Overnight Health Care: Drug price fight heats up | Skepticism over drug companies' pledges | Ads target HHS secretary over child separations | Senate confirms VA pick

View in Browser     Welcome to the soggy Monday edition of Overnight Health Care.  This is the last week the House is in session before the August recess, and they'll be voting on a few health care bills, including a repeal of the medical device tax. Over in the Senate, lawmakers voted to confirm Robert Wilkie as the new Veterans Affairs Secretary.  Also in today's newsletter: A liberal group that focuses on reproductive rights is launching an attack over family separations, and in the drug pricing world, experts, and a new poll, are questioning the effectiveness of Trump's newest policy moves.   Poll: Majority think Trump's drug plan won't lower prices they pay Despite the chatter in the health-care world around President Trump's drug pricing plan, the public is skeptical that their prices will be coming down anytime soon. A new poll from Politico and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health finds that 57 percent of adults think the plan will make "no difference" in the prices they pay for drugs, while 22 percent said they would pay less and 13 percent said they thought they would pay more. Not a huge amount of awareness: Just 27 percent of adults said they had heard or read about Trump's drug pricing plan, though, the poll finds. Still, key elements of the plan received favorable ratings in the poll, such as requiring TV ads for drugs to disclose their prices, which 63 percent of adults said they favor. The poll comes as the administration has been trying to step up its actions on drug pricing, frustrated by media coverage that questions how much is actually happening. As a refresher, here are some recent steps: The FDA is forming a working group to explore the idea of allowing importation of drugs to increase competition and address price spikes on old, off-patent drugs. (This could be one of the most consequential actions, but only affects a narrow segment of drugs, not new drugs). A notice was posted of a new regulation possibly banning rebates and simplifying the pricing system. Read about the poll here.   Also on drug pricing, experts question how much pledges from drug companies actually matter: Last week, we saw several pledges from drug companies to hold off on raising prices or in some cases lower them, but experts say the moves might not be much more than PR. Key quotes: Rachel Sachs, a drug pricing policy expert and associate professor of law at Washington University: "The president in May promised there would be massive, voluntary price decreases in a couple of weeks, and we haven't seen those... All we've seen so far is a couple of companies choosing to delay planned price increases, which is unlikely to have much of an impact on patients or on prices more generally." Ian Spatz, a former Merck lobbyist and current senior adviser at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, a health-care consulting firm in D.C: "It's clearly a time when there's a lot of scrutiny on drug companies and pricing decisions. It makes sense that each company is thinking about the potential public relations and political implications of price increases." Read more here.   Liberal group launches ads targeting HHS secretary over child separations: A reproductive rights group is launching an ad campaign targeting Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar for his role in enforcing the Trump administration's policy of family separations at the country's southern border. Equity Forward said it spent more than $1 million on a television ad in the Washington, D.C., metro area, encouraging people to call Congress and tell lawmakers to hold Azar and the administration accountable for the separation policy. What the ad says: The ad opens with audio of detained children crying, and juxtaposes it with an interview Azar gave to CNN earlier this month where he said: "It is one of the great acts of American generosity and charity, what we are doing for these unaccompanied kids who are smuggled into our country or come across illegally." A voiceover then says: "Generosity? No Secretary Azar, this is a disgrace." Why it's important: The fact that a reproductive rights group is getting involved in the migrant children crisis, especially in the middle of a Supreme Court fight, shows a major escalation in Democratic priorities of for the midterms. Democrats are trying to make Azar the face of the administration's confusing retreat from the divisive policy, and they're hoping the public will make the same connection. You can view the ad here and read more about the campaign here.   On the topic of family separations, ICYMI from Friday: A federal judge, who has criticized the Trump administration's tardiness in reuniting families separated at the border, offered praise during a status hearing after the administration said 450 children between the ages of 5 and 17 were reunited with their parents. "The reunifications are happening very rapidly, which is good. A big block will be reunified in a timely manner," U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said. "It really does appear there's been great progress." But even with the progress, the administration must still work to reunite 1,150 children with their parents just days before a court-mandated deadline. And as of Friday, there were 37 children whose parents were "unaccounted for" and could not be identified. The next status update is Tuesday. The deadline for reuniting the children is Thursday. Read about Friday's proceedings here.   