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Competitiveness
Early Senate Vote Sends Innovation Bill To Bush
by Heather Greenfield
Early Friday morning, the Senate cleared to President Bush legislation that would authorize $43 billion over three years aimed at boosting mathematics and science skills and increasing federally funded basic science research.
The Senate added its approval by voice vote at about 1 a.m., after the House voted 367-57 for the bill, H.R. 2272, on Thursday evening.
"This [America] Competes Act will spur high-quality jobs and ensure companies won't have to look overseas for qualified applicants," Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., said on the House floor just before the vote.
Robert Hoffman, an Oracle lobbyist and co-chairman of the Compete America Coalition, added, "This bill is really laying out the resources we need to improve what I would call our innovative infrastructure."
The bill would authorize $22 billion to the National Science Foundation through fiscal 2010, setting the agency on a path to double its budget over seven years. The research budgets for the Energy Department's science office and the National Institute for Standards and Technology also would double within seven years. The bill would direct additional funds to math and science teacher training and scholarships.
John Chambers, Cisco Systems' CEO and founder of the TechNet industry group, said the hybrid House and Senate bill "provides a strategic roadmap to ensure America remains the leader in the world economy."
Chambers praised House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; D-Nev.; and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for "their steadfast support of this vital measure to create tomorrow's scientific advancement."
"No other legislation we will pass during this two-year session of Congress will do more to keep our brainpower advantage so we grow new American jobs here instead of shipping them overseas," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who helped manage the bill.
A lobbyist speaking on background credited Alexander and his staff with heading off last-minute "shenanigans" and getting a vote before the August congressional recess. There are concerns among some Republicans and President Bush about the price tag and adding programs. Even so, Alexander said he would "be very surprised if the president doesn't sign this with a flourish."
Susan Traiman, public policy director at the Business Roundtable, said her group and the Tapping America's Potential Coalition, which includes tech associations like AeA, the Semiconductor Industry Association and the Information Technology Industry Council, spent Thursday "blast-faxing" every House and Senate member. Early this morning, those supporters began celebrating.
"The e-mail traffic since about midnight from the business community, higher [education] community, scientists and engineers has been almost giddy," Traiman said.
"Congress should be commended for making progress on the House innovation agenda and for addressing some of the administration's concerns with earlier versions of the bill," Information Technology Association of America CEO Phil Bond said. "We are hopeful that this is just the beginning of the 110th Congress' efforts to advance American innovation."
Hoffman and others said the big challenge in the months ahead is getting funding for the basic research and education spending increases.
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E-Government
Experts See Tech Role For Bridge Safety, Disasters
by Aliya Sternstein
The deadly collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minnesota this week points to the need for governments to hasten the use of advanced technologies that can assess structural vulnerabilities and improve disaster-response communications, some experts say.
"If you think back to the beginning of bridge-building ... you build it, if it doesn't fall down, it works," said Dan Reed, chairman of the Computing Research Association and the chancellor's senior adviser for strategy and innovation at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Now, we've gained more and more intellectual insight into the forces on bridges [with computer modeling]."
Any bridge can collapse if not maintained properly, he said, but part of proper maintenance should involve monitoring physical vulnerabilities with sensors and computer simulations. Modern bridges and pre-computer age bridges, like I-35W, should be outfitted with sensors along their infrastructures to gauge if they are behaving as expected based on their original designs.
Reed said sensor data, which measures the movement and position of the bridge, should be regularly compared with data from old blueprints about the bridge's expected movement and position.
In so doing, he said transportation agencies can uncover weaknesses caused by construction, weathering, earthquakes and other circumstances. "Then you can take remedial action. It's the same kind of thing that your car does with sensors."
But many of the country's bridges are not often examined with computer modeling. "Most of these bridges belong to state governments," Reed said. "It's not that they don't care. Most states don't have the financial resources to coordinate the expertise."
Technology also should be better employed in observing conditions when disaster strikes, said W. David Stephenson, an Internet strategy consultant and principal at the homeland security firm Stephenson Strategies.
He hailed E-Democracy.org Chairman Steven Clift for creating a "wiki" -- a Web site that anyone can edit -- to share news, videos, photographs and other items of interest about the I-35W bridge. Clift, a Minneapolis native and renowned e-government innovator, is asking his community to help by adding detour maps, names of the missing and images of what happened.
