Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin

---

---

Source: United States Senator for Illinois Dick Durbin

---

---

Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Ron Johnson

Continues to point out the hypocrisy of the media, Big Tech for pushing their own agenda 

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) joined Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) to highlight the media’s long track record of bias and the need for more transparency from federal agencies about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and early treatment. 

Read excerpts of remarks at the press conference below. View video here.

“I want to point out that the evidence about a potential lab leak theory has been hiding in plain sight for months. The fact that our federal agencies, under the direction of Anthony Fauci, funded this type of research for years has been lying out there in plain sight for months. Shame on the media, shame on the social media for not paying attention to it, for completely ignoring it. The result of this 18-month gap in fully exploring the true origin of the Covid virus probably means we’ll never get to the bottom of it. China’s had 18 months to destroy this evidence, but have no doubt about it, China is guilty. They are culpable. They knew they had a coronavirus, they knew they had a deadly pandemic-type virus in Wuhan.

“They didn’t allow flights out of Wuhan to the rest of China, but they let that virus infect the entire world. So we already know China is guilty. We already know they have to be held to account. I think we also need to hold the news media and social media accountable as well. This isn’t the only area of suppression. I could list a long list of false narratives, false stories that the drive-by media promotes and then never really adequately retracts. But when it comes to Covid, I have personal experience with censorship and suppression that I believe has cost tens of thousands of Americans their lives.”

###

Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Ron Johnson

WASHINGTON –  Following ProPublica’s publication of a “vast trove” of taxpayer information provided to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that appears to be confidential information and protected under federal law from disclosure, Senator Johnson (R-Wis.), along with Senators Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), sent letters to the acting Treasury inspector general and the inspector general for tax administration to request a prompt investigation into how this IRS information was lost and to hold accountable any individuals who broke federal law in inappropriately sharing confidential tax information.

The full text of the letters can be found here and here, and excerpts are below.

“Taxpayers must have the utmost confidence in federal institutions that house their personal and confidential information,” the senators write in the letter to the Acting Treasury Inspector General. “Regrettably, American citizens have reason to be distrusting, having witnessed IRS personnel weaponize information in recent years for the purpose of targeting certain tax-exempt organizations for political reasons during the Obama administration.
 
“Regrettably, it appears personnel with access to American’s personal and confidential information are again misusing protected information for political reasons. Treasury and the IRS must hold accountable any and all individuals who broke federal law by inappropriately sharing the confidential tax information and tax returns of multiple Americans.”

###

Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Ron Johnson

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) appeared on Newsmax’s “Spicer and Co.” Wednesday evening to discuss how to counter the China threat without costly spending packages and how President Biden’s reversal of successful immigration policies led to a crisis on our southern border.

The full interview can be found here, and excerpts are below.

On effectively countering China: 

“I think one of many of President Trump’s accomplishments is he did convince everybody that China was a real malign threat, and so there is broad bipartisan recognition to that fact and support for countering China. My problem with this bill is that once again, the first thought in just about everybody’s mind here in Washington, D.C., in terms of how do you fix the problem is you throw money at it. I just don’t believe that spending close to a quarter of a trillion dollars of money that we don’t have, further mortgaging our children’s future, is going to solve this problem.”

“Our big advantage against China literally is our private sector. It allocates capital more efficiently than essentially a planned economy, and here we’re moving into a government industrial-type of policy. It’s just simply not going to work and it’s going to waste a quarter of a trillion dollars.” 

On Biden’s border crisis:  

“Since the first day of administration, if Trump was for it, they’re against it. If Trump was against it, they’re for it. I mean, it really seems almost that simple and unfortunately that destructive. When you take a look at what they’ve done for example, the border — completely dismantled a successful set of policies that stopped the flow of unaccompanied children and family units exploiting our asylum laws.”

###

Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chris Coons (D-DE), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) reintroduced the Small Business Credit Protection Act, legislation that would require credit bureaus to inform small businesses of a nonpublic personal data breach within 30 days. The bill would also prohibit credit bureaus from charging small businesses for a credit report within 180 days following a breach. In response to the 2017 Equifax data breach, Congress amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act to enhance some federal credit protections for “consumers.” However, business credit is excluded from the statutory definition of “consumers” and thus, while small businesses’ nonpublic information was subject to the breach, the changes did not apply to those using business credit. Rubio first introduced this legislation in November 2018. Congressman Gregory Steube (R-FL) will introduce companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.  
 
