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Hillicon Valley — Statewide candidates fuel election security concerns

Hundreds of candidates for positions with authority over elections have embraced false claims about the 2020 election, setting up the potential for threats to the ballot from the very people tasked with protecting access to it. 

A bill to provide the semiconductor industry with more than $50 billion dollars is set to receive a vote soon. 

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

‘Insider’ election threat looms

Former President Trump’s campaign to undermine the 2020 election is fueling concerns over midterm election security, with experts warning of “insider” threats from the very officials charged with guarding the vote.  

Hundreds of GOP candidates in federal and state races have embraced his false claims about the election, including at least 20 Republican candidates running for secretary of state, according to an NPR analysis.  

Trump’s election denial movement has raised concerns among U.S. officials and experts who fear the conspiracy theories could undermine the legitimacy of future elections. 

“I think that’s kind of a new element to the threat landscape of elections,” said William Adler, a senior technologist in elections and democracy at the Center for Democracy & Technology. “I think that the new risk is the risk of insider threats.” 

Read about the states at risk. 

Schumer moves semiconductor bill

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to hold a vote soon on a bill to provide $52 billion to $54 billion in assistance to the domestic semi-conductor manufacturing industry and a tax credit for semi-conductor manufacturers, according to Senate sources.   

Schumer has told senators to expect a floor vote as early as Tuesday of next week.   

• The slimmed-down CHIPS bill, intended to improve competitiveness with China, at a minimum will include emergency funding for semi-conductor manufacturers and the investment tax credit from the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors (FABS) Act.   
• The legislation is not expected to include a package of trade provisions that Republicans insisted be attached to the Senate version of the bill that passed last year.   
• A source familiar with the negotiation, however, said additional pieces could be added if they are ready in time.   

Read more. 

SHOTSPOTTER SPREADING 

Local officials are increasingly turning to a gunshot detection technology to help address gun violence, despite serious concerns over its accuracy and potential side effects. 

More than 130 cities and towns across the country have now installed the ShotSpotter systems, according to a report released Thursday from the group Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP). That’s up from about 85 cities in 2018. 

That expansion has been aided by federal funding, with several cities including Detroit, New Haven, Conn., and Albuquerque, N.M., signing big contracts with ShotSpotter using money from the American Rescue Plan Act. The increase could accelerate with new funding that’s been allocated for school safety after the recent shooting in Uvalde, Texas. 

“At a time when elected officials are facing more pressure than ever to combat gun violence and we see cities spending hundreds of millions of dollars on gun prevention tech, including all the new money that Congress authorized after Uvalde, we have to look at the fact that this technology — ShotSpotter — is expensive, dangerous and just doesn’t work,” Albert Fox Cahn, STOP’s executive director, said in an interview. 

Read more about the technology. 

UBER FACES MAJOR LAWSUIT

More than 500 female passengers have filed a lawsuit against U.S.-based rideshare transportation service Uber, alleging that they were sexually assaulted by contracted drivers.  

In a complaint filed by San Francisco-based law firm Slater Slater Schulman LLP on Thursday, the women allege that they were “kidnapped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed and raped,” among other incidents, by drivers on the transportation platform.  

The lawsuit also claims that Uber, founded in 2009, was aware of the severity of the reported incidents of misconduct of some of the drivers on their platform since 2014, Bloomberg News reported.  

In a statement to the media outlet, Slater Slater Schulman partner Adam Slater said that Uber’s approach to reported incidents was “slow and inadequate,” noting that the company could’ve adapted more ways to address the issue. 

Read more. 

SEC HAS QUESTIONS FOR MUSK

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent a letter to billionaire Elon Musk last month asking for more information about a May tweet of his saying he “cannot move forward” with a purchase of Twitter. 

The SEC letter was sent before Twitter sued Musk on Tuesday in a bid to force him to complete his purchase of the social media company, which he backed out of last week. 

SEC agents are inquiring about a May 17 tweet in which Musk wrote the Twitter deal “cannot move forward” because of his concerns about how many bots are active on its platform. 

According to the SEC, the tweet may have violated policies around the document that must be filed with the federal agency before the purchase of more than 5 percent of the shares of a public company. 

Read more. 

REPORTER IMPERSONATORS

State-sponsored hackers from China, North Korea, Iran and Turkey have been regularly spying on and impersonating journalists from various media outlets in an effort to infiltrate their networks and gain access to sensitive information, according to a report released on Thursday by cybersecurity firm Proofpoint.  

The report reveals that government-backed hackers used various tools to target journalists, including sending phishing emails to gain access to reporters’ work emails, social media accounts and networks. 

The report also suggested that state-sponsored hackers routinely pose as members of the media because of the “unique access and information they can provide,” to those countries’ governments. 

The hackers could potentially use information they obtained from compromised accounts to spread pro-state propaganda and influence “a politically charged atmosphere.” 

“A well-timed, successful attack on a journalist’s email account could provide insights into sensitive, budding stories and source identification,” the report said. 

Read more. 

