“Sad that an amendment like this is needed,” said Congressman Bill Posey. “One would think common sense and respect for the security of those serving your country would be enough motivation to use secure communications for sensitive information.”

WASHINGTON, DC – The House of Representatives today approved an amendment offered by Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) to prohibit federal government employees from conducting official government business using an unsecure private email server.

Posey’s proposal was offered as an amendment to H.R. 4361, the Federal Information Systems Safeguards Act.

“This amendment will codify into law a practice of security, accountability, and good government, which is already a policy at many federal agencies,” said Posey.

“It only takes one misstep in the handling of sensitive information to threaten the security of our entire information technology infrastructure. It’s critical that official government business stay on secure government servers.”

Specifically, Posey’s amendment will require federal employees to conduct official business on email servers and other information technology that have been certified compliant with security protocols.

This requirement will significantly improve the overall security of government IT networks.

Requiring federal employees to use official servers also strengthens government accountability and transparency as records can be more easily obtained in the event of Congressional oversight activities, legal challenges, and public FOIA requests.

The amendment addresses the national security risks and vulnerabilities that have come to light due to former Secretary Clinton’s use of an unsecure private email server in her capacity as Secretary of State. Posey said his amendment will help prevent future mishandling of sensitive intelligence by government employees.

BREVARD COUNTY • VIERA, FLORIDA – Three Brevard County residents who were members of the U.S. Army’s historic 65th Infantry Regiment known as “the Borinqueneers” will be recognized for their military service in a ceremony on Thursday, July 28 in the Brevard County Commission Chambers in Viera.

Congressman Bill Posey will present Juan Romero-Silva of Palm Bay, William Vila-Velez of Palm Bay and Chaplain James B. Allan of Indialantic with replicas of the Congressional Gold Medal.

“It’s a great privilege to recognize Juan Romero-Silva, William Vila-Velez, and Chaplain James B. Allan for their service to our nation,” said Congressman Posey.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to all our men and women in uniform and their families for their service and great personal sacrifices they make in defense of our liberty.”

The 65th Infantry Regiment was created by Congress in 1898 as an all-Puerto Rican segregated unit and was called upon to serve our nation in World War I, World War II and the Korean War, where they fought some of the fiercest battles to date and became known as the Borinqueneers.

On June 10, 2014 bipartisan legislation introduced by Congressman Posey was signed into law to authorize a Congressional Gold Medal to recognize the service of these historic American fighters.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian award that Congress can bestow.

Last April, the official Borinqueneers Gold Medal was unveiled to the public in a ceremony in Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol.

Brevard residents Juan Romero-Silva, William Vila-Velez, and Chaplain James B. Allan were among several Borinqueneers from around the nation who were unable to attend.

Replica gold medal awards are provided by the Borinqueneers Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony National Committee.

Technological innovations are rapidly enabling humanity to explore the celestial frontier, and space companies are looking at commercial ventures ranging from space tourism to mineral mining. The only thing that stands to hinder progress, observers say, is government regulation.

“Right now, American companies that want to be involved in space have to jump through hoops for three federal agencies and their armies of lawyers and bureaucrats,” Florida Republican Rep. Bill Posey told the Washington Examiner. Those agencies include the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Defense and NASA.

The issue hits close to home for Posey, whose coastal district includes Cape Kennedy (formerly known as Cape Canaveral), home to the Kennedy Space Center and a NASA launch site. Posey also worked as an inspector for McDonnell Douglas on the 1969 Apollo Moon program, and before that, his father, Walt, worked for the company on the Delta rocket.

Posey pointed out that a number of companies are interested in pursuing commercial ventures in space. Companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic are among those planning to take tourists in coming years, while others, like Blue Origin and Planetary Resources, are seeking to mine celestial bodies for rare minerals.

After years of trying to pass legislation that would enable those companies to work independently of the Pentagon or other federal agencies, Posey succeeded in November, when the president signed the Commercial Space Launch Competitive Act into law. The legislation carried with bipartisan support, including both members of Florida’s split Senate delegation, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

“What we’ve worked on is trying to streamline the process,” Posey said. “It’s important we encourage the growth of commercial space, and that’s what the bill does.”

He added that it freed companies from the prospect of the federal government laying claim to resources that private actors bring back to Earth, or impose a burdensome tax scheme.

“It’s a stepping stone for companies that would like to mine these asteroids. There’s been the fear that when they bring their product back to Earth, the government would want to claim a tax or tariff or some portion of it. This bill basically says, what you bring back from space is yours,” Posey stated.

While some of the work being conducted to bring tangible value back from space may seem abstract to the public, experts point out that the issue is more pressing. Russia and China are innovating rapidly, while Japan and India have plans for a lunar base within the next two decades.

