Key takeaway: Government funded for now, showdown later; question of raising domestic spending (“busting caps”) remains.
The federal government is open for business! Legislators came to an agreement last night on a clean continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government operating until December 11, 2015. The Senate voted Wednesday, 78-20, to pass the short-term CR and the House vote followed, passing by a vote of 277-151.
This sets up a funding showdown in December where many speculate that domestic spending caps may be lifted which could result in a boost in funding for several federal programs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and soon-to-depart House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have indicated that they have been in discussion with President Obama on a budget plan that would do just that – fund the government for an extended period of two years through a regular appropriations process while also lifting sequestration caps. But will a new House Speaker continue the deal? That remains to be seen.
And a special note for our friends in: Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin – you can continue collecting taxes on Internet access also until December 11. Attached to the CR was a measure that would extend the moratorium on taxes assessed on Internet access; first established by the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) in 1998. The seven states named above were grandfathered in back in 1998; they are the only states that collect an Internet access tax (there are a few others but they have stopped collecting). When the CR expires, there will most certainly be a debate on whether the extension of ITFA should be short-term or permanent.
Capitol Hill cybersecurity hearings highlight role of foreign state actors
Just this week alone, the House and Senate both held hearings on cybersecurity with top defense officials including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, and U.S. Cyber Command Commander Michael Rogers. In the House, the Armed Services Committee held two hearings on the U.S. Department of Defense’s cyber strategy; outside experts testified one day before DoD officials.
The common thread among these hearings seems to be the focus on foreign actors, timely since President Obama recently hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping the outcome of which was an agreement that “neither country’s government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information…” FireEye’s Chief Security Strategist, Richard Bejtlich, testified on September 29, that the success of this agreement depends on the ability to attribute and verify cyber attacks to a specific actor. Additionally, Bejtlich recommended that the President appoint a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) noting that though the executive branch has a CIO and a CTO, there is no CISO. NASCIO members should find this talking point familiar; NASCIO highlighted the role of the CISO in this early 2006 publication and again in our 2014 Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity study.
Legislatively, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) could come up as soon; potentially after the Columbus Day week-long recess. Stay tuned.
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