A one-pager of the bill is available here.
 
“The federal government must uphold the trust that Americans need to fully participate in our economy,” Rubio said. “My legislation, the Small Business Credit Protection Act, would ensure that small businesses receive protections in cases of a security breach. I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this bipartisan bill so that we can continue to protect America’s small businesses – the cornerstone of our economy.”
 
“Entrepreneurs need to build and maintain healthy credit as they grow their businesses,” Coons said. “That’s why it is so vital that government help protect the private credit information of small business owners, just as they do for consumers. I’m proud to introduce the bipartisan Small Business Credit Protection Act, which ensures if a small business’s private data is breached, business owners will be notified by credit bureaus just as swiftly as individuals are.”
 
“We’ve taken important steps to protect consumers, but small businesses’ credit data have also been compromised, and they deserve protection,” Kennedy said. “Consumers and mom-and-pop businesses are counting on us to safeguard their data privacy when new threats arise every day.”
 
“As small businesses in Florida and around the country begin to recover from last year’s challenges, we need to do our part to help them by holding credit bureaus accountable for their failures,” Steube said. “This legislation is an important step that direction through ensuring that our small businesses have access to the tools and information necessary to protect consumers from breaches.”
 
Following the Equifax breach, Rubio urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton to require companies to promptly disclose significant hacks of material impact that make Americans vulnerable to identity theft.

Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) spoke during a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Joint Subcommittee Hearing on the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang against Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist Party. 
 
Video of Rubio’s remarks can be found here and a full transcript of Senator Rubio’s remarks are below.
 
Rubio is the Ranking Members of the Subcommittee On Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues. 
 
Rubio: “Well, thank you. I want to thank you and all the members here for convening this important hearing. I also want to thank our witnesses. I want you to know that your research and your advocacy have done much to shine a bright light on these atrocities that are being committed in Xinjiang by the Chinese Communist Party.
 
“And Ms. Abbas, who I understand, joins us virtually, [she] was my guest at the State of the Union last February. Her sister is currently detained in a camp. She and Dr. Gulshan’s daughter, Zeba, have been forced to live without their family for no other reason than the fact that they are Uyghurs. 
 
“Dr. Richardson, you have testified in front of the CECC, which I had the honor to Chair for a number of years. You’ve done so in the past, testified about your work, as well as Dr. Zenz, which has been instrumental to me, my team, and to all of us in helping us craft policies. That includes the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which became law last year. And the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which we’re very hopeful will become law very soon. We’re hopeful the full committee will be able to hear it as soon as this month. 
 
“You know, in a few weeks, the Chinese Communist Party will mark 100 years since its founding. They’re going to likely gather in Beijing and cities across China to ‘celebrate’ this centennial. It should actually be a national day of mourning. That would be more appropriate. 
 
“The crimes by the Chinese Communist Party are too numerous to catalogue here. But the one we’re focused on here today is an effort by the Chinese Communist Party to completely eliminate Turkic Muslims, especially Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Since all of this has come to light, we’ve learned the appalling extent of these violations. There are more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim detained in camps and forced into labor. The network of detention facilities and factories has turned Xinjiang into a huge, massive labor camp. 
 
“Guards at these camps force Uyghur men to renounce their faith, to shave their beards, and to violate Muslim dietary restrictions. Uyghur women have been raped, experience other forms of heinous sexual violence, and have undergone forced sterilization, forced abortions. 
 
“Families are ripped apart, adults working in factories and children sent to state operated orphanages. At least that’s what they call them. The goal is to brainwash them, to strip them of their language, their culture, their traditions, their identity, and isolate them from their families and communities. The Chinese Communist Party is also working to suppress birth rates among Uyghur populations, with official data now showing birth rates already declining between 2017 and 2019. 
 
“Earlier this year, former Secretary of State Pompeo determined that crimes against humanity and genocide are being committed by the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a determination the Biden Administration has rightfully upheld. It’s important to call these crimes by their proper name, and I give credit to both administrations for doing so. 
 
“But we need to do something about these crimes even more than just call them for what they are. China’s efforts to silence Uyghurs and turn the world’s attention away from the ongoing atrocities also include coercing and intimidating those Uyghurs who live abroad. That includes American citizens, American residents, and American citizens are speaking out at great risk of having the Chinese Communist Party target themselves and their family members who remain in  Xinjiang. 
 
