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Column: Cyber dominance meaningless without skilled workforce

Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), co-founder of the bipartisan Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, says the U.S. is falling short when it comes to a skilled cyber workforce capable of operating at the highest levels of its field. His column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Cybersecurity Rising.

Tags: Jim Langevin , Rhode Island , cybersecurity , Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th President , Cybersecurity Rising , workforce , Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus , House Armed Services Committee

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Column: Cyber inaction may be our Achilles' heel

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House GOP Cybersecurity Task Force, argues that the country's national security cannot afford a stalemate on cyber legislation. His column is part of Federal News Radio's special report, Cybersecurity Rising.

Tags: Mac Thornberry , Congress , Cybersecurity Rising , technology , DHS , DoD , House Armed Services Committee , House GOP Cybersecurity Task Force , cybersecurity , cybersecurity legislation

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GOP lawmakers urge Obama to drop cyber executive order

Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate wrote to President Barack Obama urging him to not issue an executive order setting voluntary cybersecurity standards for private-sector operators of critical infrastructure.

Tags: Congress , Senate , cybersecurity , cybersecurity legislation , Susan Collins , Joseph Lieberman , Fred Upton , House Energy and Commerce Committee , Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee , Cybersecurity Act of 2012 , CISPA , Jack Moore

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Tracking the 2013 Budget

Congress has made quick work, so far, of the 12 annual bills setting agency spending for fiscal 2013. Over the past few months, the House Appropriations Committee has approved 10 of the bills, and the full House has OK'd five of them. The full Senate has approved no appropriations bill so far this year, however the committee has reported out eight bills.

Tags: budget , Senate , appropriations , House Appropriations Committee , Senate Appropriations Committee , Jack Moore

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Six-month CR makes extension of fed pay freeze official

The six-month stopgap spending bill unveiled by the House Appropriations Committee this week officially continues the federal pay freeze until at least March. The continuing resolution, which runs through March 27, gives lawmakers more time to make appropriations for the coming year and staves off the threat of a government shutdown. When a broad CR was first announced last month, the full Congress had not yet approved any fiscal 2013 spending bills. President Barack Obama proposed last month a 0.5 percent pay raise that would only take effect once Congress passed a 2013 budget — a de facto extension of the current two-year freeze. The CR makes the extension official.

Tags: Congress , budget , Senate , CR , Hal Rogers , Daniel Inouye , Jack Moore

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Republican lawmakers call for ouster of VA official who approved conferences

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the ranking member of the Senate committee, called on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to fire his chief of staff, John Gingrich after an inspector general report said he failed to ask the right questions before approving two training conferences. The conferences costs $6.1 million, with as much as $762,000 in questionable spending.

Tags: Congress , Senate , John Gingrich , Eric Shinseki , VA , oversight , Jeff Miller , Richard Burr , John Sepulveda

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FDA checking high-risk medical apps for safety

Last year, the FDA proposed a policy to test apps that included "very high-risk interventions" that did not cause any unintended consequences. The agency is now expected to release final policy by the end of this year on which apps it will oversee.

Tags: Bakul Patel , FDA , Mike Honda , technology , mobile , health IT , Jolie Lee , Federal Drive

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Is sequestration a paper tiger?

Stan Collender, a budget expert and partner at Qorvis Communications, said nobody should panic just yet about possible automatic, across-the- board cuts. They won't be enacted immediately, he told the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris. And Congress could still wiggle out of them.

Tags: Congress , Senate , budget , supercommittee , management , Federal Drive , Qorvis Communications , Stan Collender , Tom Temin , Amy Morris , sequestration , Jack Moore

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House committees demand transparency, 'insight' into sequestration

Congress is demanding more answers about how $1.2 trillion in budget cuts set to take effect in January will be applied across the government. The House Budget Committee Wednesday unanimously approved a bill directing the Obama administration to provide Congress a report that provides specific details about how the spending cuts will affect federal agencies and programs. Meanwhile, the House Armed Services Committee formally requested that the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Jeff Zients, testify before the committee on the "mechanics and impact" of the automatic cuts.

Tags: Congress , Senate , budget , DoD , OMB , Jeff Zients , Buck McKeon , House Armed Services Committee , House Budget Committee , Paul Ryan , Chris Van Hollen , sequestration , Jack Moore

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Lawmaker says fed pay, benefits used as 'piggybank' in deficit reduction

Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), whose district in the Washington, D.C., suburbs is home to many federal employees, said he understands the frustration voiced by federal unions about a de facto extension of the federal pay freeze. Sarbanes said too often lawmakers used federal pay and benefits as a "piggybank" in deficit- reduction efforts.

Tags: Congress , budget , pay and benefits , workforce , pay freeze , John Sarbanes , In Depth , sequestration , Jack Moore

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