David Valdez Posts

Yesterday, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held the first (of possibly several) hearings focused on scrutinizing the rollout of the $7 billion fund administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Development Agency. Testimony from the Inspector Generals from each respective agency indicated that there was concern that the Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program (BTOP) will need greater scrutiny going forward to avoid fraud and abu ...

The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold hearings next week on the spending practices under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for Broadband deployment. Witnesses have not been announced, but we expect representatives from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to be present, as well as recipients of the broadband deployment grants.This hearing may set the tone for the public policy discussion legislators will have in the coming months on issues ...

Cybersecurity continues to be an important issue on Capitol Hill.  Last week, Senate Majority Leader Reid introduced the Cyber Security and American Cyber Competitiveness Act of 2011.  Among the goals of the bill are to “safeguard critical infrastructure, including the electric grid, military assets, the financial sector and telecommunications networks. It urges incentives for the private sector to assess the risk of cyber terrorism and take action to prevent it and promote investments in the Am ...

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend the “State of the Net” conference hosted by the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus held in Washington, D.C. The event was very well attended and there were numerous panels on a variety of public policy issues related to technology. Read on for a summary of the panels I attended.Online Privacy on Trial: Has Congress Given Industry Self-Regulating Long Enough?The discussion largely focused on providing a history of the developm ...

It’s a new year and a new legislative agenda prevails in the House. Fred Upton (R-MI) is the new chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, and he has named his subcommittee chairs: Subcommittee on Manufacturing and Trade Chair Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chair Greg Walden (R-OR), Subcommittee on Energy and Power Chair Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy Chair John Shimkus (R-IL), Subcommittee on Health Chair Joe ...