Senators announced plans to add a bipartisan amendment to the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would retain the Commerce Department’s penalties against Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE for breaching U.S. sanctions on North Korea and Iran, The Hill reported Monday. The proposed amendment would also prevent U.S. agencies from …
Read More »Dan Coats, Jeff Sessions Want Congress to Renew Foreign Intell Surveillance Authority
National Intelligence Director Dan Coats and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have called on Congress to reauthorize a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that is set to expire by the end of 2017. Sessions and Coats wrote in a Thursday letter to congressional leaders FISA’s Title VII permits the intelligence …
Read More »Reports: Trump Strikes Deal With Democratic Leaders Over 3-Month CR, Debt Ceiling Hike
President Donald Trump has agreed with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) to advance a bill that would authorize a debt limit increase and a continuing resolution for three months, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Trump made the deal with Pelosi and …
Read More »Senate OKs $510M Precision-Guided Munitions Sale to Saudi Arabia
The Senate voted 53-47 Tuesday to clear a potential $510 million deal for the U.S. to sell precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, Defense News reported Tuesday. The deal is part of a $110 billion weapon sales package that President Donald Trump signed with Saudi King Salman bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud in May. Senators also voted against …
Read More »Sen. Charles Schumer Backs Resolution Against Part of $110B US-Saudi Weapons Deal
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) supports a proposed resolution that seeks to bar a part of a potential $110 billion weapon sales deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, The Hill reported Monday. President Donald Trump signed the weapon sales package with Saudi King Salman bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud in May …
Read More »NSF to Award Cornell University $2.5M Grant to Develop Cryptographic Mechanisms for Software Security
The National Science Foundation will award up to $2.5 million in federal funds to Cornell University to develop cryptographic mechanisms to secure software platforms. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement published Friday that Cornell will create cryptographic systems with the use of a programming language and the Viaduct platform. Viaduct is designed to convert …
Read More »Congress Reaches Bipartisan Deal Over $1T Budget Spending Package for Rest of Fiscal 2017
Congressional leaders on Sunday reached a deal on a proposed $1 trillion budget package to fund the federal government for the remaining months of fiscal 2017 and are expected to vote on the budget request early this week, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Kelsey Snell writes the bipartisan spending package …
Read More »Senate Sets Up Final Vote on Rex Tillerson’s Nomination as Secretary of State
The Senate voted 56-43 to move forward with the final vote on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Rex Tillerson, former ExxonMobil CEO, as secretary of state, Reuters reported Monday. Patricia Zengerle writes the Senate could carry out the final confirmation vote as early as Feb. 1 if senators do not change a …
Read More »Charles Schumer to Congress: Prioritize Notification Standards After Latest Data Breach
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has called on Congress to take up the proposed cybersecurity legislation and prioritize breach notification standards following reports of an Excellus BlueCross BlueShield data breach in December 2013. The senator said in a press release Thursday that the breach discovered in August exposed the health and financial information …
Read More »Sen. Charles Schumer to Propose Drone Geofencing Regulation
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing for an amendment to require the adoption of geofencing technology in unmanned aerial vehicles as part of a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. Schumer said Wednesday he believes that geofencing equipment or other no-fly zone devices will help prevent UAVs from operating near airports …
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