture on the bill. Instead, the Senate opted to pass a clean (no immigration riders), full-year DHS spending bill on Friday by a vote of 68 to 31. They then turned to S. 534, a bill that would block funding for President Obama’s November 2014 immigration executive orders. This bill is more narrow than the riders included in the House-passed FY15 DHS appropriations bill as it does not include provisions on the President’s 2012 actions affecting dreamers, 2011 memos related to prosecutorial discretion, and future executive actions. It does include provisions that would require DHS to treat any migrant convicted of domestic violence or child exploitation as subject to the department’s highest civil immigration enforcement, and expresses the sense of Congress that the executive branch should incentivize hiring citizens and legal immigrants and stop prioritizing the interests of illegal immigrants ahead of others. Cloture was not invoked on S. 534 by a vote of 57 to 42. Four Senate Democrats voted in favor of cloture on S. 534 – Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Sen. Clair McCaskill (D-MO). The other Senate Democrats blocked the measure because they do not want to debate it until the House passes a clean funding bill for DHS through the end of the fiscal year.

On the House side, after receiving the Senate passed rider-free, full-year DHS appropriations bill the House voted on a motion to go to conference with the Senate. That motion passed by a vote of 228 to 191 with 12 Democrats voting in favor of the motion. A similar motion to go to conference in the Senate will require 60 votes. The House then voted on a three-week stopgap DHS spending bill that would fund the department through March 19. That bill failed by a vote of 203 to 224.

FY16 National Defense Budget Caps

House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-CA) along with 30 (of 35 total) Republican members of the committee sent a “views and estimates” letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA), a required part of the annual budget process. The letter recommends a restoration to the pre-sequestration Budget Control Act (BCA) caps of $577.0B for national defense and $50.9B for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account for FY2016. In comparison, the BCA post-sequestration level for national defense for FY16 is $523.067B. If $577.0B is not feasible, the HASC committee members recommended, at a minimum, last year’s House-passed Budget Resolution level of $566.0B for national defense for FY16 with restoration to pre-sequestration level funding in FY17. The President’s FY16 budget requests $561.0 billion in discretionary budget authority for national defense, of which $534.3 billion is for the Department of Defense (DOD), $19.1 billion is for the Department of Energy’s defense activities, and $7.6 billion is for other defense- related activities. The President’s budget also includes $9.0 billion in mandatory budget authority, and a separate request of $50.9B for the OCO account.

On the Senate side, Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) has vowed to personally oppose a budget resolution that doesn’t increase military spending above what’s allowed under the BCA. McCain says that he has been talking with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) and working with SASC members to present a unified argument to the Budget Committee.

In the House Appropriations Committee, Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) has said that he expects that they will have to adhere to BCA sequestration caps and has asked the military services to draw up plans for abiding by the caps.

A copy of the HASC Republican letter can be found at:

http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=A9D64CAD-D6F2-4904-85B7-AB3C9E875EEF

Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC)

On Wednesday, the President issued an Executive Order directing the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to establish the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC). The CTIIC will be a national intelligence center focused on “connecting the dots” regarding malicious foreign cyber threats to the nation and cyber incidents affecting U.S. national interests, and on providing all-source analysis of threats to U.S. policymakers. The CTIIC will also assist relevant departments and agencies in their efforts to identify, investigate, and mitigate those threats.

Once established, the CTIIC will join the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF), and U.S. Cyber Command as integral parts of the U.S. Government’s capability to protect us from cyber threats. It will support the NCCIC in its network defense and incident response mission; the NCIJTF in its mission to coordinate, integrate, and share information related to domestic cyber threat investigations; and U.S. Cyber Command in its mission to defend the nation from significant attacks in cyberspace.

No decisions have been made regarding the CTIIC’s specific location, but the current plan is to locate the CTIIC in the Washington, DC metro area in an existing Intelligence Community facility. The DNI is in the process of developing the CTIIC’s organizational structure. They expect that it will be small, consisting of approximately 50 government personnel drawn from relevant departments and agencies.

A copy of the executive order can be found at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/25/presidential-memorandum-establishment-cyber-threat-intelligence-integrat

Political Updates

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12 to 8 on Thursday to approve Loretta Lynch as the next U.S. Attorney General. All Democrats on the committee voted for Lynch along with three Republicans – Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The full Senate is expected to take up her nomination next week.

Keith Hall, the chief economist for the International Trade Commission and a former Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, has been named the new director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). He also served as the Chief Economist for the White House Council for Economic Advisors from 2005 to 2008. Hall will replace Doug Elmendorf at CBO starting April 1. His term will expire on January 3, 2019.

