The Senate voted 68-30 Thursday to end debate on a substitute amendment for the Endless Frontier Act (S.1260) (see 2105130069), moving one step closer to final passage. Senators agreed to a defense spending amendment and appeared to be nearing agreement on a trade policy provision in a package that could far exceed the original $100 billion.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
President Joe Biden’s cybersecurity executive order is a welcome step in improving federal cybersecurity (see 2105240072), and GAO’s December supply chain report shows agencies aren’t prepared, House Science Committee members said during a joint hearing Tuesday. The supply chain risk management audit is “truly alarming,” said Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Jay Obernolte, R-Calif. More than half the 23 agencies analyzed didn’t implement basic best practices, he noted, saying this points to a failure of governance. Subcommittee Chairman Bill Foster, D-Ill., questioned whether agencies are doing enough to enforce best practices. The EO calls for bold action, he said. It's a “sea change” in how the federal government approaches cybersecurity, said Research and Technology Subcommittee Chairwoman Haley Stevens, D-Mich. She highlighted the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s role. Research and Technology Subcommittee ranking member Michael Waltz, R-Fla., called the EO a good starting point, saying there’s much work ahead. The auditor report really is “alarming” and shows foundational practices and guidance aren’t being followed, he said. NIST is committed to develop standards, best practices and key guidance for securing critical software, said Information Technology Laboratory Computer Security Division Chief Matthew Scholl. GAO is examining unknowns about the SolarWinds cyberattack, which had unprecedented sophistication, said GAO Information Technology and Cybersecurity Director Vijay D’Souza: The attack wasn’t surprising given findings in December's study.
Regulators should immediately break up Facebook and act against its entities, protesters said outside the company’s lobbying headquarters in Washington on Tuesday. Participants told us the company hasn’t been responsive to specific demands, is incapable of self-correcting and has built a large U.S. corporate lobbying operation.
President Joe Biden’s cybersecurity executive order (see 2105130065) will boost the federal government’s reliance on cloud services and information sharing, experts told us. The EO directs federal civilian agencies to “accelerate movement to secure cloud services,” including software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS). Within 90 days, the OMB director will develop a federal cloud-security strategy with guidance to agencies, in consultation with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the General Services administrator through the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRamp).
The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the nomination of Eric Lander to be Office of Science and Technology Policy director to the floor Thursday (see 2105140049). Five Republicans voted no: Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Ted Cruz of Texas; Mike Lee of Utah; Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.
There’s no obvious path for the FTC or the FCC to regulate online platform speech, FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips and FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington agreed Wednesday. Policymakers struggle to regulate speech that violates community standards when they can’t identify consensus standards, Simington told a Federalist Society event, noting he’s not confident the FCC can or should do anything about speech on digital platforms. “There’s no consensus for speech regulation in the digital media era” and no obvious regulatory path forward, he said.
Fully autonomous vehicles are at least five years from deployment, potentially much longer, a Carnegie Mellon University professor told the House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Tuesday. Members of both parties cited the need to develop a road map for AVs so China doesn’t take the lead on future deployment.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are “pretty close” to reintroducing the Earn It Act (see 2008050039), without major changes anticipated, Blumenthal told us. He led a Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing Tuesday, where witnesses offered potential solutions for online child exploitation. Blumenthal and ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., criticized TikTok for refusing to testify.
The Chips for America Act will help the U.S. develop manufacturing needed to compete with China and other adversaries, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said Monday. Debate within Congress is growing about appropriating $50 billion for domestic chip manufacturing incentives and research initiatives (see 2105110065) related to the Endless Frontier Act (S-1260). The legislation goes as far as possible now in pushing semiconductor development, but Congress is still incrementally educating its leaders, Ernst told a Brookings virtual event.
The Senate intends to take up the Endless Frontier Act next week in a package of legislation, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor Thursday. He’s hopeful for a Senate vote this month.