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Spectrum auction authority must be extended 

Notable links from around the web: 

Amazon Secretly Funds New Coalition Opposing Tech Regulation (Bloomberg / Emily Birnbaum) 

The nonstop scam economy is costing us more than just money (The Washington Post / Heather Kelly) 

Ex-CIA Hacker Convicted for ‘One of the Most Damaging Acts of Espionage in American History’ (Motherboard / Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai) 

Lighter click: Legacy defining moment 

One more thing: Time-intensive weakness 

A vulnerability in software that governments and companies around the world use could take years to eliminate, according to a report from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) review board.  

The analysis states that a security engineer from the Alibaba Cloud Security team in China first reported the vulnerability to the Apache Software Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides support for Log4j, the software.  

The software collects and maintains information about system activity. 

The DHS’s Cyber Safety Review Board concluded that the vulnerability will be “endemic” and may remain in systems for up to a decade or more.  

Read more about the vulnerability. 

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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Buffalo shooting suspect indicted on federal hate crime charges

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted the suspect in a mass shooting that killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, N.Y. supermarket on 14 federal hate crime charges and 13 federal firearms charges, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.

Prosecutors could seek the death penalty against Payton Gendron, 19, if convicted, and DOJ said Attorney General Merrick Garland will make the decision at a later date.

“The Justice Department fully recognizes the threat that white supremacist violence poses to the safety of the American people and American democracy,” Garland said in a release. “We will continue to be relentless in our efforts to combat hate crimes, to support the communities terrorized by them and to hold accountable those who perpetrate them.”

The suspect’s attorneys said last week during a state trial for the shooting that they were told prosecutors would take a year to decide if they would seek the death penalty for the hate crime charges, which the prosecutors filed roughly a month ago.

That state trial is proceeding after a judge rejected a request from Gendron’s attorneys to delay the trial while the federal charges proceed.

A grand jury in the state trial had indicted the suspect on 21 charges last month, including hate-motivated domestic terrorism, first-degree murder, attempted murder and murder as a hate crime. Gendron later pleaded not guilty.

The suspect allegedly drove about three hours from his home to the predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, where he killed 10 and injured three others at the Tops supermarket.

DOJ said the federal hate crime charges allege that he willfully caused the death of the victims because of their race and color.

Gendron has reportedly touted the so-called “great replacement theory,” a far-right conspiracy alleging a push to replace white Americans with people of color.

The federal indictment also claims the suspect killed the victims after “substantial” planning and premeditation to commit an act of terrorism, according to DOJ.

He had reportedly invited people to a chatroom just before the shooting, and his private server allegedly included racist content and plans for the shooting dating back six months.

The Buffalo mass shooting and a massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas gained nationwide attention and once again sparked a nationwide debate over gun control.

Congress passed a gun safety package late last month, a law celebrated by President Biden on Monday as he called for further gun measures, like an assault weapons ban.

Source: TEST FEED1

Equilibrium/Sustainability — A-list celebrities using too much water

Some of the A-list residents of Calabasas, Calif., are using more than their fair share of water, a CBS Los Angeles investigation has found.  

Like every household in the local water district, these multimillion-dollar mansions are on a water budget. But many of their inhabitants have been exceeding their allocations, according to CBS LA. 

Reality star Kourtney Kardashian, for example, used 245 percent of the water apportioned to her $8 million Calabasas home in May, CBS LA reported, citing public records. This was the fourth such month her home went over budget.

Meanwhile, Sylvester Stallone’s $18 million mansion in Hidden Hills — a gated community next to Calabasas — used 351 percent of its budget in May and has also been overbudget for four months, according to the investigation.

“For those customers who are very affluent and have lots of … cash, financial penalties don’t necessarily work,” Joe McDermott, of the Las Virgenes Water District, told the local news outlet.

“We don’t think you can just buy your way out of the drought,” he continued. “Everyone needs to do their part. This is very serious.”  

Since fines provide minimal deterrence, the district is implementing a new strategy: Installing temporary disks on water meters that slow household water flow at the offending locations, CBS LA reported.

“Some have asked us to remove it and how much it would cost to remove it, in which case I refuse,” McDermott said. 

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Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. Send tips and feedback: Sharon Udasin. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

Today we’ll explore whether President Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia will affect oil supply and look at the U.S. oil sector’s top greenhouse gas emitters. Plus: A new EV charging network & a look at how hurricanes affect one particularly vulnerable group.

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Oil output shift expected after Saudi Arabia trip

While President Biden’s forthcoming trip to Saudi Arabia could push the country to boost oil production, the visit is unlikely to spur dramatic changes, our colleagues Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk reported for The Hill. 

Why is that? With Americans facing gas prices that recently averaged $5 per gallon, the administration would welcome an effort by the Saudis to increase global oil supplies. But experts told our colleagues that U.S. drivers shouldn’t be too optimistic. 

Modest push expected: Any shift that results from the trip is likely to be modest, according to Joseph Majkut, director of the energy security and climate change program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

• The Biden visit, he acknowledged, does add “to the incentive to increase production.”
• “But I do think the Saudis are looking at the overall market dynamics and trying to respond in a relatively careful way,” Majkut said.  

