South Fairfax News

VA U.S. House District 11 issued the following announcement on Sept. 23.

Today, the House of Representatives passed the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act, which included amendments offered by Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Chairman of the House Government Operations Subcommittee. Connolly’s provisions included the FedRamp Authorization Act, Global Health Security Act, Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act, and an amendment to provide oversight of security cooperation training.

“I thank House Armed Services Committee Chairman Smith for including these provisions that will streamline government IT modernization, help our country respond to the coronavirus pandemic, hold the Saudi kingdom accountable for the murder of my constituent, Jamal Khashoggi, and provided needed oversight of security training resources,” said Connolly.

The following provisions were included in the legislation headed to the Senate.

• FedRamp Reauthorization: The bipartisan legislation offered by Chairman Connolly and Ranking Member Comer reforms the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) to help ensure that federal agencies' processes of moving safely to the cloud are streamlined and efficient. Similar legislation offered by Connolly was one of the first bills to pass the 117th Congress in January 2021.
• Global Health Security Act: The bipartisan legislation, offered by Reps. Connolly and Chabot, directs the President to create the Global Health Security Agenda Interagency Review Council to implement the Global Health Security Agenda and to appoint a U.S. Coordinator for Global Health Security to coordinate and report on the interagency process for responding to global health security emergencies. Similar legislation offered by Connolly and Chabot passed the House of Representatives on June 28, 2021.
• Protection of Saudi Dissidents Act: The legislation offered by Connolly and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Greg Meeks (D-NY) imposes temporary limits on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and requires various reports and actions related to the death of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This legislation previously passed the House of Representatives in April 2021.
• Security Cooperation Amendment - Requires a report related to human rights abusers, terrorists, and military coup participants who have received security cooperation training from the United States.

Additionally, Connolly was a lead cosponsor of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s amendment to prohibit funds from being used to provide weapons or military aid or military training to Saudi Arabia’s Rapid Intervention Force (RIF), the unit responsible for the murder of U.S. journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Since coming to Congress, Connolly has had nearly 50 amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act adopted in the House, including the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), which was enacted in law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2014.

Original source can be found here.