Senate confirms VA pick: The Senate easily cleared President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday. Senators voted 86-9 on Robert Wilkie's nomination to be the VA secretary. The nine "no" votes make Wilkie the first VA secretary to have senators vote against their nomination since the post was elevated to a cabinet-level position in 1989. Who voted no? Democratic Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Kamala Harris (Calif.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) voted against the nomination. Flashback: Wilkie's confirmation gives the VA its first Senate-confirmed secretary since Trump fired David Shulkin in March amid months of controversy over allegations of misusing taypayer funds. Trump tapped White House physician Ronny Jackson to be his successor. But Jackson withdrew his nomination in April amid a firestorm of accusations of professional misconduct Jordain Carney has more on the vote here.   Tomorrow: Groups march on HHS to protest family planning changes: Democrats will be protesting tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. outside HHS against the Trump administration's proposed changes to the Title X family planning program, which they say will harmfully restrict the ability for doctors to give patients information about abortions. Speakers include: Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.).   What we're reading Yale law professor Abbe Gluck looks at Judge Kavanaugh's potential impact on health care (Vox.com) Pence's anti-abortion law could upend Roe v. Wade (Politico) Trump's Medicaid work rules hit states with costs and bureaucracy (Forbes)   State by state Funding for Obamacare navigators in Florida cut by 81 percent (WUSF) Is there renewed hope for Medicaid expansion in Missouri? (St. Louis Post Dispatch) Massachusetts passes repeal of 173-year-old abortion ban amid fears for future of Roe v. Wade (Time.com) N.J. Republican who tried to kill ObamaCare faces heat for claiming his plan wouldn't hurt patients (Nj.com)         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for Healthcare Newsletters     Forward Healthcare Newsletters       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2018 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

Overnight Energy — Presented by the American Forest & Paper Association — Carbon tax bill sparks showdown | Endangered species policies stripped from defense bill | Trump to propose blocking California clean car standards

Presented by the American Forest & Paper Association | View in Browser     SHOWDOWN OVER CARBON TAX: A moderate Republican lawmaker on Monday proposed instituting a carbon tax, breaking with the party's long-standing opposition to policies that would punish people and companies that emit gases that cause climate change. Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), who is running in an extremely vulnerable Florida district that Democrat Hillary Clinton won handily in 2016, wants to repeal the federal taxes on gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels and replace them with a $24 per metric ton tax on carbon dioxide emissions that increases each year. Who would be hit: The tax would apply to coal mines, fuel refineries, certain manufacturing facilities, natural gas processors and fossil fuel importers. It would increase the costs of fossil fuels and products and services that use them. Who would gain: The revenues would go to infrastructure, low-income households and climate mitigation projects, among other places. Curbelo, one of the most vocal current Republican lawmakers on climate change, pitched the proposal as an infrastructure investment program that would also fight global warming. The legislation "recognizes the cost of carbon dioxide emissions, while at the same time repealing the regressive, discriminatory gas tax, which overburdens Americans who drive traditional vehicles and fails to fully fund our nation's infrastructure needs," Curbelo said at a Washington, D.C., event hosted by Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. Read more here.     Conservative groups come out firmly against the bill: Conservative groups came out in fierce opposition Monday to Curbelo's bill that would impose a tax on carbon-emitting companies. Americans For Tax Reform President Grover Norquist called the bill a political loser. "Carbon doesn't pay taxes -- families pay taxes, people pay taxes, taxpayers pay taxes," Norquist said at the National Press Club. "This is just the most recent effort by the left to find a way to get into your pockets." Conservatives took turns denouncing the legislation, which would impose a tax on companies that emit gases that contribute to climate change. Opponents highlighted the hundreds of dollars in energy price hikes it could bring to U.S. households. They also characterized Curbelo as a Republican who is trying to appease Democrats. Curbelo is running for reelection in a congressional district that presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won handily in 2016. "There is no appreciation to be gained by the real Democrats by pretending to be a Democrat," Phil Kerpen, president of American Commitment, said of Curbelo. "There's a Republican consensus against this bill. It's a bad idea, and any Republican who is tempted to embrace it will see very little friends on both sides of the aisle." Read more here.   