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Black History

the Senate considers S.1569,a bill to ensure the complete and timely payment of the obligations of the USgovt ~~ CONGRESS 10/12 ~~ the House considers, appropriations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs


WethePeople

The Senate stands in adjournment until 11:00am on Saturday, October 12, 2013.

The time until noon will be equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders or their designees.

 At noon, there will be a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S.1569, a bill to ensure the complete and timely payment of the obligations of the United States Government until December 31, 2014.

By unanimous consent, the Senate confirmed Executive Calendar #340, the nomination of Lt. Gen. James M. Kowalski, to be Lieutenant General in the Air Force.

12:00 noon The Senate began a 15 minute roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S.1569, a bill to ensure the complete and timely payment of the obligations of the United States Government until December 31, 2014;

Not Invoked: 53-45

Senator Reid changed his vote to no and entered a motion to reconsider the failed cloture vote at a later time.

The Senate stands in recess subject to the call of the Chair

2:15pm The Senate has reconvened and has resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to S.1569, a bill to ensure the complete and timely payment of the obligations of the United States Government until December 31, 2014, with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each

WRAP UP

ROLL CALL VOTE

1)      Motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S.1569, a bill to ensure the complete and timely payment of the obligations of the United States Government until December 31, 2014; Not Invoked: 53-46

LEGISLATIVE ITEMS

Discharged the Energy Committee and passed S.812, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to take actions to implement the Agreement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States Concerning Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Began the Rule 14 process of H.J.Res.76, National Nuclear Security Administration Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014.

Completed the Rule 14 process of H.J.Res.79, Border Security and Enforcement Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014.

EXECUTIVE ITEMS

Confirmed Executive Calendar #340, the nomination of Lt. Gen. James M. Kowalski, to be Lieutenant General in the Air Force.

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Last Floor Action:
8:28:20 P.M. – The House adjourned.

The next meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on October 12, 2013.

DEBATE – The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.J. Res. 80.

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Official Google Blog

1 Comment

officalgoogle

What the …?

Posted: 07 Jun 2013 12:50 PM PDT

Dear Google users—
You may be aware of press reports alleging that Internet companies have joined a secret U.S. government program called PRISM to give the National Security Agency direct access to our servers.  As Google’s CEO and Chief Legal Officer, we wanted you to have the facts.
First, we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers.  Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a “back door” to the information stored in our data centers.  We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday.
Second, we provide user data to governments only in accordance with the law.  Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don’t follow the correct process.   Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users’ data are false, period.  Until this week’s reports, we had never heard of the broad type of order that Verizon received—an order that appears to have required them to hand over millions of users’ call records.  We were very surprised to learn that such broad orders exist.  Any suggestion that Google is disclosing information about our users’ Internet activity on such a scale is completely false.
Finally, this episode confirms what we have long believed—there needs to be a more transparent approach.  Google has worked hard, within the confines of the current laws, to be open about the data requests we receive.  We post this information on our Transparency Report whenever possible.  We were the first company to do this.  And, of course, we understand that the U.S. and other governments need to take action to protect their citizens’ safety—including sometimes by using surveillance.  But the level of secrecy around the current legal procedures undermines the freedoms we all cherish.
Posted by Larry Page, CEO and David Drummond, Chief Legal Officer
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How a pilot project can save taxpayers 30 percent


The White House

How a pilot project can save taxpayers 30 percent

America’s small information technology firms are some of the most innovative in the world. They are nimble, creative and can get the job done. And thanks to a new online government platform, it is getting easier for them to address some of the Federal Government’s most pressing IT needs.

It’s a win-win: Small technology companies get easier access to the Federal Government’s nearly $77 billion information technology supply chain, providing a potentially critical revenue stream as they build their operations. And government agencies get to work with innovative small firms with solutions that can help make government agencies more efficient and streamlined.

The catalyst for these connections is an exciting new pilot project called RFP-EZ. And the results we are seeing from this program highlight what is possible when you unleash the power of American entrepreneurs.

RFP-EZ is a new and easy way for companies to learn about and compete for government contracts – in particular, small companies that lack the experience or administrative support generally needed to take full advantage of the Government’s Request for Proposals (RFP) process, the means by which many government contract offerings are presented to the business community. The RFP-EZ platform was developed jointly by Federal innovators working in the SBA and private-sector entrepreneurs serving temporary stints in the Federal Government through the Presidential Innovation Fellows program, launched by the U.S Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer team last year. Sharing their private- and public-sector insights, the team developed RFP-EZ as a simplified platform aimed at opening up the Government marketplace to a wider range of companies and saving taxpayer money.