Posey said another competitor is the European Space Agency, an organization supported by 22 European governments. “I went to French Guiana to inspect the European Space Center, and expected it to be a little bit primitive, circa 1960s Cape Canaveral. But it’s not. They’re very far advanced and customer-friendly.”

That’s why we’ve lost so much ground to them. In the 1980s, we had 100 percent of the commercial satellite market. Through regulations and red tape, we’ve parlayed that to about 5 percent,” he added.

Losing a competitive advantage in space would have ramifications beyond economic cost, Posey said. “When I talk to groups, I ask how many think they benefit from space once a year. The average response of the group is 8 percent … Then I say, apparently none of you use cell phones. You don’t have weather reports. You don’t use banking services or credit cards, which are all through satellites.

“The public is just unaware how much they interact with space every day. We have, probably, 30 something really critical satellites that allow this communication to take place. You take a few out of space, and you could really stop that,” Posey said.

“We don’t know know what the consequences would be, except for trillions of dollars. When I talk about space being important to national security and the technological advancement of our society, it’s ultimately important to the survival of our species.”

Florida Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., is trying to get congressional Republicans to step up their call for a special counsel to be appointed in the investigation of Hillary Clinton.

Posey circulated a letter Wednesday asking his colleagues to join him in demanding Attorney General Loretta Lynch make the appointment. Posey said that President Obama’s endorsement last week of Clinton’s presidential campaign meant the administration could no longer be trusted to be impartial.

“When Hillary Clinton became the presumptive nominee of a major party, it marked the first time in our nation’s history that any candidate would seek our nation’s highest office while under investigation by the FBI and DOJ,” Posey wrote.

“The former secretary’s deep ties to this administration, the administration’s vested interest in a victory for a favored successor, and the [inspector general’s] confirmation of some degree of misconduct, have created the extraordinary circumstances necessary to merit the appointment of a special counsel,” he added. “Our letter presents attorney Attorney General Lynch with the compelling case to appoint an independent third-party to lead the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of an unsecure, private email server and the ensuing mishandling of classified information.”

The letter was circulated at an afternoon session of the Republican Study Committee, a group of 172 center-right members in the House. It was not immediately clear how many members were prepared to support the movement, though Posey is not the first to propose the idea. The Senate’s second-ranking Republican, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, has been particularly vocal in calling for the appointment to be made.

Republicans have questioned the ability of the Justice Department to deal with Clinton impartially more than once. Campaign finance records revealed in May that Justice Department employees had contributed nearly $75,000 to the candidate’s presidential campaign, which critics said was more evidence of the need for a special investigator.

In the absence of an independent counsel, the Justice Department will decide whether to indict Clinton for flouting federal record laws after investigators make a recommendation. However, FBI Director James Comey has said that event could still be months away.

Update:
Congressman Bill Posey has continued to fight for us to protect the Treasure Coast. Recently, he has helped bring to light the scandals and misrepresentations of the Louis Berger Group, the agency appointed to conduct the ridership and revenue study for All Aboard Florida.

Show him your support TODAY by sending him and our elected officials an email with your support!

Click the link to send a letter:

https://www.citizensagainstthetrain.com/content/thank-you-congressman-posey

Dear Secretary Foxx, (Anthony Foxx is the U.S Secretary of Transportation)

I have been contacted by a constituent who has brought to my attention news reports of illegal and unethical behavior by the Louis Berger Group, Inc., and some of its affiliated entities, while working as a contractor to various U.S. governmennt agencies. My understanding is that the Louis Berger Group is a current contractor with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

According to a statement released last year by the World Bank, the Louis Berger Group was debarred by the Bank for “engaging in corrupt practices under two Bank-financed projects in Vietnam.” The Bank also imposed a one-year conditional non-debarment on Berger Group Holdings, Inc., the Louis Berger Group’s corporate parent.

Furthermore, news reports indicate that the Asian Development Bank debarred the Louis Berger Group in 2006 for misconduct that included forging signatures on documentation, falsifying documentation, and replacing proposed consultants with less qualified candidates without prior notification.

I was also surprised to read that just two years ago, the now former CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Louis Berger Group, Derish Wolff, plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. Agency for International Development in a scheme that involved overbilling the U.S. government. In fact, in 2010 the company paid nearly $70 million in criminal and civil penalties for violating the False Claims Act.

As disturbing as this news is, just last month the United States Court of Federal Claims found that Louis Berger Aircraft Services, a Louis Berger Group entity, “is part of a family of corporations that has intentionally hidden its history of public corruption scandals through misrepresentations, false certifications, and a scheme to avoid reporting requirements.” Is your office aware of the Louis Berger Group’s history of public corruption?