Happy Monday! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill's roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Timothy Cama, tcama@thehill.com, and Miranda Green, mgreen@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @Timothy_Cama, @mirandacgreen, @thehill.   ENDANGERED SPECIES POLICIES STRIPPED FROM DEFENSE BILL: Congress's annual defense bill won't include proposed policies to restrict Endangered Species Act protections for certain animals. Lawmakers negotiating between House and Senate defense authorization bills decided not to keep any of the endangered species provisions that the House had put in its version of the legislation. The House wanted to block potential endangered species protections for the greater sage grouse and the lesser prairie chicken for 10 years, and to permanently block protections for the American burying beetle. A House Armed Services Committee GOP aide told reporters Monday that none of the endangered species protections were included in the final National Defense Authorization Act that both chambers will vote on. "The provisions about endangered species are not in the conference report," the aide said. Republicans had argued that the provisions were necessary for military readiness, because species protections would make training and other activities more difficult. But Democrats, joined by conservationists, fought the endangered species provisions, saying they would be unnecessary and dangerous for the species at hand. Read more.   TRUMP TO PROPOSE BLOCKING CALIFORNIA'S EMISSIONS STANDARDS: The Trump administration is planning a proposal to block California regulators from enforcing their own emissions standards for vehicles sold in the state. Bloomberg News reported Monday that the proposal will be part of a regulation the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will jointly propose in the coming days to freeze or reduce federal greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency rules for cars. The proposal would set up a battle with California over whether the Clean Air Act allows its decades-long aggressive crackdown on car emissions. The fight is almost certain to go to court if the administration pursues it. The rules have become part of California's environmental identity, as well as part of its efforts to clean the air in Los Angeles and other heavily polluted areas. The Obama administration permitted California to set its own greenhouse gas emissions for cars in 2009, giving it a waiver under the Clean Air Act. Numerous other states now follow California's standards. But under Obama, the EPA and NHTSA decided to negotiate with California so that the country retains one nationwide standard, even though California had the authority to institute its own. Read more here.   ON TAP TUESDAY: The House Natural Resources committee Tuesday will hold an oversight hearing looking into alternative uses of coal. The House Energy and Commerce committee the same day will explore a discussion draft of a bill that would aim to authorize the Department of Energy to carry out a program to lease underutilized petroleum research facilities for other purposes. The House Science, Space and Technology committee will have a markup Tuesday of a bill that would direct all assessments on the toxicity of chemicals be carried out by the program offices of the Environmental Protection Agency. The House Oversight committee's subcommittee on the Interior, Energy, and Environment will hold a hearing Tuesday examining the rights to let animals graze on federal land.         SPONSORED CONTENT   American Forest & Paper Association AF&PA members make essential products for everyday life—printing-writing papers; paper-based packaging; pulp; tissue; wood products—more sustainably than ever. See our new report tomorrow! www.afandpa.org        OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY: Exxon Mobil said that an offshore oil block near Guyana likely has 25 percent more oil than originally estimated, Reuters reports. California is on course to approve $2.7 billion in new water infrastructure, including dams and underground storage, KQED reports. Virginia regulators cited the Mountain Valley Pipeline project for alleged environmental violations for the fifth time, the Roanoke Times reports.   IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Check out stories from Monday and the weekend ... -Trump officials questioned benefits of national monuments -Conservatives come out against carbon tax bill from GOP lawmaker -Trump to propose blocking California's clean car standards: report -Japan sees record-breaking temperatures in deadly heat wave -GOP lawmaker proposes carbon tax         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for Energy Newsletters     Forward Energy Newsletters       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

Hillicon Valley: Trump considers revoking Obama-era officials' security clearances | Record lobbying quarter for Facebook, Amazon | Why Hollywood wants Google hauled before Congress | New worries about supply chain cyber threats