Applying agile development principles, the Fellows team designed RFP-EZ over a six-month period, publishing the platform’s code openly on GitHub. The team then launched the pilot by posting five relatively simple website development and database contract offerings, four of which were also announced via the standard government portal, FedBizOps. On a per-project basis, bids received through RFP-EZ were consistently lower than those received through FedBizOps—19% to 41% lower, and over 30% lower on average. Bids made through RFP-EZ also showed less overall variation. In addition, during the pilot period, RFP-EZ attracted more than 270 businesses that until now had never approached the world of Federal contracting.

RFP-EZ chart

According to Office of Management and Budget’s IT Dashboard, the Federal Government will spend more than $1.4 billion on Web Infrastructure and Web Content Management Systems in FY 2014. Based on 2011 and 2012 results, we can expect about half of these projects to be under the $150,000 “Simplified Acquisition Threshold” that would make them eligible for contracting through RFP-EZ.

As we refine and expand the use of RFP-EZ, we are confident that its success will grow, delivering better value for taxpayers and opening new opportunities for small businesses.

Leveraging feedback we received from entrepreneurs and Federal contracting officers, the next class of Presidential Innovation Fellows will begin work on version 2.0 of RFP-EZ, which will focus on improving the platform, scaling its initial results across the Federal Government, and adding innovative new capabilities. If your business would like to participate, we encourage you to get started by setting up a profile on RFP-EZ today. To all the businesses that submitted proposals through RFP-EZ and everyone who has given us feedback on the project, thank you for helping to bring this new capability to life – and we very much look forward to the path ahead.

Thanks,

Todd

Todd Park Chief Technology Officer Office of Science and Technology Policy The White House

Black History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

the House: H.Con25 Vote:227-207 /HR933 Vote:318-109 ::::::: CONGRESS :::::: the Senate: S.Con.Res.8


March 2013
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3/20/13  —  H.R.933, the Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013, as amended; Passed: 73-26

The Senate stands in adjournment until 9:00am on Thursday, March 21, 2013.

  • Following the prayer and pledge, the Senate will resume consideration of S.Con.Res.8, a concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2014, revising the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal year 2013, and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2015 through 2023.
  • When the Senate convenes on Thursday, there will be 34 hours remaining for debate on the budget resolution, equally divided and controlled between the Chair and Ranking Member of the Budget Committee.

The Senate has resumed consideration of S.Con.Res.8, the Budget resolution. Senator Reid reiterated his intention that the Senate will be in session until we complete the Budget resolution and that could mean being in session all night Friday night or whatever it takes. Senators should plan accordingly.

Senator Sessions made a motion to recommit S.Con.Res.8 back to the Committee on the Budget with instructions to report back no later than March 22, 2013 with such changes as may be necessary to achieve unified budget balance by Fiscal Year 2023.

Motions to recommit are debatable for up to 1 hour, equally divided, and are amendable in two degrees. Each amendment to a motion is debatable for 1 hour each and equally divided. It would take consent to return to the resolution side of the amendment tree to offer amendments to the resolution.

When a vote time is set, another message will be sent.

At 3:45pm today, there will be up to 60 minutes of debate equally divided between Senators Klobuchar and Coats, or their designees, for a report on the economic goals and policy under section 305(b) of the Congressional Budget Act.

We believe to be close to locking in an agreement that would result in a series of up to 5 roll call votes in the 8pm range tonight. When an agreement is reached and vote time is set, I will send another message.

Up to 5 votes around 8pm tonight:

 

–          Sessions motion to recommit (budget balance by 2023)

–          Murray #433 (Paul Ryan Budget)

–          Hatch #297 (medical device repeal)

–          Stabenow #432 (vouchers)

–          Grassley #156 (reserve fund-tax reform)

The Senate has reached an agreement that results in a series of 5 votes at 8:10pm tonight, 6 votes at 11am tomorrow, and provides for the commencement of the so-called vote-a-rama around 3pm tomorrow. All votes after the first vote tonight will be 10 minutes in duration with 2 minutes for debate equally divided between each vote. No amendments are in order to the amendments or motion in this agreement prior to the votes in relation to the amendment. Following the votes tonight, the remainder of tonight’s session will be for debate only on the Budget resolution.