It is my understanding that the same Louis Berger Group performed a ridership and revenue study for All Aboard Florida (AAF) which was used by the DOT to determine eligibility for $1.75 billion private activity bond allocation, and may be used as a basis for approving a future $1.65 billion RRIF loan. You may be aware that an independent analysis conducted by Dr. John Friedman, a Brown University Professor and former Economic Advisor to President Obama, concluded that even under all optimistic assumptions, AAF will generate annual losses of more than $100 million and will be unable to service its debt burden.

Will the Department of Transportation rely on the ridership and revenue study conducted by the Louis Berger Group to sustain the $1.75 billion private activity bond allocation or use the study as a basis to approve a renewed $1.65 billion RRIF loan application for All Aboard Florida, or to approve any other federal transportation grants!

Given its history of defrauding the U.S. government, do yon feel that the Louis Berger Group can be a responsible and reliable contracting partner with the Department of Transportation?

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your response.

Bill Posey

Member of Congress

Download letter:

LettertoDOT-LouisBergerGroup-May102016

The Indian River Lagoon could receive some much-needed help as President Obama signed legislation Friday to reauthorize the National Estuary Program.

The legislation, whose chief sponsors included U.S. Reps. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, and Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, earmarks $26.5 million to help the nation’s 28 estuaries, with extra money for those like the lagoon facing urgent ecological challenges such as algae blooms, sea grass loss and fish die-offs.

As of this year, the program is run locally by the Indian River Lagoon Council, a consortium of state and federal agencies and county and municipal governments along the 156-mile lagoon.

The legislation only reauthorizes the program; Congress still has to approve the money for it.

Thumbs up to Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, for writing and passing bipartisan legislation that could deliver more federal grant money to distressed estuaries including the Indian River Lagoon. Now awaiting President Obama’s signature is a bill to reauthorize the National Estuary Program in a way that would make millions of dollars more available to cleanup and restoration programs in the form of competitive grants. Estuaries that are in crisis – yet are supported by the best cleanup plans – would rise to the top of that list. This is responsive work by the congressman for Brevard and Indian River counties. And the policy is more fiscally responsible long-term than simply delivering earmarks to the lagoon.

WASHINGTON – Environmental projects in Florida got a significant boost from the Senate this week, with votes approving more than $100 million for Everglades restoration along with additional recovery money for the Indian River Lagoon and other distressed estuaries.

Lawmakers voted 90-8 on Thursday to pass $37.5 billion Energy and Water Appropriations bill that includes roughly $6 billion for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A similar bill is expected to reach the House floor in the coming weeks.

Congress can’t explicitly tell the agency where to spend the money. It would be up to the Corps to allocate the money to individual projects after Congress approves the spending.

But the agency lists Everglades projects among its top priorities for fiscal 2017, which begins Oct. 1.

The $37.5 billion spending bill includes $106 million for the South Florida Ecosystem, the multi-year program to restore the Everglades, partly by redirecting water flow fromLake Okeechobee south instead of east and west. Of that amount, $75 million would be allocated for projects under the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, including $59.5 million to continue work on the Indian River Lagoon.

The bulk of that – $53.3 million – would be used to continue building the C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area in western Martin County. The reservoir is designed to store and treat nutrient-laden water drawn from farmland so it doesn’t pollute the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.

There’s also $500,000 for construction oversight of the C-43 canal, which is designed to reduce water flows from the lake that carry farm-related nutrients into the Caloosahatchee River and befoul beaches in Southwest Florida.

The Corps of Engineers also plans to spend nearly $5 million continuing work restoring natural water flow across the Picayune Strand, an 85-square mile swath in westernCollier County that was drained in the early 1960s in anticipation of extensive residential development.

The agency also says it wants to spend about $50 million to fix the decades-old Herbert Hoover Dike, a 143-mile earthen dam surrounding Lake Okeechobee that’s designed to reduce flooding from high lake levels but is increasingly prone to seepage.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said the bill is good news for Florida.

“It provides needed funding for several key Florida projects, such as critical Everglades restoration, the Herbert Hoover Dike and the operation and maintenance of our harbors and waterways,” he said in a statement. “This is the first time in several years the Senate has advanced a stand-alone Energy and Water Appropriations bill, and as these projects are incredibly important to the state of Florida.”

The Indian River Lagoon also could receive some much-needed relief from a bill the Senate also passed Thursday night. The measure, whose chief sponsors included Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, and Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, now heads toPresident Obama for his signature.

The bill would authorize $26.5 million to help the nation’s 28 estuaries, and would provide extra funding to those in the worst shape. That would probably apply to Indian River Lagoon, a $3.7 billion annual economic engine that’s beset by algae blooms and suffered its worst fish kill two months ago.