View in Browser     Welcome to Hillicon Valley, The Hill's newsletter detailing all you need to know about the tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Welcome! Follow the cyber team, Olivia Beavers (@olivia_beavers) and Morgan Chalfant (@mchalfant16), and the tech team, Harper Neidig (@hneidig) and Ali Breland (@alibreland).   REVOKING SECURITY CLEARANCES? White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday said that President Trump is exploring whether to remove the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan and other top Obama-era intelligence officials. Sanders accused Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey and others of "politicizing" and "monetizing" their public service. "They've politicized and in some cases monetized their public service and security clearances," Sanders said during the daily press briefing. "Making baseless accusations of improper contact with Russia, or being influenced by Russia, against the president is extremely inappropriate and the fact that people with security clearances are making these baseless charges provides inappropriate legitimacy to accusations with zero evidence." Sanders's comments came after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggested on Twitter that Brennan should have his security clearance revoked. "Is John Brennan monetizing his security clearance? Is John Brennan making millions of dollars divulging secrets to the mainstream media with his attacks on @realDonaldTrump?" Paul wrote. He said he was meeting with Trump Monday to ask the president to remove Brennan's security clearance. Some key context: Brennan and other former officials have been publicly critical of the president's comments about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Sanders declined to provide a timeline for when the security clearances might be revoked and also pushed back at the suggestion that the president is targeting individuals who had spoken out against him. Read more here.   TODAY IN THE PRESIDENT'S TWEETS: President Trump launched a barrage of tweets on Monday morning, taking aim at a series of familiar targets ranging from the news media to Amazon to the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. In the string of tweets, Trump first targeted special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's election meddling, claiming that recently released documents related to a surveillance warrant on Carter Page, a former campaign adviser to Trump, proved that FBI officials acted improperly during the 2016 presidential race. He called Mueller's investigation "totally conflicted and discredited" and demanded the probe be brought to an end immediately. "So we now find out that it was indeed the unverified and Fake Dirty Dossier, that was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC, that was knowingly & falsely submitted to FISA and which was responsible for starting the totally conflicted and discredited Mueller Witch Hunt!" Trump tweeted. That was only the start of Trump's attacks.   MORE ON THAT CARTER PAGE WARRANT APPLICATION: The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Saturday released documents related to the surveillance warrants on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as part of the federal investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. The documents have been at the heart of a controversy over alleged bias at the FBI. The heavily redacted application materials -- 412 pages, including an initial application and several applications to renew the surveillance -- indicate that the FBI "believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government ... to undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in violation of U.S. criminal law." Conservatives have sought to cast doubt on the information used as the basis for acquiring the warrants on Page and are eager to review details of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants. Page himself has also reportedly called for the release of the FISA application that he calls "illegitimate." "I'm having trouble finding any small bit of this document that rises above complete ignorance and/or insanity," Page told The Hill on Saturday following the release of the documents. The DOJ in April said it was "processing for potential redaction and release certain FISA materials related to Carter Page," after the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking the release of such records. The Justice Department set the deadline for July 20, according to court documents. Judicial Watch, however, is not the only group vying for these highly sought-after documents. In February, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to release a memo claiming the DOJ abused the FISA warrant process in order to hurt President Trump's campaign, claiming Page's surveillance warrant was based essentially on the controversial "Steele dossier." The four-page memo, drafted by staff of Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), lays out a series of allegations that it says "raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court." Trump declassified the memo despite fierce and rare public objections from the FBI, which had warned that the document contained "material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy." "The FBI takes seriously its obligations to the FISA Court and its compliance with procedures overseen by career professionals in the Department of Justice and the FBI," the FBI said in its statement at the time. Read more here.   