Up to 5 votes at 8:10pm tonight:

–          Sessions motion to recommit (budget balance by 2023)

–          Murray #433 (Paul Ryan Budget)

–          Hatch #297 (medical device repeal)

–          Stabenow #432 (vouchers)

–          Grassley #156 (reserve fund-tax reform)

Up to 6 votes at 11am tomorrow:

–          Mikulski #431 (equal pay)

–          Ayotte #158 (prohibits budget with revenue increase while unemployment is above 5.5%)

–          Cruz #202 (reserve fund to repeal PPACA and Education reconciliation)

–          Murray #439 (side by side to Crapo PPACA)

–          Crapo #222 (reserve fund re: repeal tax increase under PPACA for low and middle income Americans)

–          Shaheen #438 (women’s health)

2 hours for debate

Vote-a-rama!

–          Democratic amendment

–          Republican alternative to Shaheen (women’s health)

 

Text of the agreement is as follows:

Leader:            I ask unanimous consent that the pending motion be set aside and the following amendments to S.Con.Res.8 be called up:

–          Murray #433;

–          Hatch #297;

–          Stabenow #432;

–          Grassley #156;

–          Mikulski #431;

–          Ayotte #158;

–          Cruz #202;

–          Murray #439;

–          Crapo #222; and

–          Shaheen #438.

That the time until 8:10pm be equally divided between the two managers, or their designees, prior to votes in relation to the Sessions motion and the first four amendments listed; that all after the first vote this evening be 10 minute votes; that there be two minutes equally divided in the usual form prior to each vote; that no amendments be in order to the motion or any of the amendments prior to the votes in relation to these items; that following the votes this evening, the remainder of today’s session be for debate only on the concurrent resolution; further, that when the Senate convenes at 9am on Friday, March 22nd, the Senate resume consideration of S.Con.Res.8 with the time until 11am equally divided between the two managers, or their designees; that at 11am, the Senate proceed to votes in relation to the remaining amendments listed above; that there be two minutes equally divided prior to each vote and all after the first vote in this sequence be ten minute votes; that upon disposition of the last amendment listed, there be two hours equally divided between the two managers, or their designees, remaining on the concurrent resolution; finally, the next amendment in order be an amendment from the Majority side to be followed by a Republican alternative to Shaheen #438.

8:10pm The Senate began a roll call vote on Sessions motion to recommit (budget balance by 2023)

Not Agreed to: 46-53

8:52pm The Senate began a roll call vote on the Hatch amendment #297 (medical device repeal)

Agreed to: 79-20

9:10pm The Senate began a roll call vote on the Stabenow amendment #432 (Medicare vouchers);

Agreed To: 96-3

9:28pm The Senate began a roll call vote on Grassley amendment #156 (reserve fund-tax reform).

Not Agreed To: 45-54

This will be the last vote of the night. The next votes will occur at 11am tomorrow.

WRAP UP

ROLL CALL VOTES

–          Sessions motion to recommit (budget balance by 2023); Not Agreed To: 46-53

–          Murray #433 (Paul Ryan Budget); Not Agreed To: 40-59

–          Hatch #297 (medical device repeal); Agreed To: 79-20

–          Stabenow #432 (vouchers); Agreed To: 96-3

–          Grassley #156 (strikes tax reconciliation/establishes reserve fund-tax reform); Not Agreed To: 45-54

LEGISLATIVE ITEMS

 

Adopted S.Res.88, a resolution providing for Members on the part of the Senate of the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library.

Adopted S.Res.89, Designating March 25, 2013, as “National Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day”

Adopted H.Con.Res.18, authorizing the use of the Capital Grounds for the National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service-May 15, 2013.

Adopted H.Con.Res.19, authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the Greater Washington Soap Box Derby-June 15, 2013.

Passed S.540, to designate the air route control center located in Nashua, New Hampshire, as the “Patricia Clark Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center”.

Began the Rule 14 process of S.649, the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013. (Reid)

No EXECUTIVE ITEMS

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Watch Most Recent House Floor Activity

The next meeting is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on March 21, 2013.

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Bills & Hearings in the House 3/18


 

3:00 pm Hearing: Oversight Hearing – District of Columbia Courts, Court Services and Offender Supervision AgencyCommittee on Appropriations: Financial Services and General Government
4:00 pm Hearing: Saving Seniors and Our Most Vulnerable Citizens from an Entitlement CrisisCommittee on Energy and Commerce: Subcommittee on Health
5:00 pm Hearing: H. Con. Res.__ Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2014Committee on Rules: