Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United States Senator for Alaska Lisa Murkowski

06.08.21

Ensures Federal Government Fulfills its Decades-old Promise to Provide Allotments to Alaska Natives who served in the Vietnam War

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, with U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan as a cosponsor, introduced legislation to amend the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment program, to make an additional 3.7 million acres of federal land in the National Wildlife Refuge System available for selection. The legislation was developed based on a recommendation from then-Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and will help to further rectify a longstanding injustice that has impacted Alaska Native veterans that served during the Vietnam War.

Click here for the bill text. 

“I worked hard to ensure that our Alaska Native Vietnam veterans were able again to select land through my Dingell Act. Unfortunately, due to opposition from some of our colleagues in the lower 48, much of the land that was made available was undesirable – it was far away from population centers, and difficult to access, often only by plane and boat. We recognized the selections would be tough, which is why we asked the Secretary of the Interior to study whether additional lands should be made available and to make a recommendation to Congress,” said Senator Murkowski. “We should not place such an expensive and unnecessary burden on them to access lands that they are owed. The lands opened by this new legislation will mean more options and selections could be made closer to where the veterans lived or traditionally hunted. These veterans deserve no less.”

“In 2017, after years of hard work and advocacy, primarily from Alaska’s Native veteran leaders, we were finally able to secure the opportunity for thousands of Alaska Native veterans to apply for the land allotments they had missed because of their service during the Vietnam War,” said Senator Sullivan. “Unfortunately, one frustrating injustice has remained—the inability of some veterans or their heirs to select lands from the region in which they live. My original bill made all federal lands available but, sadly, certain Democratic members would not allow it in the final Dingell Act. In spite of the setback, I promised Alaska Native veteran leaders that we would not give up that fight, which is why Senator Murkowski and I introduced this legislation to make additional lands available in the National Wildlife Refuge System. I hope my colleagues will join us in enabling more of those who served and sacrificed on our behalf to select the lands they deserve in their own region, another step in correcting this historic inequity.”

Dating back to the early 20th Century, various programs existed to grant Alaska Natives parcels of land, up to 160 acres in size. Over time, the program was closed and reopened. One brief reopening occurred during the Vietnam War, which meant that Alaska Native servicemen and women serving overseas and away from home missed out on the ability to apply for these land allotments. The program closed following the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) in 1971 and was officially reopened with Senator Murkowski’s comprehensive lands package, the Dingell Act, being signed into law in March 2019. The bill contained the provision sponsored by Senator Dan Sullivan and cosponsored by Senator Murkowski to establish the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment program, which required Interior to study whether additional Refuge lands should be made available.

The additional land opened up in this new legislation was identified by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as suitable for selection. Further, the Secretary of the Interior recommended that Congress open the lands to be included in the allotment program. This study and recommendation can be accessed here. 

Related Issues: Alaska Natives & Rural Alaska, Veterans

Source: United States Senator for Montana Steve Daines

Source: United States Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA)

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) today criticized the Biden Administration’s reckless spending of hardworking Iowa taxpayer dollars and panned President Biden’s budget proposal that would lead to higher taxes on American families as they try to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ernst called for more responsible spending from Washington—including working together on a bipartisan infrastructure package and to help get folks back to work.
 

Click here or on the image above to watch Senator Ernst’s remarks.
 
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Source: United States Senator for Idaho Mike Crapo

Source: United States Senator for Rhode Island Sheldon Whitehouse

06.08.21

Bipartisan request for documents related to justices’ travel will help lawmakers assess the strength of SCOTUS travel transparency requirements

Washington, DC – Today, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and John Kennedy (R-LA), Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, asked the Attorney General and the Director of the U.S. Marshals Service for records to help lawmakers assess transparency requirements for gifts, travel, and other emoluments received by Supreme Court justices. The Marshals Service provides security to justices during their travels outside Washington, and has records that could help the Courts Subcommittee consider how justices’ disclosures compare to those of senior officials in the other branches, as well as to those of the rest of the judicial branch.

Following passage of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, Congress and the executive branch implemented strong disclosure requirements for officials’ outside income, gifts, travel, and reimbursements. The judiciary, for its part, has adopted less stringent guidelines and has not made such information on judicial branch disclosures readily available to the public. But even those rules do not apply to the justices of the Supreme Court, meaning the nation’s highest judicial officers have the lowest standards of transparency of any senior officials in the federal government.

Full text of the senators’ letter is below. A PDF is available here.

The Honorable Merrick Garland
Attorney General
U.S Department of Justice
Office of the Attorney General
950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20530

The Honorable Donald W. Washington
Director
United States Marshals Service
1215 S. Clark St.
Arlington, VA 22202

Dear Attorney General Garland and Director Washington,

Congress is currently reevaluating financial disclosure standards for the receipt of gifts, travel, and other emoluments by senior government officials—including the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and other judicial officers—under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and Ethics Reform Act of 1989. These statutes require senior government officials to disclose outside income, gifts, and reimbursements on an annual basis.

The Executive Branch and both chambers of Congress have issued implementing regulations and/or rules that require disclosures beyond what the above-cited statutes require. For example, executive and legislative branch disclosure rules require disclosure of estimated dollar values of reimbursements; require descriptions of meetings and events attended in connection to the reimbursement; narrowly construe the Ethics in Government Act’s “personal hospitality” exemption (e.g., to require disclosure of hospitality provided by lobbyists); and require prompt online publication of, and easy public access to, financial disclosures.

