On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on lawful access to data stored abroad. This is a timely hearing about an issue that will have significant impact on the future of cloud technology and jobs in the United States – and it’s time for Congress to take the lead. Data drives the U.S. economy – the software that generates and powers that data contributes $1 trillion to the U.S. GDP and supports almost 10 million U.S. jobs (and counting). But data isn’t confined within U.S....
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Dear Friend, As many of you may know, before becoming a Member of Congress, I had a long career in the technology sector and as an entrepreneur. I’ve seen firsthand how quickly technologies can develop and become critical components to our everyday lives. Today, more and more people are constantly connected to the online world, between our mobile phones and smart watches, cars and home appliances. With an estimated 20 billion connected devices expected to be used by 2020, there is growing demand...
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Today, U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) introduced legislation to test and evaluate innovative portable benefit designs for the growing independent workforce. As many as one-third of the U.S. workforce is currently engaged in temporary, contract or on-demand work, and the Warner-DelBene proposal seeks innovative ways to provide these workers with access to many of the social insurance protections typically provided to workers through traditional full-time emplo...
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U.S. Representatives Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Bill Flores (R-Texas), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) have formed and will serve as co-chairs of Congressional Caucus on Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality Technologies for the 115th Congress. The co-chairs released the following joint statement regarding formation of the caucus: “We are proud to announce the launch of the Congressional Caucus on Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality Technologies. As these t...
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Reps. Suzan DelBene (WA-01) and Erik Paulsen (MN-03) today launched the congressional Digital Trade Caucus to promote a U.S. trade policy that works in the digital economy. “Trade has gone digital and protectionist policies don’t work in an internet-age,” DelBene said. “We need continued American leadership in the digital economy and for that to happen our laws need to be up to date with the way the world works. I look forward to working with Congressman Paulsen on the forward-looking policies ...
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If you’re not happy with the high-occupancy toll lanes on I-405 that allow drivers who can afford it pay a fee to escape slower traffic, imagine the same two tiers for users on the information super highway. Since 2015, the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet rules have prevented broadband service providers from creating those toll lanes and otherwise restricting access to a fast, fair and open internet. That policy, also referred to as net neutrality, says broadband providers can’...
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Science itself may be nonpartisan, but the March for Science this weekend simply couldn’t be. Demonstrators, many tech workers among them, turned out in an estimated 600 cities around the world to rally for science and its role in policy-making. The march was organized after the Trump administration proposed and began to implement steep budget cuts to federal science agencies in the U.S., notably the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health. A mix of politicians, sci...
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MOUNT VERNON – Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today visited the Boys & Girls Club of Skagit County to donate computers and highlight the devastating effects of President Trump’s proposed budget cuts on our community — including this important afterschool program. “It’s shameful the President is proposing the elimination of funding for vital afterschool programs like the Boys & Girls Club. These investments provide an essential safety-net for middle-class families, improve academic achieveme...
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This week, I spent a few days in the “other Washington” where I had the opportunity to meet with the members of our federal legislative delegation and their staffs. I shared with them the invaluable, vital work that our University of Washington community does to expand the frontiers of scientific research, improve healthcare, develop creativity through the arts and provide quality and affordable education to our students. I also detailed the truly devastating effects some of the cuts in the Pres...
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It’s arguable that few agencies better exemplified the Obama administration’s approach to technology, innovation and their combination in government than the U.S. Digital Service. Formed as a continuation of the private sector tech experts who helped salvage Healthcare.gov, the USDS has since grown and expanded to become the go-to team for managing difficult digital projects across agencies, and now includes branches within the Defense Department. But will it survive in the Trump administration?...
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