"I really think that wikis play an invaluable role in disasters," Stephenson said. "Government needs to be aware of them, monitoring them on a continuous basis and contributing to them when appropriate. It probably shouldn't be part of official policy, but it definitely needs to be part of their radar."
Another example of the so-called Web 2.0 social-networking approach "is that there's a very good chance that individuals -- in just going about their daily routine -- are on the scene and are going to be able to contribute that real-time, location-based information" to public officials, he said.
Stephenson said the government should develop the capacity "to combine" videos and images of unfolding disasters "with two-way conversation."
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Security
Senate Still Faces Partisan Divide Over Spying Bill
by Chris Strohm
Senate Democrats and Republicans on Friday appeared entrenched in their differences over updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, despite a last-minute offer from Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell to bridge the dispute.
One of the major differences between Democrats and Republicans is whether the Bush administration should have to seek warrants from the secret FISA court in order to monitor communications between foreigners in other countries that are routed through U.S. telecommunications networks. Democrats want FISA court authorizations, while Republicans argue that doing so is too cumbersome.
McConnell said late Thursday he could agree to FISA court reviews, but only after data collection has started. "While I would strongly prefer not to engage in such a process, I am prepared to take these additional steps to keep the confidence of members of Congress and the American people that our processes have been subject to court review and approval," he said.
But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the only workable bill is the one he co-authored with Intelligence Committee ranking Republican Christopher (Kit) Bond of Missouri. "We know this bill provides our intelligence community with the necessary tools to protect our homeland," he said. "We know that if we pass this measure the president will sign it into law."
The bill would allow collection of foreign communications to occur based on an authorization from the intelligence director and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.
When asked about the intelligence director's offer, a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would only say, "We have tried to give the administration all the tools they need and have asked for, and yet they refuse to take yes for an answer."
President Bush demanded that Congress stay in session until it has passed FISA legislation he supports. He said that when he receives the bill, he will ask the intelligence director if it permits him to "do your job" and prevent an attack on the United States. "If the answer is 'yes,' I'll sign the bill; and if the answer is 'no,' I'm going to veto the bill."
Senate Republicans continued their campaign of publicly pressuring Democrats to pass a FISA bill before the August congressional recess. Bond read an e-mail that he said conveyed the wishes that FISA court judges do not want to have to approve surveillance of communications between foreigners in other countries. A copy of the e-mail was not readily available.
In the House, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said action on a FISA bill is planned for Friday. Intelligence Committee ranking Republican Pete Hoekstra of Michigan introduced a competing measure that seeks to make clear the FISA law does not apply to surveillance regarding foreign targets outside the United States.
At an afternoon briefing, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said his beef with the Republican proposal is that it would give the U.S. attorney general greater power over surveillance cases. "I haven't found many people willing to give the existing attorney general any new authorities," Conyers said.
Technology Daily Senior Writer Andrew Noyes contributed to this report.
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E-Government
Auditors Don't Find Any Problems With Florida Race
by Michael Martinez
Government auditors told a House task force examining the disputed race in Florida's 13th District that they have not yet found a "smoking gun" for the alleged voting irregularities that occurred during the contest.
Investigators from the Government Accountability Office told a special House Administration Committee task force that that they still have to examine how the manufacturer of the voting machines used in that race, which GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan won by 369 votes, tested them. GAO officials also said they are still identifying ways to test how the devices could have tallied more votes for some contests on the ballots than others.
Democrat Christine Jennings, who has challenged the results in court and before the House, has blamed her defeat on the Election Systems & Software touch-screen machines that were used in Sarasota County. But she has said she will accept the task force's decision.
The task force adopted a motion to allow members to meet via videoconference should they need to address any urgent business during the August congressional recess. The GAO investigators have been cleared to continue working after lawmakers leave town.
Nabajyoti Barkakati, a senior technologist with GAO's Center for Technology and Engineering, said auditors have not yet been able to determine whether the machines used in the Buchanan-Jennings race accurately counted the votes last fall, and more testing needs to be done.
Rep. Vernon Ehlers of Michigan, who is not a member of the task force but is the top Republican on House Administration, recommended that auditors also examine the potential role of human error in the contest. He acknowledged having difficulty with the ballot style used in Sarasota County himself when he had the chance to look at it.
