Month: March 2023

Five Recommendations if Congress and GAO Are Serious about Addressing the Nation’s Unsustainable Fiscal Path

March 28, 2023 | Dan Lips

For more than a decade, the Government Accountability Office has been warning that the federal government is on an unsustainable fiscal path. In March of 2020, for example, days before the pandemic was declared, Comptroller General Gene Dodaro warned Congress that “interest on the debt is the fastest growing element of federal spending” and that

March 28, 2023 | Roslyn Layton

This piece was originally published in RealClearMarkets. The failure of tech-heavy Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the initial uncertainty over its causes led to public fear of contagion to other banks simply because of the raw numbers — $212 billion in assets, including the high-dollar deposits of some of the most prominent tech start-ups. But

March 28, 2023 | Lars Schönander

This piece was originally published in The Hill. Last week, Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) introduced the Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act of 2023, marking an important step in keeping U.S. farmland safe from malign foreign influence by reforming how the United states tracks foreign investment in agriculture. The law would reform

The Next Federal STEM Strategic Plan

March 28, 2023 | Robert Bellafiore

Last week, I spoke at a listening session on STEM research and innovation capacity convened by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Below are my remarks. Good afternoon, my name is Robert Bellafiore. I am Research Manager at Lincoln Network, an organization focused on promoting innovation and strengthening national security. I appreciate

March 24, 2023 | Dan Lips

The United States faces significant economic, national security, and educational challenges in 2023. The federal government remains on an unsustainable fiscal path. The United States faces rising international competition from great power rivals. And American students have suffered historic learning losses following prolonged public school closures that occurred during the pandemic. For more than half

March 23, 2023 | Dan Lips

Click here to download a full PDF of the testimony. Chairman Aderholt, Ranking Member DeLauro, and members of the Subcommittee: My name is Dan Lips. I am Head of Policy at Lincoln Network and a member of the Alliance for Learning Innovation coalition.[1] I am writing to respectfully urge that the Subcommittee prioritize research and

March 21, 2023 | Luke Hogg

This piece was originally published in CoinTelegraph. With public trust in large tech companies at an all-time low, Congress is once again considering comprehensive data privacy legislation. But the rise of blockchain technologies and the nascent decentralized web mean that these comprehensive proposals are already behind the times. Without major revisions, these legislative proposals risk strangling decentralizing

March 20, 2023 | Lars Schönander

Today, I submitted a public comment to the Economic Development Administration concerning its proposed rules for the Implementation of the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program. My name is Lars Erik Schönander. I am a Policy Technologist at Lincoln Network. I appreciate the opportunity to provide public comment to the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA)

March 17, 2023 | Zach Graves

Click here to download a full PDF of the testimony. Chairman Amodei, Ranking Member Espaillat, and members of the Subcommittee: My name is Zach Graves. I am the Executive Director of Lincoln Network, a market-oriented non-profit working at the intersection of technology, governance, and national security. A key part of our programmatic work has been

March 17, 2023 | Dan Lips

Click here to download a full PDF of the testimony. Chairman Amodei, Ranking Member Espaillat, and members of the Subcommittee: My name is Dan Lips. I am Head of Policy at Lincoln Network. I am writing to respectfully urge the Subcommittee to support the Comptroller General’s FY2024 budget request for the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

March 15, 2023 | Jonathon Hauenschild

This piece was originally published in the Washington Times. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently grilled Attorney General Merrick Garland over a wide range of issues, including the FBI’s targeting of traditional Catholics and the treatment of pro-life activists, while ignoring violence against crisis pregnancy centers. Likewise, the House Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government

March 14, 2023 | Jimmy Soni

This piece was originally published in The Dispatch. On an SAT answer bubble, a single vertical mark through a letter counts as a response. Why does that matter? Because drawing a short line requires two fewer seconds than shading a full bubble. Across dozens of questions, that’s precious minutes saved. I absorbed this piece of testing

March 8, 2023 | Luke Hogg

This piece was originally published in Tech Policy Press. From education to media to medicine, the rapid development of artificial intelligence tools has already begun to upend long-established conventions. Our democratic institutions will be no exception. It’s therefore crucial that we think about how to build AI systems in a way that democratically distributes the benefits.

Who Owns the Farm in the U.K.?

March 6, 2023 | Lars Schönander

As U.S.-China competition heats up, lawmakers are realizing the extent to which Chinese companies and investments threaten U.S. national security. But this isn’t just an American issue; British policymakers should be aware of similar risks to their own country. In particular, the U.K. has a chance to learn from the latest U.S. area of focus:

March 4, 2023 | Lars Schönander

Today, I submitted written testimony to the House Committee on Appropriations’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. I encouraged the subcommittee to protect U.S. postsecondary institutions from malign foreign influence by directing the Department of Education to enforce compliance with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act. Click here to download a

March 3, 2023 | Satya Thallam

This piece was originally published in The Hill. Early last year, an FDA advisory committee rejected a new lung cancer drug. The reason? They weren’t too keen on foreign clinical data. Later in the year, the developer of a potential variant-proof COVID-19 treatment that might even be effective against other viruses faced the same problem. The FDA rejected

March 1, 2023 | Luke Hogg

Today, Zach Graves, Executive Director of Lincoln Network, and figures from three other organizations, sent a letter to Speaker McCarthy and members of the House Republican Conference, recommending that they strengthen the legislative branch and its capacity for policymaking and oversight in the 118th Congress. The text of the letter reads: Dear Speaker McCarthy and members of