Publications – Lincoln Policy

Lincoln Announces New Fellowship on Emerging Technologies

September 22, 2021 | Zach Graves

FACET — Fellowship on Advancing Critical Emerging Technologies Lincoln Network is excited to announce a new resident fellowship program at the intersection of national security and emerging technologies. Fellows will spend a year working with our team in Washington, DC to translate academic ideas to actionable policies that advance American innovation. The program will focus

September 14, 2021 | Dan Lips

Congressional leaders remain focused on passing the $1 trillion infrastructure package and answering the Senate’s $3.5 trillion budget resolution. But a bipartisan effort is also underway that has the potential to save hundreds of billions of dollars over time by curbing waste, fraud, and abuse across government agencies. In July, the House of Representatives passed

September 14, 2021 | Dan Lips

Over the past year, Russia and the People’s Republic of China conducted successful cyber espionage campaigns against federal agencies, compromising some of the United States’ most sensitive information. The American public may wonder why federal networks remain vulnerable to serious data breaches despite the government spending billions on cybersecurity programs. But new reports from key

September 14, 2021 | Dan Lips

On Aug. 25, the Biden administration announced a new public-private initiative to improve the nation’s cybersecurity. The White House directed the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) to partner with industry and other stakeholders to develop a new framework to “improve the security and integrity of the technology supply chain.” The White House’s announcement

September 2, 2021 | Dan Lips

A review of nonpublic data estimating GAO’s financial accomplishments since 2002 In July, the House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2022 Legislative Branch funding bill—legislation that would provide $729 million for the Government Accountability Office, an increase of $68 million over the prior year’s funding level. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is Congress’s watchdog:

September 2, 2021 | Dan Lips

Lincoln Network’s Project Nickel will change that by showing per-student spending by school With students across the country heading back to school, it’s a good time to take a look at what the American public thinks about the state of K-12 education. A new survey released by Ed Choice and Braun Research finds that parents

September 1, 2021 | Zach Graves

We’re excited announce Lincoln Network’s second cohort of Policy Hackers–10 tech professionals from around the country passionate about helping bridge the gap between innovators and policymakers. Fellows will remain in their current roles while engaging with policy experts, lobbyists, academics, and government officials throughout the year-long program. The programming is aimed at helping fellows build

On Bitcoin and Border Security

August 26, 2021 | Dan Lips

How El Salvador’s plan to make crypto legal tender might change the “push”and “pull” factors The crisis at the U.S. southern border continues unabated with Customs and Border Protection reporting a more than three-fold increase in encounters at the border compared to last year. While 2020 was a down year for illegal border crossings (perhaps

August 3, 2021 | Dan Lips

The House of Representatives passed the Legislative Branch funding bill last week–increasing funding for Congress, the Capitol Police, and related agencies by nearly 14 percent over last year’s budget. For fiscal conservatives concerned about the ballooning federal debt, this is one area of the budget where we should be cheering for more funding than less.

The Case for a Longevity Moonshot

July 27, 2021 | Bonnie Kavoussi

As the government debates spending more money on community college and the child tax credit, there is one form of government spending that could significantly improve the lives of every single person on earth. It’s time for the U.S. government to devote significant resources to finding a cure for aging and extending the human lifespan.

July 26, 2021 | Joel Thayer

As telecommunications revenues decline, a tax to promote universal service – passed onto everyday consumers – continues to increase. The reason: That tax replenishes the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund’s annual budget of $5 billion to $8 billion. The fund is the commission’s primary tool to close the so-called “digital divide” by supporting four

July 22, 2021 | Zach Graves

Click here to view a PDF of the letter. Hon. Richard Shelby, Vice ChairU.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Hon. Mike Braun, Ranking MemberSubcommittee on the Legislative BranchU.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Re: Strengthening Article I with Policy and Oversight Capacity Dear Vice Chair Shelby and Ranking Member Braun, We the undersigned right-of-center organizations and individuals

July 21, 2021 | Zach Graves

Lincoln Network is excited to announce a major new multi-year grant to expand its policy and programming provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. As we begin 2021, conflict over the future of technology has reached a fevered pitch. Today, millions of Americans are coming to understand what Lincoln Network has said