Barkakati said his team has focused its study on how the machines affected the outcome of the race and so far has avoided analyzing the "human side" of what may have occurred. Task force Chairman Charlie Gonzalez, D-Texas, recommended that GAO "stay with the operating plan."
Gonzalez also noted that burden of proof in the case lies with Jennings, who already has announced plans to run for the seat in 2008. The Jennings campaign suffered a setback this past week when it was discovered that it neglected to pay $23,000 in payroll taxes during the past several years. The campaign did not pay such taxes until May this year, more than three years after it was launched.
Jennings has attracted nationwide attention to the debate over the reliability of touch-screen e-voting machines. Florida adopted a new law this spring that requires all voting machines to produce paper audit trails.
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Television
Sen. Rockefeller Delays His TV Violence Measure
by David Hatch
Sen. John (Jay) Rockefeller has postponed the introduction of television violence legislation for at least the third time this year, with his spokesman now saying it will be offered after the month-long August congressional recess.
The West Virginia Democrat originally intended to drop the measure in early to mid-spring, then bumped the timeframe to June, and then to July or August. But Technology Daily has confirmed that the senator has scrapped plans to offer the bill before Congress adjourns for August.
The legislation would permit the FCC to regulate excessively violent scenes on broadcast and subscription television, a goal that even the lawmaker has acknowledged raises thorny constitutional issues. The difficulty of defining what constitutes inappropriate violence has been a challenge for the senator, with historical documentaries, fictional depictions of war and children's cartoons raising questions about how much graphic fare is appropriate, when and in what form.
"It's going to have to be put on the back burner," Rockefeller spokesman Steven Broderick said. Nevertheless, he insisted that his boss remains committed to the effort and attributed the delays to the crush of legislative activity in recent weeks. "It's just time and scheduling. The routine legislative process," he said.
At press time, there was uncertainty over whether Rockefeller even had a draft. Broderick said he did not know, and other sources were uncertain because no draft has apparently been floated. The National Association of Broadcasters and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which both oppose content rules, had no comment on the developments.
Some observers said Rockefeller stalled the June introduction of his violence bill after a federal appeals court overturned FCC-imposed fines on broadcasters for utterances of profanity during live programming. The decision was viewed by some as weakening the constitutional underpinnings of the planned measure.
The senator sought to address that worry, and blunt the impact of upcoming court reviews of various FCC "indecency" fines, with separate legislation approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in July reinforcing the FCC's authority to impose fines for "fleeting" utterances of expletives.
Rockefeller has been signaling since January that he plans to reintroduce an updated version of legislation he offered in 2005 with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. That measure would have required the FCC to study whether parental controls are effective for all forms of television. If not, the agency could curtail extremely violence scenes.
The agency now has the authority to fine television and radio broadcasters that violate guidelines governing sexually explicit and profane content.
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Crime
Chairman Conyers Plans Attack On Internet Sex Crimes
by Andrew Noyes
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers on Friday unveiled plans to tackle the problem of Internet sex crimes when lawmakers return to Washington after their month-long August recess.
"We cannot allow the Internet to be a playground where our children are one mouse-click away from sexual predators," the Michigan Democrat said at a briefing alongside Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois and several other members.
Conyers said he plans to call executives from telecommunications firms, Internet service providers and content providers to testify. Other stakeholders and key Republicans also will be part of the conversation, he said.
Several bills already have been introduced this year that would strengthen federal investigative tools and prosecution, as well as toughen laws that make the crimes illegal. Conyers said he has not decided on which approaches are likely to be the most beneficial.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., introduced a measure, H.R. 719, that would create a registry of e-mail and instant-messaging addresses of convicted sex offenders. The bill also would make it a crime for adults to lie about their ages online to engage in sexual conduct with minors. A Senate companion bill is pending.
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., also introduced a bill, S.1738, to improve regional task forces on Internet crimes against children and to boost resources for federal computer forensic laboratories. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., is championing the measure in the House.
There are hundreds of thousands of online child porn peddlers, many of whom operate in the United States, and the Justice Department and FBI can only investigate a fraction of them, Schultz said.