Scientists say low levels of dissolved oxygen suffocated thousands of fish. More than 30 species died in the kill-off. The same scientists believe the recent “brown tide” of algae blooming in the lagoon is responsible for the low oxygen levels.

“This common-sense plan will help provide critical funding for our nation’s estuaries, and make available additional funding to estuaries that are experiencing urgent and challenging ecological problems, including our own Indian River Lagoon,” Posey said.

The bill only reauthorizes the program. Congress still has to approve the money for it.

BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA BEACH, FLORIDA – Congressman Bill Posey will help launch the Fifth Annual Cocoa Beach “Foot Prints in the Sand” Kidney Walk as a tribute to organ donation at the Cocoa Beach Pier in Cocoa Beach, Florida on Saturday, May 7.

The day’s activities will begin at 8 a.m. with a “Circle of Life” paddle-out in honor of Jessica Harder of Cocoa Beach who suffered from chronic kidney disease and sadly passed away last year.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to take a free on-site A1C test to determine one’s blood sugar and the onset of diabetes.

A warm-up Zumba class on the beach will also take place, followed by the 5K “Footprints in the Sand” non-competitive kidney walk at 10 a.m. and the “Sand Castles of Hope” contest at 11 a.m.

“The event is more than just people helping people. It is about people healing people. While funding for kidney disease research, treatments, and medication certainly help, what patients really need are donors,” said Bill Hahn, Walk Co-Founder and Chair.

“It’s an honor to once again take part in this year’s Cocoa Beach Kidney Walk and remember Jessica Harder who dedicated life to raising awareness about kidney disease and advocating for patients,” said Congressman Posey, a member of the Congressional Kidney Caucus.

“Kidney disease is common and treatable, but early detection is the key. It effects so many – nearly 1 in 3 adults are at risk of developing kidney disease and nearly 26 million Americans have it – many don’t even know it.”

VERO BEACH — Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, heard Monday what scientists, conservationists and civic leaders think will save the Indian River Lagoon.

They pointed to sustained federal funding for lagoon restoration, more muck dredging and more sewer hookups.

“We all know that there is no instant gratification here, there’s no happy pill for this,” Posey said.

He asked for an agreed-upon priority list of pollution sources, remedies and cost-benefit analysis of those solutions.

“I think you guys are the superstars involved in solving this,” Posey said.

Posey met with about 15 local leaders Monday at the Indian River County administrative building, including Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, and officials from Florida Institute of Technology, Brevard Zoo and the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program.

Laurilee Thompson, owner of Dixie Crossroads Seafood restaurant in Titusville, said that tourism officials must get more involved. “Tourism needs to step up to the plate,” Thompson said. “They need to start paying attention.”

Thompson also said homeowners have to understand the link between what they do in their yards and the lagoon’s health.

“They absolutely do not understand that their actions are hurting the lagoon,” Thompson said. “How do we get the message out to people that having a green lawn doesn’t necessarily make you a good citizens?”

Duane DeFreese, director of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, said the lagoon needs a stable source of funding and sustained investment.

“When things get bad, you have to double down,” DeFreese said, citing the need for long-term investment in the lagoon.

He said the lagoon program plans soon to update its long-term management plan.

Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, said she heard the public’s frustration at a lagoon rally she attended Saturday in Cocoa Beach.8

“The anger that was there was unbelievable,” Mayfield said. “They don’t think we are doing anything.”

Mayfield also called for a steady, dedicated funding source. “I think septic-to-sewer (hookups) is something we have to start doing, especially if you live along the river.”

Jody Palmer, who runs a volunteer oyster restoration program for Brevard Zoo, said that the oysters volunteers recently planted in the lagoon have thus far been able to survive the ongoing algae blooms.

“We’re at a crossroads right now,” Palmer said of lagoon restoration efforts. “I feel like it’s just missing that link needed to pull everyone together to make it happen … The time is now … It needs to be larger, what we’re doing right now.”

Meanwhile, those who live along the lagoon continue to seek solutions and wonder when the lagoon’s death spiral will end.

“I’m just devastated by it,” said Mike Couzzi, who lives on the Banana River, across from Patrick Air Force Base. Couzzi said he threw away 75 pounds of dead fish in one day: redfish, puffers, stingrays, sheepshead and other fish.

“It’s just unbelievable.” Couzzi added. “I don’t even fertilizer my lawn, ever.”

When he moved to Brevard from Miami five years ago, the water was clear, he said. Now it looks like chocolate milk.

But Couzzi’s seen recent signs of life: horseshoe crabs and a few dolphins swimming by.

“But they’re not going to find much to eat,” he said.