July 14, 2021 | Dan Lips

Fiscal conservatives haven’t had much to cheer on Capitol Hill in recent years. Even before the pandemic, Republican and Democratic leaders alike embraced a long-term path of deficit spending. The federal government’s debt is projected to grow faster than the nation’s economy, and there appears to be little political will to address the government’s structural fiscal

The GAO at 100

July 14, 2021 | Dan Lips

The Government Accountability Office will celebrate its 100th anniversary on Wednesday; members of Congress are marking the occasion by boosting the watchdog agency’s budget and leveraging its nonpartisan oversight to deliver new taxpayer savings and improve governance. The House Appropriations Committee recently included $729 million for GAO in the new legislative branch spending bill, an increase of

Policy Update for April-June 2021

July 6, 2021 | Zach Graves

The following post was originally set as an email newsletter to our friends and supporters. Re: Lincoln Policy Team Activities for Q2 Dear friend of Lincoln: I’d like to share with you some of our team’s recent outputs, covering a range of issues from technology governance, to national security, to congressional modernization and the future of oversight.

June 28, 2021 | Dan Lips

State and local governments are facing growing cyber threats. From ransomware attacks to data breaches, local governments are on the frontlines of the global cyber conflict that remains a top national security threat, according to the Director of National Intelligence. Like all organizations, state and local governments have limited resources to manage cybersecurity risks. Nationally,

June 24, 2021 | Zach Graves

Today at noon the House Appropriations Committee’s Legislative Branch Subcommittee will mark up its funding bill for fiscal year 2022. This legislation constitutes a big leap towards addressing the devastating decline Members of Congress have inflicted upon the Legislative Branch over the past quarter century, including a nearly 40 percent staffing reduction at committees and

June 22, 2021 | Zach Graves

The House Judiciary Committee’s package of anti-tech monopoly legislation heads to markup tomorrow. Included in it are several proposals to strengthen the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ-ATR), the two primary US competition enforcement agencies. Out of this package, the two bills that are least controversial, and thus most

June 17, 2021 | Dan Lips

Click here to download a PDF of the letter Chairman Hassan, Ranking Member Paul, and Members of the Subcommittee, Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Dan Lips. I am the vice president for national security and government oversight at Lincoln Network, a non-profit organization focused on bridging gaps between the technology

June 16, 2021 | Zach Graves

Following the House Judiciary Committee’s year-long investigation into digital market competition in the 116th Congress, a group of House lawmakers are advancing a bipartisan package of bills aimed at reining in big tech firms—namely, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. What the bills do If enacted, this package would dramatically reshape the US innovation ecosystem,

Building state capacity at FTC and DOJ

June 16, 2021 | Zach Graves

Within the House’s package of anti-monopoly proposals, the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2021 is the odd one out. It has a longer legislative history, stronger bipartisan support, is relatively incremental, and is not explicitly targeted at big tech. Despite some nay-saying from the peanut gallery, as well as a more fraught political environment

June 14, 2021 | Dan Lips

President Biden’s ongoing trip to Europe, including meetings with the G-7 and NATO, has highlighted the many challenges facing the world’s leading democracies including the ongoing global democratic recession. The past year marked “the 15th consecutive year of decline in global freedom,” according to the non-profit Freedom House. Writing in the Washington Post before the

The Realignment Conference

June 14, 2021 | Marshall Kosloff

Join The Realignment podcast’s Marshall Kosloff and Saagar Enjeti for a live and in-person conference in Miami, Florida. Much like the podcast, this conference will explore the realignment reshaping America and the world — and what it means for politics, technology, foreign policy, and the ways we live and work. The conference will bring together

June 10, 2021 | Zach Graves

Click here to download a PDF version of the paper Zach Graves is a visiting fellow with the National Security Institute (NSI) at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. This NSI law and policy paper offers an overview of the recent history, driving forces, and policy implications of the “techlash”—a phenomenon referring to a

June 9, 2021 | Dan Lips

On Thursday, the subcommittees of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be holding a hearing to examine the People’s Republic of China’s atrocities in Xinjiang. Senators will hear testimony from leading human rights experts about the ongoing genocide occuring in the region. In March, the State Department issued its annual report on global human rights

