Following a pair of votes on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act over the weekend, the bipartisan infrastructure measure is nearing the finish line in the Senate. The bill is currently on track for a final vote in the Senate on Tuesday morning.
A bipartisan bill introduced by Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., seeks to improve cybercrime data collection and give Federal law enforcement more tools to stop online crime.
Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., have introduced the American Telecommunications Security Act that would prohibit Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act from being used to purchase telecommunications equipment from Chinese companies seen as national security threats, including Huawei and ZTE.
New bicameral legislation was introduced July 22 by various members of the House and Senate that would provide $40 billion over five years to extend the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Emergency Connectivity Fund that was created under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
New legislation introduced in the Senate today would authorize $100 million of Federal spending per year, for a period of seven years, to help state and local governments take quick action on fixing pressing IT problems.
Representatives on the House Homeland Security Committee reintroduced legislation May 12 that would create a $500 million-per-year Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant program to help incentivize state and local governments (SLGs) to improve cybersecurity funding.
A bipartisan group of senators has reintroduced the Rural STEM Education Act, which would provide Federal support for STEM training in rural schools and instruct the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide grants to support training for rural STEM teachers.
Numerous tech-related issues were front and center in President Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, as he delivered pitches backing up his infrastructure-themed American Jobs Plan issued in late March, the American Families Plan unveiled this week, and a preliminary Fiscal Year 2022 budget wish-list made public on April 9.
Republicans in Congress on April 22 presented their own version of a framework to improve infrastructure in the United States. While it doesn’t look too much like President Biden’s much larger American Jobs Plan infrastructure proposal, for tech-related issues the key overlap appears to be funding for broadband infrastructure expansion.
Sens. Gary Peters D-Mich., and John Thune, R-S.D., have introduced legislation that would strengthen the Federal workforce through attracting experts in the AI field to public service.