DON'T READ TOO MUCH INTO IT, COATS SAYS: Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said on Saturday that he did not mean to disrespect President Trump with his reaction during a recent interview to the news that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been invited to the White House. Coats, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday, was visibly surprised when NBC's Andrea Mitchell told him that Putin had been invited to Washington, D.C., for a second meeting this fall. "Some press coverage has mis-characterized my intentions in responding to breaking news presented to me during a live interview. My admittedly awkward response was in no way meant to be disrespectful or criticize the actions of the president," Coats said in a statement. "I and the entire intel[ligence] community are committed to providing the best possible intelligence to inform and support President Trump's ongoing efforts to prevent Russian meddling in our upcoming elections, to build strong relationships internationally in order to maintain peace, denuclearize dangerous regimes and protect our nation and our allies," he continued. Read more here.   CONCERNS ABOUT THREATS TO THE SUPPLY CHAIN: Security professionals see supply chain attacks as a potentially huge threat to their businesses, according to a global study newly released by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The survey, which drew on responses from 1,300 senior IT professionals across the globe, found that 79 percent of the respondents believe that software supply chain attacks "have the potential to become one of the biggest cyber threats to organizations like theirs within the next three years." Two-thirds of the organizations represented in the study experienced a software supply chain attack in the last year. And, roughly nine-in-10 organizations that experienced a software supply chain attack incurred some kind of financial cost or impact as a result. More than seven-in-10 of the respondents said they believe their organization doesn't always hold external suppliers to equal security standards as those they abide by. Majorities also said that their organizations can on occasion overlook software supply chain security when making decisions on IT spending, and that company leaders can also lack awareness of the risk of these types of attacks. Broadly, professionals are most worried about cyberattacks orchestrated by cyber criminals, with 45 percent reporting they are most concerned about these attackers. Less – 13 percent – are concerned about cyberattacks from nation-state hackers. You can read the full report here.   HOLLYWOOD WANTS GOOGLE HAULED BEFORE CONGRESS: A growing number of Hollywood professionals are urging Congress to bring Google executives in to testify in a move similar to when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was compelled to testify after his company's data scandal. Last month, the groups CreativeFuture and the Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA) sent letters to the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee urging them to bring the internet search giant to Capitol Hill. The original letters had 90 signatures on them, and the groups resent the letters Sunday after that number grew to 154. The industry believes that platform companies like Google and Facebook don't take enough responsibility over what happens on their services, enabling widespread illicit activity, including online piracy. Ruth Vitale, the CEO of CreativeFuture, says that Congress should step in to make the platforms legally liable for illegal content found on their sites. "Hundreds of millions of dollars are being lost to piracy because the platforms aren't being held responsible," Vitale told The Hill. Websites have broad legal immunity from content posted by third-party users, and some tech critics say that framework gives internet giants little incentive to make sure their sites are free of illicit trade and abusive content. Read more here.   BIG SPENDERS: Facebook and Amazon both set records for quarterly lobbying spending as they deal with new scrutiny from Congress and the administration over their business practices. Facebook spent $3.67 million and Amazon $3.47 million in the second quarter of 2018, according to lobbying disclosure records. The record sums come as Facebook deals with backlash over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The British research firm hired, which at one point was hired by the Trump campaign, improperly harvested information on 87 million Facebook users. Facebook is also dealing with heat from Congress over how Russia used its platform to influence the 2016 presidential race. Facebook's $3.67 million sum is $1 million higher than its second-quarter spending in 2017 and higher than its 2018 first-quarter tally of $3.3 million. Last quarter's total was the company's previous lobbying record. Read more here.   SINCLAIR'S FUMBLES: The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) rejection of Sinclair Broadcast Group's $3.9 billion merger with Tribune Media is a striking reversal of fortune for the conservative media conglomerate. The company was thought to have a reliable ally in the agency's chairman, Ajit Pai, and a clear path to getting merger approval. But the FCC voted 4-0 Wednesday to refer the deal to an administrative law judge, a process widely seen as a deal-killer. The deal's prospects were unraveled by Sinclair's plan to divest certain stations around the country to bring the combined company in line with media ownership restrictions. The agency cited questionable deals that involved Sinclair selling stations to friendly buyers for low prices while still retaining significant control over operations and programming Their order also scolded Sinclair, accusing it of misleading regulators and failing to disclose information about the nature of the deals. Read more here.   