The agencies' "misplaced priorities" is part of the problem, she said. More than 2,000 investigators work on white-collar crime, but just more than 200 are assigned to child exploitation and related topics, she said. The administration has said keeping kids safe is a priority, but "it certainly doesn't show in the numbers," Schultz said.
"Sexual predators are running free on the Internet, and this Congress will work to prevent that," said Christopher Carney, a Pennsylvania Democrat. "The Internet provides a wealth of opportunities for our children to learn and grow, but we must ensure that they are protected from those who seek to harm them."
Emanuel added that technological advancements like social-networking sites and chat rooms mean "you have to help parents protect their kids. ... You have to adapt and help parents be good parents."
A spokeswoman for the Surviving Parents Coalition, which includes individuals whose children have been abducted and sometimes murdered, said hearings will "expose the real horror of this problem" and "ensure that this administration put its money where its mouth is on protecting children from predators."
Donna Rice Hughes, founder of the nonprofit online safety group Enough is Enough, said "lawmakers must recognize that there is a war raging that destroys the innocence of our nation's youth," and the role of Congress is "to ensure that our kids are safe."
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On The Hill
China, Other Tech Issues Tackled In Pre-Recess Bills
by Theresa Poulson
A package of House bills aimed at expanding U.S. influence in China and increasing competitiveness in the global marketplace were introduced this week by members of the U.S.-China working group. They were among the slew of new technology-related bills filed leading up to the month-long congressional recess.
The measures -- H.R. 3272, H.R. 3273, H.R. 3274 and H.R. 3275 -- would, among other things, expand diplomatic infrastructure in China and boost support to small- and medium-sized businesses exporting to the country. "You can't work on issues like the theft of American patents, environmental protection, human rights and labor standards if you don't fund rule-of-law initiatives," said Illinois Republican Mark Kirk, a sponsor of the bills.
Separate House measures, H.R. 3242 and H.R. 3313, aim to improve mathematics and science education. And a new bill, H.R. 3253, would provide for the use of longitudinal data systems in education.
Other tech-related bills are:
-- H.R. 3321 and S. 1927, which would update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (see separate story and summary)
-- S. 1932, which would increase the funding level for the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs; (see separate story)
-- H.R. 3281, which aims to promote competition and preserve the ability of local governments to provide high-speed Internet access;
-- H.R. 3322, which would authorize $250 million in grants to state and local law enforcement agencies to monitor the activities of sex offenders;
-- S. 1959, which would establish a national commission on the prevention of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism;
-- H.R. 3237, which would establish a commission to oversee the transition of the electrical grid to a "smart grid" that incorporates digital information and controls, and shares pricing information in real time with customers;
-- S. 1915, which would provide incentives to physicians for writing electronic prescriptions;
-- S. 1948, which calls for computing software centers to conduct outreach, technology transfer, development and utilization programs for small and medium-sized businesses;
-- H.R. 3235, which would support the development, investment in and stewardship of nanotechnology;
-- S. 1922, which would increase oversight of the Transportation Security Administration's procurement process;
-- S. 1955, which would authorize grants to emergency-response agencies;
-- H. Res. 592 and H. Res. 606, which would honor and support emergency responders;
-- S. 1919, which would establish trade enforcement priorities;
-- And H. Res. 587, which would express the House's opposition to renewing or granting the president trade-negotiating authority.
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Today's Feature:
Executive Summary
An agreement on legislation designed to maintain the United States' competitive edge in the world has given lawmakers a moment to celebrate a shared vision rather than their differences.
Every Friday, read the Executive Summary by K. Daniel Glover.
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E-briefs
E-Government: The House started its August recess earlier than planned Friday out of members' frustration with dysfunctional voting machines. When asked about the source of the computer glitch, House Administration Committee staffers said they were still attempting to understand the problem. A congressional aide said: "Essentially our gripe is that the world's greatest deliberative body has basically descended into chaos. Meanwhile, the clerk and Speaker are nowhere to be found. It just seems the rules and procedures of the House have completely gone out the window" on the last day before the summer recess. "There's no answer from the Democratic side and no sense of urgency."