Seeking spare capacity: Saudi Arabia is the second-largest oil producer in the world, trailing only the U.S. The kingdom also has some “spare capacity,” or oil it can bring onto the market quickly.

• Antoine Halff, former chief oil analyst at the International Energy Agency, told The Hill he expects Saudi Arabia to increase its output regardless of Biden’s visit.
• “A production increase is forthcoming, it might not be huge, but there’s going to be a production increase,” Halff said.

Promoting U.S. interests: Biden has defended his upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia, asserting it is meant to promote peace and stability in the region.

Biden has faced criticism about the trip due to the kingdom’s human rights record, as well as the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

• Oil just one goal of many: The president told reporters on Thursday during his first stop on the trip, in Israel, that the reasons he is traveling to Saudi Arabia are “much broader” than just oil, according to CNN.
• “There are so many issues at stake that I want to make clear that we can continue to lead in the region and not create a vacuum — a vacuum that is filled by China and or Russia, against the interest of both Israel and the United States and many other countries,” Biden said. 

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Exxon, Conoco among four top emitters: report 

Four fossil fuel companies — ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Hilcorp and Occidental Petroleum — are among the top sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. oil and gas industry, a new report has found.  

Intense emissions: The report, issued on Thursday by environmental groups Ceres and the Clean Air Task Force, revealed both the greenhouse gases in general and methane emissions generated by major oil and gas producers, our colleague Zack Budryk reported for The Hill.  

• The findings were based on data submitted by the companies to the Environmental Protection Agency.  
• The highest-emitting companies produced methane emissions nearly 24 times more intense than those with the lowest emissions.  

Which firms fared worst? Hillcorp topped the charts for total methane emissions in 2020, followed by Exxon, Occidental and ConocoPhillips, Budryk reported.  

Equipment operation proved to be a major detriment of emissions intensity.  

Those companies that used flaring — burning off extra natural gas — had greater carbon dioxide emissions.  

Zooming in on methane: The report homed in on methane emissions, which have been the subject of increased scrutiny in recent years, as it is much more potent than carbon dioxide, Budryk reported.  

Some are taking more steps than others: “There are clear steps oil and gas producers can take to reduce their methane and other greenhouse gas emissions,” Lesley Feldman, a senior analyst at the Clean Air Task Force, said in a statement.  

“Some are taking those steps while others are not, and federal and state regulations are key to ensuring we can standardize best practices across the industry,” Feldman added.  

How did the companies respond? A spokesperson for Exxon told The Hill that the report demonstrates “some of the great progress” the company is making to curb greenhouse gas emissions.  

• Further reductions on the way: “We are actively implementing aggressive plans to further reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse emissions from our operations,” the spokesperson said.
• Scope 1 emissions are those directly generated by industrial facilities, while Scope 2 are those produced indirectly, as a result of electricity and heat purchases.   

In a statement to The Hill, a Hilcorp spokesperson noted that the company’s business model largely involves taking on existing oil and gas properties and that the 2020 data did not reflect emissions reductions it has achieved.

GM to build coast-to-coast EV charging network

General Motors (GM) will be partnering with the Pilot Company to develop a coast-to-coast fast-charging network for electric vehicles (EVs) along the nation’s highways, the firms announced on Thursday. 

• The network of 2,000 charging stalls — co-branded “Pilot Flying J” and “Ultimum Charge 360” — will be located at up to 500 Pilot and Flying J travel centers, our colleagues at The Hill’s Changing America reported.
• Powered by charging company EVgo’s eXtend technology, the stations will be open to all electric car brands, according to the partners.  

Key piece of the puzzle: “We are committed to an all-electric, zero-emissions future, and ensuring that the right charging infrastructure is in place is a key piece of the puzzle,” Mary Barra, GM chair and CEO, said in a statement.  

“With travel centers across North America, Pilot Company is an ideal collaborator to reach a broad audience of EV drivers,” Barra added. 

Timing is right: The announcement comes as EVs continue to gain traction among American car owners, particularly with fuel prices so high. The Biden administration has also allocated $7.5 billion from last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill to the rollout of charging networks.

The GM and Pilot collaboration aims to install charging stations at approximately
50-mile intervals across the U.S., according to the partners.  

• Many of the sites will feature canopies to protect customers from inclement weather.  
• There will also be pull-through capabilities to boost convenience for electric pickup trucks and SUVs pulling trailers. 

Reducing range anxiety: “GM and Pilot Company designed this program to combine private investments alongside intended government grant and utility programs to help reduce range anxiety and significantly close the gap in long-distance EV charger demand,” Shameek Konar, CEO of Pilot Company, said in a statement.  

Preparing for a national network: “We look forward to collaborating with GM and the U.S. Department of Transportation to make convenient coast-to-coast EV travel a reality through our national network of travel centers,” Konar added.  

Dialysis patients mortality risk rises after hurricanes

Individuals with kidney failure who rely on dialysis may face an increased risk of death following hurricanes, a new study has found. 