“And an earlier this year, CNN reported, a Uyghur man being taken from his pregnant wife in Dubai and extradited to China. If we don’t fight back against the extraterritorial reach of the CCP now. We will one day find that such practices will increase in frequency to the point that many places outside of China will be just as dangerous as the territories are directly controlled by the CCP.  
 
“I would note in closing, the one major difference between past and present crimes of the Communist Party of China is the motivation. It has evolved beyond simply power to both power and profit. Many Uyghurs and other Muslims are forced to manufacture goods such as textiles and electronics and food products. They’re also transported to other provinces, and they’re forced to work there.
 
“The Chinese government calls this ‘poverty alleviation’, that’s the term they’ve come up for it. But everybody else knows what it is. It’s slavery. While some companies are waking up to this reality, to the reality that they are unwittingly profiting from these crimes, many still have not for far too long. Companies like Nike and Apple and Amazon and Coca Cola were using forced labor.
 
“They were benefiting from forced labor or sourcing from suppliers that were suspected of using forced labor. These companies, sadly, were making all of us complicit in these crimes. That’s why it is critical that the Senate quickly pass our Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to ensure the goods being made by Uyghur forced labor do not enter our markets and make all Americans unwitting accomplices. The crimes against humanity and genocide that are taking place at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party demand an urgent international response. 
 
“I urge the Biden Administration to use all of its tools at its disposal to end these atrocities and ensure that the CCP does not benefit from these crimes. But it is incumbent  upon us here in Congress to act as well.
 
“And I’m hopeful that our legislation will be a major step in that direction. And I thank you for holding this hearing.”

Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Maggie Hassan

June 10, 2021

WASHINGTON – U.S Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) questioned top cybersecurity nominees that President Biden put forward during a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing today.

To watch Senator Hassan’s questioning, click here.

Senator Hassan first questioned Chris Inglis, nominee to be National Cyber Director, about information sharing between the private and public sector.

“It’s clear that we have to work together to strengthen public-private cybersecurity information sharing, especially in light of the recent SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange, and Colonial Pipeline attacks,” said Senator Hassan. “In your view, what are the biggest barriers inhibiting effective cybersecurity information sharing – in both directions – between the private and public sector?”

Mr. Inglis emphasized the need to share not just information, but also perspective and insights so that public and private entities can form stronger relationships and in turn, strengthen cybersecurity.

Senator Hassan also questioned Jen Easterly, Nominee to be Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), on prosecuting cybercriminals.

“The federal government only successfully prosecutes a small fraction of cybercriminals each year,” said Senator Hassan. “If confirmed, how would CISA work with law enforcement agencies such as the FBI to increase costs and deterrents for cybercriminals?”

Ms. Easterly responded that CISA supports agencies such as the FBI in their cyber investigations by ensuring that they have guidance to better prevent cyberattacks, including through the basics of cyber hygiene such as password protection and multi-factor authentication.

Senator Hassan also focused on the importance of upgrading legacy IT systems when she questioned Robin Carnahan, the nominee to lead the General Services Administration. Federal agencies continue to rely on many legacy IT systems, which are systems that are no longer supported by industry vendors, and this leads to additional maintenance or specialized knowledge to operate. Maintaining legacy IT systems are very costly and can delay crucial services and resources that Americans depend on.

Senator Hassan said, “The COVID-19 pandemic revealed just how many federal agencies are not equipped to offer digital services due to their use of expensive, outdated technology and paper-based data systems. For Granite Staters, this meant significant delays in delivery of stimulus checks and the inability to access emergency funding to support their small businesses.”

“I watched, just as all of us did, horrified that so much of the quick policy work and appropriation that was done by Congress wasn’t able to get to the people that needed it, because of outdated or not working technology systems, and likewise that cyber criminals were able to take advantage of that and steal money,” Ms. Carnahan said. “Bottom line, we can’t implement government policy if we can’t make the damn websites work.”

Ms. Carnahan also stated that the federal government can incrementally improve IT systems in a way that’s smart for taxpayers. Senator Hassan agreed, saying that we need to make sure that “people understand that their government can work for them. They need to be able to get the same level of service from their government that they get from the private sector digitally.”

Senator Hassan has led efforts in the Senate to upgrade legacy IT systems in order to modernize government technology. Recently, the Senator led a hearing to discuss the costs of the federal government running outdated and inefficient information technology systems, as well as the barriers to modernizing those systems. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Senator Hassan also raised concerns from Granite Staters who have experienced delays in receiving pandemic-related relief, including Economic Impact Payments.

###