The Judicial Branch’s comparable guidelines are significantly less stringent. Even those requirements, however, do not formally apply to the justices of the Supreme Court. As a result, the justices of our highest court are subject to the lowest standards of transparency of any senior officials across the federal government.

United States Marshals Service (USMS) Policy Directives provide that USMS “will assist the marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Supreme Court police to ensure the safety and security of justices who are traveling domestically outside the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.” In practice, we understand this means that Supreme Court justices may request USMS security details for domestic travel outside the D.C. metro area.

To help us assess how disclosures by members of the Court accord with the judicial branch’s disclosure standards, and to improve the consistency of disclosure standards across the three branches, we write to request information about Marshals Service travel accompanying members of the Court over the last ten years. We are sensitive to security concerns surrounding the publication of personally identifying information (PII), and will honor requests to redact appropriately any sensitive PII of the justices and their families.

For the period between January 1, 2011 and today, please provide:

1. All documents, including memoranda and correspondence, containing information relating to trips outside of Washington, D.C. on which members of USMS accompanied U.S. Supreme Court justices. Security provided to justices for travel to their homes, or to visit justices’ family members at their homes, should not be included;

2. The name of the justice who took each trip and the dates of each trip;

3. The locations (cities or airports) from and to which that justice traveled; and

4. The cost to the USMS for accompanying the justices on each of these trips.

We appreciate very much your cooperation in this inquiry.

Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Joe Manchin

Source: United States Senator for Maryland Ben Cardin

June 08, 2021

VBOC at UMD will Provide Services, Training and Support to Veteran Entrepreneurs in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman today announced Maryland’s first Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) established through a grant awarded to the University of Maryland, College Park, which will operate the new center. The VBOC at the University of Maryland will provide services, training and other support across Maryland, as well as in the District of Columbia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

Maryland is home to nearly 400,000 veterans and 15 military bases, including the U.S. Naval Academy, the Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Detrick. Senator Cardin has fought for more small business resources for veterans in Maryland and an expansion of SBA VBOC program. Most recently, he chaired a hearing to improve resources for service-disabled veteran federal contractors, as well as women and socially and economically disadvantaged contractors.

“Empowering more of our veterans with the tools they need to become successful small businesses will provide a boost to the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem across Maryland,” said Senator Cardin. “I thank SBA for this critical, timely investment that will increase Maryland’s capacity to service the region’s veterans and transitioning service members. Support for our service men and women must stay strong when they are uniform and when they transition to civilian life.”

“The military small business community – which includes entrepreneurs from active duty military, reserves, National Guard, veterans and military spouses – are a driving force in our nation’s economy. The SBA’s 22 Veterans Business Outreach Centers work hard to support these entrepreneurs, and give them the tools and support they need to live their American dream, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s important for our continued economic recovery and growth,” said Administrator Guzman. “The can-do spirit of our service men and women is the entrepreneurial spirit – the grit, determination and resilience it takes to start, grow and sustain a small business. At the SBA, we want our military entrepreneurs to know that we’re here to help them harness that spirit and use the skills and expertise they gained in the military to start, grow and sustain successful small businesses. We’re doing that work with this award to the University of Maryland. Our message to our nation’s military entrepreneurs is this:  You invested in our country. Now, it’s our turn to invest in you.”

“We are very proud to be part of this initiative and to leverage the University of Maryland’s entrepreneurship resources and networks to help our region’s veterans and their spouses pursue their dreams and grow their businesses,” shared Julie Lenzer, Chief Innovation Officer at the University of Maryland.

The SBA VBOC program is a national network of twenty-two locations around the country serving as a one-stop shop for transitioning or active duty service members, veterans, National Guard or reserves, and military spouses. VBOCs provide the Boots to Business transition assistance program as well as business training and workshops, mentoring, government contracts guidance, and resource referrals.

Source: United States Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, during a hearing of the U.S. Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC), U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) questioned Joseph Blount, President and CEO of Colonial Pipeline, on the recent ransomware attack the company experienced, and how the U.S. can improve critical infrastructure cyber vulnerabilities, including through Senator Rosen’s Cyber Sense Act, bipartisan legislation introduced last Congress that would improve our nation’s energy grid cybersecurity and resilience. A transcript of the Senator’s exchange can be found below, and a video of the Senator’s full exchange can be found here.

ROSEN: We know that a cyber-attack is what happened to [Colonial Pipeline]. Last Congress, I introduced the Cyber Sense Act, bipartisan legislation that would create a voluntary Cyber Sense program at the Department of Energy to test the cybersecurity of products and technologies intended for use in our bulk-power system. This bill also directs the Energy Secretary to consider incentives to encourage the use of analysis and testing results when designing products and technologies; although I think the incentive would be not to be hacked.

Mr. Blount, while the program my bill would establish is solely for electric utilities, do you think a similar program for pipelines would be helpful for gas companies like yours to collaborate and communicate and have some sense of what’s going on in the industry?

BLOUNT: Senator, thank you for that question. I think that’s a great program for electric utilities, and I think that would help our side of the business be more secure and less susceptible to any threats is a great idea.

BACKGROUND: Introduced Last Congress, the bipartisan Cyber Sense Act would:

• Create a voluntary Department of Energy ‘Cyber Sense’ program that would identify and promote cyber-secure products for use in the bulk-power system.
• Establish a testing process for the products along with a reporting process of cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
• Require the Secretary of Energy to keep a related database on the products, which will aid electric utilities that are evaluating products and their potential to cause harm to the electric grid.
• Direct the Secretary of Energy to consider incentives to encourage the use of analysis and results of testing under the program in the design of products and technologies for use in the bulk-power system. 

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