Access to such life-sustaining therapy can be impeded by extreme weather events, which can disrupt power, water and transportation systems, according to the study, published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology on Thursday.   

• Risks worse at certain times: Individuals undergoing dialysis face a higher risk of dying in the 30 days immediately following a hurricane — and that risk waned over time, the authors observed.
• After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, the scientists found that hurricane exposure was linked to a 13-percent higher risk of death for dialysis patients.  

Connecting dialysis and hurricane data: The analyzed information from patients registered in the U.S. Renal Data System who began treatment between 1997 and 2017 in the country’s 108 hurricane-afflicted counties. 

• Of 187,388 patients and 27 hurricanes, 29,849 people were exposed to at least one hurricane. 
• For every 529 patients, there were about 105 deaths over the course of one year.  

Climate change exacerbating risk: With climate change expected to intensify extreme weather events, the scientists stressed the importance of understanding and addressing the toll that hurricanes can take on people who depend on dialysis.    

Protecting a vulnerable population: “Our findings suggest that dialysis-dependent patients are vulnerable during hurricanes and highlight the need to safeguard this population, co-author Matthew Blum, of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said in a statement.  

“Anything that disrupts someone’s ability to obtain dialysis — including extreme weather — can put them at risk of death,” Blum added. 

Thirsty Thursday

London airport runs out of water, green groups question Los Angeles River plan and drought hits regions across the Northeast.  

Gatwick Airport runs out of water as London sizzles 

• Amid a scalding heat wave and widespread flight cancellations, Gatwick Airport near London ran out of water on Thursday due to a burst pipe, The Daily Mail reported. The airport handed out bottles of water throughout the afternoon and brought water tankers on site, although only a limited number of toilets were working, according to the Mail.  

Green groups say LA River Master Plan was okayed without sufficient review    

• Two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, alleging that officials violated state laws when they approved a plan to improve the appearance, water quality and habitats of the Los Angeles River, the Los Angeles Times reported. The plan does not provide “enough information for the public to understand how it will harm and benefit different areas,” Bruce Reznik of LA Waterkeeper told the Times. 

Drought conditions escalate in Northeast US     

• About 21 percent of Massachusetts is now encountering “severe drought” — the first time the state has reached such a designation in nearly two years, according to CBS Boston. Meanwhile, parts of Western New York — from Niagara Falls south to Buffalo — are now experiencing “moderate drought” and face a heightened risk of water shortages, local ABC affiliate WKBW reported. 

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Please visit The Hill’s Sustainability section online for the web version of this newsletter and more stories. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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House passes annual defense policy bill

The House on Thursday passed its annual defense policy bill authorizing nearly $840 billion in defense spending for fiscal year 2023, approving a $37 billion boost to President Biden’s defense budget.

The lower chamber passed the bill on a bipartisan 329-101 vote. Thirty-nine Democrats and 62 Republicans voted against the measure.

A separate version of the annual defense policy bill still has to be considered in the Senate, and then both versions will be reconciled in conference committee before the bill makes its way through both chambers for final passage.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Politico on Wednesday that the upper chamber would likely begin debating its version of the bill in September due to other high-profile bills being ironed out. 

The House Armed Services Committee first advanced the bill in June by a vote of 57-1. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), ranking member of the committee, said in floor remarks Wednesday that the bill was “the definition of a bipartisan bill.”

“It will enhance Congressional oversight of [The Department of Defense], it will improve the quality of life for our servicemembers and their families, and it will ensure our military is properly resourced and equipped to defend our nation and our allies,” Rogers said.

The House bill allocates $808.4 billion in discretionary spending to the Pentagon, $30.5 billion to the Department of Energy, and another $400 million in defense-related activities elsewhere in the federal government.

Lawmakers filed a record 1,230 amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) through the House Rules committee for consideration by the full committee, though the lower chamber considered 650 on the floor.

Among the amendments, the House turned down two offered by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) to slash the total topline of the NDAA.

One amendment, to cut the topline by $100 billion, was turned down on a bipartisan 35-78 vote. Her other amendment to reverse the $37 billion boost advanced by the House Armed Services Committee failed on bipartisan 151-277 vote.

The House also included amendments that would require officials to prepare a report analyzing White supremacy and neo-Nazi activities within their ranks. Another approved amendment would give Washington, D.C., control over the D.C. National Guard. 

The lower chamber also approved creating a secure system for reporting unidentified aerial phenomena, commonly known as UFOs.

Source: TEST FEED1

Defense bill becomes battleground for culture wars

From vaccine mandates to abortion, the annual defense spending bill has become a vehicle for both Republicans and Democrats in the House to try to hash out culture war issues. 

The House Freedom Caucus, a group of hard-line conservatives, on Wednesday announced an official position urging GOP colleagues to oppose the bill, citing a number of hot-button cultural issues along with concern about military funding going to other countries.

“This bill does nothing to address the President’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which are forcing thousands of our best, bravest, and highly trained (on the Taxpayers’ dime, mind you) Service Members out of the military,” the House Freedom Caucus said in a statement.

