July 26

This week in MORE POWER:

Defying Deepfakes
Netanyahu Happened
Covering Costs
Down with Boondoggles
Budget Bills Saga Continues

Defying Deepfakes

The Senate passed the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (DEFIANCE) Act. This bill addresses the problem of digital forgeries, commonly known as "deepfakes," which are realistic-looking fake images or videos created with technology. These forgeries can misrepresent people, often depicting them in sexual situations without their consent. The bill would provide legal protections for victims, allowing them to seek compensation and take legal action against those responsible for creating and sharing the images or videos.

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Netanyahu Happened

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his congressional address Wednesday and met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris Thursday. In his address to Congress, Netanyahu compared the Hamas attack that Israel suffered on Oct. 7, 2023 to Japan’s 1941 attack on the U.S.’s naval base in Pearl Harbor, as well as the terrorist attack in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. Additionally, Netanyahu criticized the thousands of protestors who condemn Israel’s military operation in Palestine, calling them “Iran’s useful idiots.”

The Associated Press reported that around 60 Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s address. Some instead attended an event with Israeli families who were affected by the Hamas attack. Others hosted an online conference to discuss how to stop U.S. weapons from reaching Israel.

Covering Costs

The House passed the Victims’ Voices Outside and Inside the Courtroom Effectiveness (VOICES) Act, which is now headed to President Biden’s desk to either be signed into law or vetoed. The Victims' VOICES Act is a bipartisan bill that will, if made law, allow people helping a victim of a crime receive money to pay for necessary and reasonable expenses related to participating in the investigation or prosecution of the crime. These expenses may include any lost income, child care costs, and transportation costs that come up.

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Down with Boondoggles

This week, the House voted to pass the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act. Having already passed the Senate, this bill is currently on its way to President Biden’s desk. This bill aims to address boondoggles, which is a real word that means useless, extravagant projects.

This bipartisan bill would tackle boondoggles by making any federal agency with a federally-funded project that is either five years behind schedule or $1 billion or more over budget report to Congress every year. So far, the federal agency may have to publicly explain its offending project, identify the contractors involved, offer an expected date that the project will be finished and go into some of the project’s financial details. However, the bill authorizes the Office of Management and Budget to make final decisions as to what the federal agencies need to include in their annual report to Congress.

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Budget Bills Saga Continues

The House was schedule to vote on three budget bills – the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, often referred to as “the farm bill;” the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; and the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. Congress passes a version of these bills every year to keep the government and federal agencies funded.

However, House Republican leadership decided to delay the vote on the farm bill. They canceled the vote on the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act entirely. So far this week, the House only passed the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act – one out of this trio of budget bills.

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