NYT REPORTER UNHAPPY WITH TWITTER: New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman says she is taking a break from Twitter, explaining in an op-ed in the newspaper that the platform "no longer works well" for her. Haberman, who is widely regarded as one of the most prolific reporters covering President Trump and his White House, has maintained a consistent presence on Twitter to share stories and insights. But in the op-ed, Haberman cited the "viciousness, toxic partisan anger, intellectual dishonesty, motive-questioning and sexism" that have emerged on Twitter as her motivation for stepping back from the platform. "Twitter is now an anger video game for many users," she writes. "It is the only platform on which people feel free to say things they'd never say to someone's face. For me, it had become an enormous and pointless drain on my time and mental energy."   UBER SUSPENDS DRIVER WHO RECORDED PASSENGERS: Uber said that it has suspended a driver after it was revealed he filmed hundreds of his passengers and livestreamed the videos to the internet. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday that 32-year-old Jason Gargac, who had driven for the service since March, had installed a camera on his dashboard and livestreamed video of his passengers without their knowledge to Twitch, an online streaming service. The videos revealed passengers' personal information and their private conversations. Anonymous viewers online often commented on riders' conversations and left sexual or offensive comments about female passengers.   A MUELLER UPDATE: MANAFORT TRIAL DELAYED: A federal judge on Monday agreed to delay the criminal trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort after his lawyers argued they needed more time to review a trove of documents recently provided by government prosecutors. Manafort's trial was initially expected to begin on Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., but the ruling from Judge T. S. Ellis will delay it for one week until July 31. The trial will be the first in special counsel Robert Mueller's sprawling investigation into Russian interference in the election. Manafort's lawyers argued that they needed extra time to review over 120,000 pages of new documents provided by federal prosecutors. Roughly a third of them, his defense lawyers said, were taken from devices belonging to former Trump campaign aide and longtime Manafort associate Richard Gates -- who was initially charged with Manafort but is now cooperating in Mueller's probe. "These 120,000 pages are really at the heart of the issue," Manafort attorney Kevin Downing said Monday, according to USA Today. In addition to granting the delay, Ellis also granted Mueller's request to grant immunity for five witnesses in Manafort's trial. Read more.   A LIGHTER TWITTER CLICK: Mic drop at this pants drop...   AN OP-ED TO CHEW ON: Is America ready for Russian cyberattack on our election? (The Hill)   ON TAP: The House Oversight Committee is holding a hearing on election cybersecurity at 10 a.m. The House Homeland Security Committee is marking up a number of bills, including a measure being offered by Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) that would codify into law the Department of Homeland Security's Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program, at 10 a.m. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) will discuss surveillance and civil liberties issues at a forum hosted by the Fund for American Studies at 9:30 a.m. Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), co-chair of the blockchain caucus will hold a blockchain session at 10:00 a.m. RSVP here. CompTia will introduce its blockchain for the public sector guide at the event. The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy is holding a hearing on "the China challenge" focused on economic coercion at 2:30 p.m.     NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB: Rand Paul to ask Trump to eliminate Brennan's security clearance. (The Hill) The new head of the NSA and Cyber Command announced a new task force to counter Russian cyber threats. (Bloomberg) Russian operatives sent a lot of tweets ahead of a key moment in October 2016. (The Washington Post) The Department of Homeland Security awarded $200K to a Canadian startup to secure IoT devices. An expert digs into how much data is sitting on Venmo. (The Guardian) A new approach to covering tech journalism. (Columbia Journalism Review) Alt-right gets hit with their own Twitter medicine. (Daily Beast) Former Trump advisor tapped for top UK intelligence job. (CNN) How private firms are carefully balancing attributing government hacking and allegiances. (Cyberscoop)         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for Technology Newsletters     Forward Technology Newsletters       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2018 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.