“It also fails to end the radical Left’s contamination of our military with ‘woke’ ideology, the prioritization of ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ over combat readiness, or the wasteful allocation of funds on politically motivated ‘Green New Deal’ climate initiatives.”

On the Democratic side, lawmakers veered into the abortion debate by introducing an amendment to repeal current restrictions on using Pentagon funds to perform abortions. The House Rules committee did not allow the amendment to be debated. 

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), sponsor of the amendment, chalked up her amendment not being considered to the bipartisan nature of the NDAA.

“The NDAA is a vehicle, you know. It often doesn’t pass with progressive votes, it passes with Republican votes,” Jayapal said. “So I think this is clearly one where it’s going to need Republican votes and they’re not going to vote for something with abortion in there.” 

The must-pass nature of the NDAA incentivizes leaders to keep culture war poison pills out of the legislation. The NDAA often draws opposition from the ideological edges in both parties.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) dismissed the Freedom Caucus’s objections to the bill, saying it’s not a vehicle for culture battles. 

“The culture wars are part of, you know, a lot of things we do. Now, a bill comes up around here, the Freedom Caucus is gonna try to make that an issue,” Smith said. “So I don’t think the NDAA is a vehicle for that, it’s more just a side note to that broader issue.”

Some anti-abortion amendments offered by Republicans were also not considered. A record 1,230 amendments were submitted to the NDAA through the House Rules Committee this year.

House Democrats did, however, approve one key hot-button measures that drew universal opposition from Republicans: Requiring reports on instances of white supremacy and Neo-Nazi activity in the armed services and federal law enforcement.

Approved amendments and provisions may be later removed after the Senate passes its version of the NDAA and the two chambers conference on a final version of the bill. The House passed its version of the NDAA by a 329 to 101 vote Thursday evening. 

Several Republican amendments aimed at combating COVID-19 vaccine requirements failed in the committee markup of the bill, and many more submitted to the House Rules Committee were not considered. 

However, the House approved by voice vote an amendment to require the Department of Defense to report every 60 days on the number of religious and medical exemption requests and denials of those requests, along with the number of individuals who later complied and those who did not comply and were dismissed.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said that the NDAA’s failure to address the vaccine mandate was a dealbreaker.

“No fix to the vaccine mandates, no changes to all of this woke garbage. It’s destroying morale in the military,” Roy said. “The vaccine mandate is the starting place for, you know, getting us to start considering whether we could support the NDAA.”

To get him to even consider supporting the bill, Roy said, it would have to also push NATO countries to hit the 2 percent military funding threshold, create more oversight of money flowing to Ukraine as it battles a Russian invasion, not give the mayor of Washington, D.C. authority over the D.C. National Guard, and having some kind of ban on “critical race theory” or “wokeism stuff” in the bill.

The amendment to give the D.C. mayor authority of the D.C. National Guard was a response to the existing chain of command contributing to delays in deploying to Guard to the Capitol on January 6. It passed on almost entirely partisan lines Wednesday night, with all Republicans except Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.) voting against the measure, and Rep. Jared Golden (Maine) being the only Democrat to vote against it.

However, many Republicans are planning to support the NDAA even if it does not address cultural issues they care about.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, has railed against military leaders for promoting books like Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist” and creating a “safe space” for subordinates to have conversations with their commanders. But this year’s NDAA, he said, is acceptable.

“The left has sabotaged the NDAA and the military to advance their left-wing and woke causes,” Banks said. “The reality is that the NDAA is mission critical to our national security, to combating our biggest adversaries, especially a rising China. And this NDAA is a lot better than the NDAA that we voted for that came to the House floor last year.”

There were some “culture war” wins for Republicans. This year’s House version of the NDAA does not include a provision to require women to register for the selective service, though the Senate’s NDAA currently does. Freedom Caucus Republicans opposed the NDAA last year in large part due to what they called the “Draft our Daughters” measure, which was later removed from the final bill.

“It is it perfect? Does it go far enough? Of course not,” Banks said. “But for the most part, we’ve kept the worst issues out of it.”

Source: TEST FEED1

The trio responsible for high inflation

President Biden, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Russian President Vladimir Putin are all responsible for the 9.1 percent higher prices that consumers are paying compared to last year. This trio will pay for such escalating prices in ways that will change the political terrain in the U.S., Europe and Russia.

Biden and Powell rescued the American economy from the deep freeze imposed by the pandemic, beginning in early 2020. In March 2020 Powell saturated the economy with liquidity and cheap money. Shortly after, Biden, with Congress’s help, executed three stimulus rounds, as if they were manna from heaven. They gave taxpayers and business a lot of free money to spend to increase aggregate demand and help rescue the imploding economy.

Consumers helped and went on a never-ending shopping spree that not only stabilized the economy but pushed prices to unanticipated high levels of inflation. Luckily, Biden’s Build Back Better plan, which would have pumped more money into the economy, was defeated, otherwise it could have turned high inflation into runaway inflation.