Security: President Bush on Friday signed legislation that intensifies the anti-terrorism effort at home. AP reports that it shifts the anti-terrorism budget to high-risk states and cities, and expands scrutiny of air and sea cargo. "This legislation builds upon the considerable progress we have made in strengthening our defenses and protecting Americans since the attacks of Sept. 11," Bush said in a statement. The bill, which implements recommendations of the commission that studied the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, requires screening of all cargo on passenger planes within three years and sets a five-year goal of scanning all container ships for nuclear devices before they leave foreign ports. It also elevates the importance of risk factors in determining which states and cities get federal security funds. And $400 million in grants annually are authorized for emergency radios that will work across jurisdictions.
Courts: Federal investigators violated the Constitution when they raided the office of Rep. William Jefferson last May and viewed legislative documents, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Friday. The court ordered the Justice Department to return any privileged materials it seized from the Louisiana Democrat's Capitol Hill suite. A three-judge panel decided the search itself was constitutional, but FBI agents overstepped their authority when they viewed every record in the office without allowing Jefferson to argue that some documents contained legislative business. The agents should be barred from disclosing the contents of any privileged or politically sensitive documents and should not be involved in the pending prosecution, the court said. The sting was part of a major international bribery investigation. In June, Jefferson was indicted on 16 counts of racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and other charges.
Crime: Senate Commerce Committee leaders late Thursday night introduced a bill aimed at bringing parents, industry, law enforcement and educators together to address comprehensive child protections on the Internet. Committee ranking Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska took the lead on the bill, which was co-sponsored by Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii. The legislation, S. 1965, would require schools receiving federal funds for Internet access to offer education on online behavior, and would create an interagency working group to identify and encourage technologies to help parents protect kids from unwanted content. The bill also would establish a public awareness campaign and enhance child pornography enforcement. "The Internet is a significant part of many people's lives, and we must ensure that our children are educated about how to safely use this resource," Stevens said in a press release. Stevens' earlier Web safety bill, S. 49, drew criticism from free-speech advocates and educators.
Trade: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel of New York, Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin of Michigan and 20 other House Democrats have asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to "use all tools at its disposal" to fight European Union tariffs on high-tech products, CongressDaily reports. The Wednesday letter to USTR Susan Schwab follows a request from industry last week to elevate the tariff dispute, including by bringing a dispute case at the World Trade Organization if necessary. The lawmakers claim that EU tariffs on such products as computer monitors, television set-top boxes and printers violate its commitments under the WTO's Information Technology Agreement. "We, and other ITA signatories, made meaningful concessions to conclude the ITA in 1996; the [European Commission] cannot be permitted to enjoy its benefits while depriving others of equal treatment," according to the letter, which was spearheaded by Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y.
Cyber Security: Internal Revenue Service employees ignored security rules and relinquished sensitive computer information to a caller posing as a technical support person, according to a government study. AP reports that 61 of the 102 people who got the test calls, including managers and a contractor, complied with a request that the employees provide user names and temporarily change passwords to one the caller suggested, according to the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The report said that by failing to question the identity of the caller, the employees were putting the IRS at risk of providing unauthorized people access to taxpayer data that could be used for identity theft and other fraudulent schemes. The IRS has nearly 100,000 employees and contractors with access to tax-return information processed on about 240 computer systems and more than 1,500 databases.
Politics: People who still have questions they want the Democratic presidential candidates to answer after the July 23 debate that featured citizens' video questions will have another online opportunity. The Huffington Post is taking questions to be used when Charlie Rose interviews each of the candidates. The online publication said all of the Democratic candidates have agreed to participate, and it will offer the content to readers so they can easily find answers on what they care about and mash-up the content for their own political discussions. "It's Campaign 2008 meets the brave new world of interactivity," Arianna Huffington wrote. She said people can submit questions via e-mail, video or podcast. The online sites Slate and Yahoo also will gather questions along with the Facebook and MySpace social networks ahead of the Sept. 12 event. A similar event for Republican candidates is in the works.
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President -- John Fox Sullivan, 202-739-8468
Editor in Chief -- Louis Peck, 202-739-8481
Editor -- K. Daniel Glover (bio)
Assistant Editor -- Theresa Poulson
Senior Writers -- David Hatch (bio), Heather Greenfield (bio), Andrew Noyes (bio) and Aliya Sternstein (bio)
Special Correspondent -- Chris Strohm (bio)
Staff Writer -- Michael Martinez
Senior Business Affairs Manager -- Chris Hamby
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