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Category: Administration

COMPETES on the House Floor Wednesday

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The House is set to consider HR 1806 – the America COMPETES Reauthorization Bill of 2015 on Wednesday. The rule allows for the consideration of two other bills,  HR 2353 – Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 and HR 2250 – Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2016.

Out of the 45 amendments filed, only 12 amendments were made in order. None of the amendments to be considered increase the GEO or SBE directorate funding authorizations despite several amendments being authored to do such.

Additionally, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on the bill late yesterday, warning “If the President were presented with H.R. 1806, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.” The SAP Statement charges that the bill “would undermine critical investments in science, technology, and research.”  Further, HR 1806 sets “maximum funding levels significantly below those provided in the President’s FY 2016 Budget” for DOE, NSF, NIST, and OSTP with some authorizations less than half that requested.  The SAP also criticizes program policy changes in the legislation.

Federal Relations will continue to monitor the legislation as it moves on the House Floor.

Mêlée for NDAA

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Both the White House and chief Democrat of the the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith (D-WA) have both expressed a lack of support for the FY16 NDAA measure, which is expected to be considered today on the House Floor. The White House issued an Statement of Administrative Policy in which it issued a veto threat.  In part the administration objects to the accounting devices  used by the Armed Services committee, as advocated in the House and Senate budgets, to avoid the Sequester budget caps.

The Administration strongly objects to the bill’s authorization of sequester level appropriations for items that were requested in and belong in the base budget, and use of OCO [Over Seas Contingency Fund]– a funding mechanism intended to pay for wars and not subject to the budget caps – to pay for $38 billion in base requirements.  Sequestration adds risk to our national security by threatening the size, readiness, presence, and capability of our military, and threatens the economic security on which our national security depends.  The Committee clearly recognizes that the President’s Budget level for defense is needed, but authorizes it in a way that fails to acknowledge the need to reverse sequestration for both defense and non-defense spending.

Similarly, Congressman Smith has issued a statement against the measure, which he helped write and voted for in committee. Specifically, Smith said he objected to use of the supplemental OCO war fund to shield the Pentagon from strict spending caps while leaving other federal agencies subject to the caps.

House Democratic leaders are whipping Members to vote against HR 1735, the NDAA. In addition, the White House is threatening to veto the measure in large part because of the use of OCO funds to allow the Pentagon to evade the spending caps put in place under the Budget Control Act of 2011.

The move is seen as one to pressure Republican House and Senate leadership into repealing the Sequester in its entirety.

Nearly 350 Amendments were offered to the NDAA, and the House Rules Committee will meet today at 3 pm to determine which amendments will be considered on the House Floor.

To follow the bill on the House Floor and the progress of the various amendments, the House Armed Services Committee has created this handy tracker.

More Books! Initiatives from the White House and Rep. Suzan DelBene

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Today, President Barack Obama announced that major and independent book publishers are making 10,000 of their most popular titles available for free for low-income students through e-books, and effort estimated to be worth about $250 million. Obama said the devices will play a big part and a gap in access between low-income students and their peers still exists across the country. This new initiative is a part of the Administration’s ConnectED initiative, first launched in 2013. With smartphone use on the rise, this initiative will allow many low-income students to access e-books at home, they said. As part of the challenge, the Institute of Museum and Library Services will invest $5 million to support the development of an e-reader app, tools and services to access the digital content.

Related to that initiative, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) introduced bipartisan legislation this week to help college students save money on textbooks by encouraging the use of low-cost or free digital course materials in higher education. The E-BOOK Act – or Electronic Books Opening Opportunity for Knowledge Act – would direct the Department of Education to use $20 million to create 10 pilot programs at public institutions throughout the country to increase access to digital course materials, expand the availability of e-readers and tablets for low-income students and encourage professors to incorporate new learning technologies into their classes.

The University of Washington has been a proud collaborator with Congresswoman DelBene on the E-BOOK Act and is a supporter to ensure that texts books are affordable and accessible.

White House Issues Veto Threat on Two House Apropriations Bills

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Today, the White House issued a veto threat on two recently marked up House Appropriations bills.  HR 2028 — Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 and HR 2029 – Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016.

The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto the FY16 Energy and Water Appropriations bill because it “drastically underfunds critical investments.” Republicans are developing FY16 spending bills under the 2011 Budget Control Act’s sequester-reduced spending caps but are providing extra funds for defense through the alternative account. In its statement, the White House also threatened to veto “any other legislation that implements the current Republican budget framework”; it has proposed rolling back sequestration for both defense and non-defense programs.

While a veto threat will not keep the House from considering the measures, it does complicate the funding bills’ futures. The House is expected to consider the FY16 Energy and Water Appropriations legislation for the bulk of the week.

DOD Announces Silicon Valley Outpost for Cyber

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

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

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

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

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