Biden and Powell, facing a new and unprecedented phenomenon, were too successful two years ago in stabilizing and growing the economy. Now almost everybody has forgotten their success; all they see is higher prices.

A year later, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in, among other graver things, higher oil and grain prices, which have been pushing inflation in the U.S. and most other countries even higher.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual inflation rate in the U.S. was 9.1 percent in June 2022, the highest in 42 years. Further, the inflation rate for food was even higher, 10.4 percent, and much higher for gas, 60 percent.

But for the average family that typically spends more of its income on food and transportation, the real inflation rate is much higher than the overall inflation rate of 9.1 percent, as shown by food and gas prices.

But wages have gone up only 5 percent from last year — well below inflation. As a result, the average family must spend more to maintain its lifestyle. Absent more spending, consumers must adjust by buying less, buying generic rather than branded products, purchasing day-old products and cheaper cuts of meat etc., or by working more or dipping into whatever savings are left from the stimulus money in their accounts.

Either way, consumers get sticker shock every time they enter grocery stores and try to understand what is going on and why. The middle class especially feel that they have done their share to realize the American dream, and now the dream is slipping away.  

As a result, their feeling about the economy, captured in the University of Michigan’s survey of consumer sentiment, has become extremely negative: In June, 2022, the Consumer Sentiment Index declined to 50.2 from 85.5 a year earlier due mostly to inflation concerns. Consumers feel frustrated and anxious about their ability to maintain their lifestyles. As a result, they hold the administration, the Fed and Putin responsible.  

Barring a miracle, Biden will vacate the White House in the 2025 and Powell will leave his job when his term ends in 2026, or earlier, despite their great success in rescuing the economy in 2020.

Putin, a dictator, might continue to dictate for a while, but his stature has already begun to diminish. He will be facing a firmer, more united Europe, with neighboring Sweden and Finland as NATO members. A complete takeover of Ukraine seems implausible and an invasion of Moldova or any of the Baltic states is a far-fetched dream. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has made him a lesser leader and Russia a less significant country.

The net result of high U.S. inflation is a job loss for Biden and Powell, and a diminished Putin despite his likely success in increasing his influence in parts of Ukraine. And though inflation is likely to decline in the coming months, it is too late for this trio.

Avraham Shama is the former dean of the College of Business at the University of Texas, The Pan-American. He is professor emeritus at the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico. His new book, “Cyberwars: David Knight Goes to Moscow,” was recently published by 3rd Coast Books. See: avrahamshama.com

Source: TEST FEED1

Secret Service deleted text messages ahead of Jan. 6 riot, says IG

The inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified lawmakers that the U.S. Secret Service had deleted text messages on Jan. 5, 2021 and on the day of the Capitol riot itself after they had been formally requested by investigators.

DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari wrote in a letter addressed to House and Senate Homeland Security committees, which was given to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol rioting, that text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 had been “erased as part of a device-replacement program,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Hill and first reported by The Intercept.

“The USSS erased those text messages after OIG requested records of electronic communications from the USSS, as part of our evaluation of events at the Capitol on January 6,” Cuffari continued.

The letter said DHS officials had told the OIG that the could not provide records directly to the inspector general until they were reviewed by lawyers.

“Second, DHS personnel have repeatedly told OIG inspectors that they were not permitted to provide records directly to OIG and that such records had to first undergo review by DHS attorneys. This review led to weeks-long delays in OIG obtaining records and created confusion over whether all records had been produced,” he added.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House select committee, said that they had just received the letter and did not immediately know who deleted the text messages.

“Well, they were not clear as to how, they just know that they’re not there,” Thompson said.

“And we had asked them some time ago to look at it. So it didn’t come on the committee side, it came on the Homeland side. And this was their — it was a letter. I have not seen the report yet. So it’s concerning, obviously, and if there’s a way we can reconstruct the text … we will,” he added. 

A spokesperson for the DHS Office of the Inspector General declined to delve into the letter when reached for comment by The Intercept.

“To preserve the integrity of our work and protect our independence, we do not discuss our ongoing reviews or our communications with Congress,” the spokesperson told The Intercept.

The Hill has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General and U.S. Secret Service for comment. 

Speaking to CNN last month, Marc Short, a former chief of staff to former Vice President Pence, said he had contacted Secret Service ahead of the day of the Capitol riot.

“And I think with thousands of people descending upon Washington with hopes of a different outcome, I just thought it was important that they be alerted to that,” Short told the network. “But I didn’t have any specific intelligence, I did not have any knowledge the Capitol would be attacked the way it was.”

The Secret Service also came up during dramatic testimony to the Jan. 6 panel last month from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

She offered a second-hand account that Trump had tried to grab the steering wheel of the car he was in and tried to lunge at a member of Secret Service personnel after he was told he could not go to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

The Secret Service has denied that the altercation took place.

“The Secret Service has been cooperating fully with the select committee since its inception in spring of 2021 and we will continue to do so by responding formally and on the record to the committee regarding new allegations that surfaced in today’s testimony,” Secret Service said in a statement following her testimony.