Acting NIST Director and acting Undersecretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology Willie May has been nominated by the president to drop the acting and become full undersecretary. May has been acting director since last June. May was also nominated last summer but not confirmed by the 113th Congress.

Michael Bahar was appointed as the new minority staff director on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Bahar graduated from Harvard Law School in 2002 and was commissioned into the US Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps. In 2010 he joined the White House as Deputy Legal Advisor to the White House’s National Security Staff. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 where he advised a Special Operations Task Force. He left active duty in 2012 to take the position of General Counsel on the HPSCI.

At the Department of the Treasury, President Obama nominated Amias Gerety for Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions and Anne Elizabeth Wall for Deputy Under Secretary for Legislative Affairs.

February 20, 2015

The House and Senate were in recess this week. Ash Carter was sworn in by Vice President Biden on Tuesday as President Obama’s fourth Secretary of Defense.

Cybersecurity

Draft Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act

A draft cybersecurity bill from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) was released this week and may be introduced next week. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) of 2015 is a lot like the previous CISA bill including provisions on information sharing; authorizations for preventing, detecting, analyzing, and mitigating cybersecurity threats; sharing of cyber threat indicators and countermeasures with the federal government; and liability protections. The bill also includes tougher requirements on companies to remove personally identifiable information.

A copy of the bill can be found at:

https://www.vantagepointstrat.com/?attachment_id=356

RFI for Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations

Ari Schwartz, Senior Director for Cybersecurity on the U.S. National Security Council Staff at the White House participated in a cybersecurity event this week at the Atlantic Council. At the event, Schwartz said that the administration is preparing a request for information (RFI) as its first step in setting ground rules for the planned network of Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAOs). The President proposed ISAOs in his latest cybersecurity executive order as a mechanism for sharing information within the private sector, and potentially with the federal government (although they won’t be required to). The administration will follow up with a request for proposals (RFP) seeking bids to set up the standards-setting organizations, which will, in turn, develop best practices and benchmarks for the ISAOs. The administration did not comment on the timing of the RFI.

Administration’s Cyber Agenda

Lisa Monaco, US Homeland Security Advisor to President Obama, said this week that the administration aims to develop new cyber policies along four lines: 1) boosting basic defenses for critical infrastructure by using tools such as the federal framework of cybersecurity standards; 2) strengthening our ability to disrupt, respond to, and effectively manage U.S. responses to cyber threats; 3) enhancing international cooperation to hold cyber criminals accountable; and 4) making cyberspace intrinsically more secure by replacing passwords with more secure technologies and enhancing consumer protections online.

Authorization for Use of Military Force

The House Armed Services Committee will hold a full committee hearing next Thursday on the President’s proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. This hearing will focus on input from witnesses outside the administration. Witnesses include General Jack Keane, USA (Ret.); Robert Chesney, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, University of Texas; and Benjamin Wittes, Brookings Institution.

Political Updates

President Obama selected Joseph Clancy to be the next Director of the Secret Service. Clancy has been serving in an acting capacity since October 1, 2014 when former director Julia Pearson resigned following several major security breaches. Clancy is a retired agent who began his career with the Secret Service in the late 1980s and formerly led the Presidential Protective Division. President Obama chose not to follow the advice of an independent panel and Congress who recommended that he bring in an outsider to run the beleaguered agency. The independent panel said in their final report, “Only a director from outside the Service, removed from organizational traditions and personal relationships, will be able to do the honest top-to-bottom reassessment this will require.” The Secret Service is a federal law enforcement agency that is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The Director is appointed serving at the approbation of the President of the United States, and is not subject to Senate confirmation.

The White House named Dr. DJ Patil as its first ever Chief Data Scientist and Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Data Policy. Patil will work in the Office of Science and Technology Policy reporting to US Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith. He will focus on developing policies and practices for new applications of big data across all areas of government, with a particular focus on healthcare. Prior to joining the White House, Patil worked for the Department of Defense, LinkedIn, eBay, PayPal, Skype, RelatelQ, and venture capital firm Greylock Partners.

President Obama picked Jen Psaki, previously a State Department spokesperson, to take over as White House communications director. Psaki will succeed Jen Palmieri who is leaving to join Hillary Clinton’s expected presidential campaign.

Democratic Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander announced this week that he will challenge Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) in 2016. Blunt is the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, chairman of the Senate Labor HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, and a member of the Senate Commerce and Intelligence Committees. Kander was first elected statewide in 2012 and was a Captain in the US Army who served in Afghanistan.

Next Week

The Senate returns from recess on Monday and the House on Tuesday. The House will take up HR 529, a bill amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve 529 plans and HR 5, the Student Success Act. Funding for the Department of Homeland Security runs out on Friday, February 27, so both the House and Senate will have to consider a funding bill for the agency to avoid a shutdown.