June 2, 2021 | Dan Lips

Click here to download a PDF version of the paper Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has not established an effective strategy for winning hearts and minds or promoting democratic and liberal values abroad. During this period, the United States reduced its capacity for effectively conducting public diplomacy. While the United

June 1, 2021 | Dan Lips

On Tuesday, Lincoln Network and representatives of eight organizations sent a letter to Chairman Bob Menedez and Ranking Member Jim Risch of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee requesting a hearing on American tech firms supporting digital authoritarianism. The letter cited recent media reports about Apple’s business practices in the People’s Republic of China and the

May 26, 2021 | Dan Lips

There’s a chance for bipartisan legislation that would do so, but universities are resistant to potential restrictions on international students. The Senate is expected to pass the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 before breaking for the Memorial Day recess. The bipartisan package would authorize large funding increases for federal research and development. While the

May 26, 2021 | Lincoln Network

We believe the future should be better represented in Washington. That’s why we’re creating Policy Hackers, to develop a new cohort of innovation policy advocates. Applications are open from now until July 18, 2021. Policy Hackers is a year-long, non-resident fellowship program for tech professionals (Please Note: This Fellowship is not for people who already

Broadband Plan Needs a Lighter Touch

May 24, 2021 | Joel Thayer

Democratic legislatures and the Biden Administration are correct to focus on closing the so-called “digital divide”—a phenomenon that describes the disparity of those without broadband access. But propping up artificial competition, using European public-utility models, and having highly prescriptive technical mandates to achieve this goal have shown to widen the divide than close it. Last

May 17, 2021 | Zach Graves

Interoperability and open protocols can solve many of the problems of centralized cyber power without a heavy regulatory hand. Partisanship is at an all time high in Washington. But one issue policymakers on both sides seem to agree on is that something should be done to rein in the power of Big Tech. The American

May 17, 2021 | Zach Graves

Click here to download a PDF of the letter 30 organizations and 11 congressional experts sent a bipartisan letter to House appropriators today calling to restore funding levels for congressional personal office and committee staff, amounting to double-digit percentage increases. The bipartisan letter was organized by the progressive organization Demand Progress and the conservative organization Lincoln

May 13, 2021 | Dan Lips

Click here to download a PDF of the letter Chairman Ryan, Ranking Member Herrera Beutler, and Members of the Subcommittee: My name is Dan Lips. I am the Director of National Security and Government Oversight with the Lincoln Network. I respectfully urge the subcommittee to fully fund the Comptroller General’s FY2020 budget request of $744.3

May 11, 2021 | Dan Lips

What does the local public school in your community spend per-student? A new technology tool developed by Lincoln Studio in partnership with EdChoice can give you an answer. Project Nickel is a first-of-its-kind search engine of U.S. public school per-student spending data required to be reported to the U.S. Department of Education under a bipartisan

May 4, 2021 | Zach Graves

2021 year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). After World War I, Congress sought to control growing government expenditures and debt and created GAO to assess the legality and adequacy of government expenditures. Today, GAO provides critical support to Congress through its audits, legal opinions, and analyses that

Francis Fukuyama on Tech and Democracy

April 30, 2021 | Zach Graves

I recently joined American Purpose editor-in-chief Jeff Gedmin for a discussion with Francis Fukuyama on technology and democracy. Watch the full video below. Francis Fukuyama is chairman of the editorial board of American Purpose. He is Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), director of the Ford Dorsey Master’s in International

April 29, 2021 | Dan Lips

In 2021, the Government Accountability Office is marking its 100th anniversary serving as Congress’s nonpartisan watchdog. Former Comptroller General David Walker led GAO from 1998 to 2008–initiating a series of lasting reforms to strengthen GAO’s value and return-on-investment for Congress and American taxpayers. In a recent interview, I asked former Comptroller General Walker about his

April 26, 2021 | Zach Graves

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is hosting a hearing on mobile app store competition, featuring representatives from Apple and Google, as well as several app developers. The hearing is convened by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT), chair and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights. This hearing comes

April 15, 2021 | Zach Graves

This post was co-authored by Zach Graves and Dan Lips. The FY2022 appropriations process is underway. While it represents a small fraction of overall spending, one of the most important challenges on Congress’s agenda is meeting the funding needs for the Legislative Branch, and providing resources for key support agencies like the Government Accountability Office