Source: TEST FEED1

NotedDC — Dems warn NDAA measure could stifle climate goals

Some House Democrats are warning the Senate and White House that an amendment added to the $840 billion defense authorization bill would stifle the party’s renewable energy goals.

FIRST IN THE HILL: Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) told NotedDC he will vote against the bill Thursday night because of an amendment that would ban offshore wind developers from using construction boats with multinational crews. 

The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would require that these boats — necessary to construct wind turbines — be staffed by Americans or citizens of the boat’s origin country.

Proponents of the amendment argue that foreign-owned boats with lower paid workers are taking away jobs from Americans. But opponents maintain the U.S. doesn’t have enough of those specialized boats or workforce in the first place.

Auchincloss, a Marine veteran, is sending a letter with 30 other House Democrats to the Senate Commerce Committee requesting it remove the amendment.

“By prohibiting the use of these [vessels] in the short term, we sacrifice all of the jobs that would have existed during the lifetime of these projects, including for maintenance and operations,” Auchincloss wrote in the letter provided first to The Hill.

Some others who signed on: Democratic Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), David Cicilline (R.I.), Sean Casten (Ill.), Ayanna Pressly (Mass.) and David Trone (Md.).

“If Senator Cantwell and the White House are serious about clean energy, this language should change,” a Democratic aide said, referring to Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). “The ball’s now in their court.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling last month to limit the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency already stymies the Biden administration’s efforts to combat climate change, and Democrats have raised alarms about their agenda lagging.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said he would work with the Senate to ensure that the amendment would not “impede” offshore wind projects.

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Welcome to NotedDC: Your guide to politics, policy & people of consequence in D.C.

In today’s issue: We’ll explore other elements of the mammoth defense policy bill, and former President Trump‘s latest tease about 2024.

Plus: Material from the Jan. 6 House select committee that has yet to be released.

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WHAT’S IN THE NDAA?

The bill, which reliably passes every year to direct the Pentagon’s funding, is playing a more significant role this year in shaping how the U.S. military interacts in NATO, given the war in Ukraine.

The House funded the bill with $37 billion more than President Biden initially requested, citing the need for more aircraft, ships and assistance to Ukraine. Lawmakers proposed an eye-popping 1,200 amendments, voting on 650 of them.

Some notable amendments: 

• One from Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) that “compels government officials to prepare a report on instances of white supremacy and neo-Nazi activity in uniformed services and federal law enforcement.”
• One from Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) that would establish a secure system for reporting on UFOs, improving Congress’ ability to learn more about them.
• One from Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Anthony Brown (D-Md.) and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) that would give the mayor of D.C. authority over the city’s national guard rather than the federal government.  

🎤 Trump teases 2024 announcement amid firestorm

Former President Trump says he’s made up his mind on whether to run for president again in 2024. Now the big question is: When will he announce it? 

“Do I go before or after [the midterms]? That will be my big decision,” Trump told New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi.

• Trump — while not explicitly revealing his decision — suggested announcing before the midterms would dissuade other candidates from launching their bids, since recent polls show him leading potential opponents by double digits.
• As our colleague Alex Bolton reported this month, some Republicans fear that an early announcement could upend their midterm strategy, considering their focus is on President Biden’s handling of the economy and inflation.

Trump’s tease of potentially announcing a third White House bid comes as the Jan. 6 House select committee unveils mounting evidence against the former president for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

And signaling to some that he’s ready to return to politics with full force, Trump is addressing a summit hosted by the America First Policy Institute at the end of the month in Washington.

🔥 Jan. 6 panel to unveil more on Trump role

The Jan. 6 House committee is promising to keep the spotlight on Trump’s role in the Capitol attack, an issue that will be front and center if he runs again in 2024.

Members of the panel have signaled they plan to release more material surrounding what happened after Trump left his nearby rally and his statement to supporters amid the Capitol riot later in the day.

“Mr. Kinzinger and I plan to go through that 187 minutes,” Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) told ABC News on Wednesday about what the committee will focus on next. 

Our colleagues Rebecca Beitsch and Mike Lillis point out that the committee bumped evidence on Tuesday that could’ve tied Trump more precisely to violent extremist groups and instead showed testimony from White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

“It was in the original script, but we pulled some back just because of the timing,” committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) told our colleagues Wednesday.

2024 WATCH

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) met with fellow Democrats on the Hill Thursday during his whirlwind trip to the nation’s capital.

• The meeting came a day after Newsom was seen at the White House, where he met with first lady Jill Biden to discuss the president’s “ambitious agenda.”
• The trip to D.C. is stoking even more speculation that the Golden State governor may make a run for president in 2024.

Newsom told our colleague Alex Bolton that he does not support expanding the Supreme Court, an issue that is sure to be hotly debated between progressives and moderate Democrats in the primaries.

But the governor said he supports abolishing the filibuster, a move that President Biden recently endorsed as an exception to codify abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

If you missed it: Our colleague Amie Parnes dove deep into the chatter around Newsom. 

