Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), a coauthor the Modernizing Government Technology Act of 2017, released the following statement after the House passed the MGT Act today. “I am pleased the MGT Act has once again passed the House and is now one step closer to becoming law,” said Congressman Connolly. “The current patchwork of outdated, legacy IT systems is simply unsustainable in the current cyber climate. By leveraging the savings created by FITARA, our legislation will help transition federal ...
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Joe Uchill A bill to fund agency efforts to modernize IT equipment has passed the House. The Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act, headed by Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and backed by Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Virg.) and Robyn Kelly (D-Ill.), passed via voice vote Wednesday afternoon. It provides two channels of funding that agencies can use to upgrade aging technology, which is generally considered to be less secure and more expensive to run than new technology. "Bad actors repeatedly target t...
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Billy Mitchell The House passed the Modernizing Government Technology Act by voice vote Wednesday, with the expectation that this year it will have an easier path in the Senate. Supporters of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, touted it as “common sense” and “bipartisan” legislation that will help prevent federal systems from falling victim to massive cybersecurity breaches, pointing to the WannaCry ransomware that wreaked havoc over the weekend as evidence of how imperative it is f...
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Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) released the following statement on reports that President Trump asked former FBI Director Comey to drop the FBI's investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn: “The latest Trump revelation is prima facie evidence of obstruction. The time for a Special Prosecutor is immediate and urgent.”
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Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) released the following statement on reports that President Trump released classified information to the Russians during a recent Oval Office visit: "This is a crisis of great magnitude. President Trump's reckless leak of classified information to the Russians will put lives at grave risk and alienate allies and friends. We have a problem in the White House."
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Today, all 34 Democratic Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Committee on the Judiciary sent a detailed letter to their respective Republican Chairmen outlining their demand for an immediate investigation into the actions of President Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and top White House aides: “We are writing to request that the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee launch an immediate joint investigation into whether President D...
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Richard Reeve On Capitol Hill Wednesday, everyone is talking about the president firing FBI Director James Comey. One of the big headlines today is that the Senate intelligence committee has invited Comey to an interview, a closed-door meeting next Tuesday. Many are calling for appointing a special prosecutor to look into this as well. Normally that appointment would be made by the Attorney General or his deputy. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the vice chair of the intelligence committee, says...
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Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) released the following statement on President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey: "President Trump fires FBI Director Comey in the midst of his investigation into Trump aides coordinating with Russia to interfere with our election. If it were about previous misjudgements, this would have happened in January. Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein is an enabler and this decision obstructs the investigation. Shades of the Saturday Night Massacre and Archibald ...
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Tony Ware Employees who refuse to follow an order that would violate a law, rule or regulation would be protected from retaliation if new legislation gets signed into law. The Follow the Rules Act — introduced by Reps. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., and Gerry Connolly, D-Va. — adds a clarification to the Whistleblower Protection Act spurred by a misinterpretation by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the case of Rainey v. MSPB. The bill, HR 657, is intended to protect employees rooting ou...
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Morgan Chalfant Lawmakers on Wednesday grilled information security officers at the Department of Education and IRS over a data breach of an information-sharing tool that potentially exposed the personal information of 100,000 Americans earlier this year. The chief information officers at both organizations came under harsh criticism from members of the House Oversight Committee over their handling of the situation, defending themselves against charges they may have violated the law by slow-roll...
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