A MESSAGE FROM THE HILL

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The Hill poll: Cortez Masto leads in Nevada

Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto leads her Republican opponent former Attorney General Adam Laxalt by 3 points, 44 to 41 percent, in an Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey, though 9 percent are undecided.

“Cortez Masto holds the support of minority voters in Nevada: 61% of Asian voters, 51% of Black voters, and 46% of Hispanic voters. On the other hand, Laxalt has plurality of White voters’ support at 46%,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College polling. 

The poll also found that a third of voters approve of the job President Biden is doing, while 57 percent disapprove. And Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) has a 40 percent approval rating, while 48 percent disapprove. 

HILLARY AND CHELSEA GO HOLLYWOOD

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea Clinton are teaming up for a new docuseries on “gutsy women” they call their “personal heroes.”

There will be a lot of celebrities: reality TV star Kim Kardashian, comedian Amy Schumer, rapper Megan Thee Stallion and actors Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson.

Read more about the series.

🏊🏻‍♂️ US athletes compete in Israel

President Biden on Thursday met with about 250 U.S. athletes attending the Maccabiah Games in Israel, telling those gathered: “I’m so damn proud of you.”

Known as the “Jewish Olympics,” the games are open to Jewish athletes around the globe and Israeli athletes, with about 10,000 athletes from over 60 countries this year.

On the next leg of his overseas trip, Biden will head to Saudi Arabia on Friday, with pressure growing on him to bring up the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

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Have some news, juicy gossip, insight or other insider info? Send us tips: Elizabeth Crisp and Kelsey Carolan. And encourage friends to sign up here: thehill.com/noted.

We’ll see you next week!

SEE THE FULL EDITION HERE

Source: TEST FEED1

FDA warns synthetic vaping companies, but sidesteps total crackdown

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday sidestepped a major crackdown on companies that make popular synthetic nicotine products, drawing ire from Democrats and anti-tobacco advocates.

Synthetic nicotine is made in a lab, and was a way for companies to skirt FDA regulation since the agency previously did not have the ability to regulate it like it does with tobacco-derived nicotine. Synthetic nicotine products are often fruity flavored and popular with young people.  

But then Congress explicitly gave the agency that authority in March as part of a government spending package.

Under the law, companies had until May 14 to submit a premarket application to keep their products on the market. Any company that didn’t would be considered illegal, and would need to remove their products by July 13.

Late Wednesday, the agency said it had issued warning letters to two companies that make synthetic nicotine vaping products. According to the agency, AZ Swagg Sauce LLC and Electric Smoke Vapor House have listed a combined total of approximately 10,000 products with the FDA. Neither company submitted a premarket application for its non-tobacco nicotine products.

FDA also said it is processing applications for approximately one million other products submitted by more than 200 manufacturers. The agency did not address the most popular synthetic tobacco product on the market, the disposable vape Puff Bar.

The agency said it also issued 107 warning letters to retailers in the last two weeks for illegally selling non-tobacco nicotine products, including certain e-cigarette or e-liquid products, to underage purchasers. 

“FDA has been fully committed to actively implementing this critical new law regulating non-tobacco nicotine products since its passage, and the warning letters announced today are just the beginning of our compliance and enforcement actions” Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement.

But anti-tobacco advocates said the agency’s actions fell flat. 

“All unauthorized synthetic nicotine products are now illegal and by law must be removed from the market now, not at some undetermined date in the future,” said Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. 

“It is unacceptable that this deadline came and went on Wednesday with the FDA taking only minimal action to enforce a law the FDA itself sought from Congress … The FDA’s failure to fully enforce the law and clear all unauthorized products from the market is unacceptable. It ignores explicit deadlines set by Congress and puts America’s kids at risk,” Myers said.

In a letter sent to FDA ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said they were concerned the agency wouldn’t meet the deadline, and called on commissioner Robert Califf to pull from the market all products without an authorization. 

Durbin and Collins were two of the key senators who spearheaded the effort to give FDA the power to regulate synthetic nicotine.

“We are concerned that FDA is failing to implement the law, which has grave consequences for the health of children across America,” the senators wrote. “We fear FDA is stumbling down the same path that ignited the youth vaping epidemic in the first place.”

They noted that several e-cigarette manufacturers whose applications were subject to marketing denial orders attempted to circumvent the agency’s oversight by switching to synthetic nicotine.  

In a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, Durbin slammed the agency’s efforts at regulating tobacco and vaping products.

“The FDA is supposed to protect all Americans and particularly our children. I’m calling on FDA to finally come to its senses. Err on the side of public safety, on the side of kids, not tobacco companies. This free fall in the legal department at the FDA is unimaginable. It’s not safe for America. And it’s not safe for our future,” Durbin said. 

The American Vapor Manufacturers group said Congress’s deadline was “impossible” for companies to meet.

“It should not be surprising that some companies could not submit the robust data and evidentiary requirements in time,” said Amanda Wheeler, the group’s president. “This latest crackdown shows that the FDA would rather pander to politicians who believe they know better than the millions of Americans who will now be forced back to cigarettes as more and more vaping products are banned.”

Source: TEST FEED1