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Sen. Peters believes the time is right for SAMOSA

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2 months ago

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A bipartisan group of Senators are trying to get ahead of the legislative clock and push through a software management bill that potentially could lead to billions of dollars in savings across the government.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, will reintroduce the Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets (SAMOSA) Act today — Federal News Network has learned. Peters is the lead sponsor along with fellow HSGAC members Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and James Lankford (R-Okla.), as well as Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is reintroducing the Strengthening Agency Management and Oversight of Software Assets (SAMOSA) Act. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

The Senate ran out of time to act on SAMSOA last session, after the House passed it in December. But Peters, who is retiring from the Senate at the end of his current term in 2026, is seeking to get started earlier on this bill as part of his effort to further cement his legacy as a lawmaker that championed federal IT reforms and cost savings.

“By improving how the federal government tracks and manages software purchases, this bipartisan bill will help save taxpayer dollars, strengthen cybersecurity, and promote innovative government operations,” Peters said. “This commonsense approach ensures agencies can make needed upgrades to better serve the American people while reducing wasteful spending.”

The latest version of SAMOSA mirrors the Senate bill the committee passed in May 2023. It also is similar to the House version introduced in March by Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), the late Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), and several other lawmakers.

“The issues SAMOSA addresses are still a challenge. The text of the bill hasn’t changed from what passed the committee in 2023, but even two years later, the Government Accountability Office continues to find reasons why Sen. Peters wrote the bill in the first place and agencies need to address them,” said a HSGAC aide. “SAMOSA puts into place a repeatable process that goes beyond wielding a chainsaw at the immediate moment. The process has to be in place from CIO to CIO and from administration to administration and that becomes the way agencies do business to understand what software they bought and why.”

Bigger savings opportunity than MEGABYTE Act

A second aide to HSGAC said Peters believes SAOMSA could help save agencies an estimated $750 million a year in how they manage and procure software.

The aide added SAMOSA, which is a follow up to and builds on the Making Electronic Government (MEGABYTE) Act, is asking agencies to capture costs that have never been calculated, particularly around the underlying infrastructure needed to support the software they are acquiring. GAO estimated agencies saved more than $3 billion since 2019 under the MEGABYTE Act.

“We just don’t know how much more agencies save because this data never been obtained,” the aide said.
The aide said GAO’s recent testimony on software licensing at the Veterans Affairs Department is a good example of the continued challenges and where SAMOSA would help.

GAO found, “VA was not tracking the appropriate number of licenses for each item of software currently in use. Additionally, the department did not compare inventories of software licenses that were currently in use to purchase records on a regular basis.”

SAMOSA would require agencies to take several steps to address these and other ongoing problems GAO has highlighted over the years.

The agency chief information officer, CFO, chief acquisition officer and chief data officer must work together to develop a software inventory that includes a comprehensive assessment of the software paid for by or deployed throughout the agency through contracts or other agreements as well as those developed by the agency.

The inventory also should include information on any additional fees or costs, including those for using cloud services, that are not included in the initial costs of the contract. The costs and fees include those associated with future software updates.

Additionally, the analysis should list of any provisions in the software that may restrict how the agency can deploy or use the software, including any restrictions on desktop or server hardware, through a cloud service provider, or on data ownership or access.

Agencies would have more control

The legislation then calls on agency leaders to use the inventory to consolidate software titles and licenses, cut any unnecessary costs and restrict bureaus or offices from buying new software licenses without the approval of the agency’s CIO.

“The dynamic SAMOSA is trying to correct is the vendors sales machine vs. agency buyers. Industry has more resources, sales people and marketing dollars than any single cadre of agency contracting officers, and the incentives for sales people to sell is too great,” said a former administration official who worked on software management issues. “Agencies are unable to get information, data and visibility across everything they own to make rational decisions to reduce cost and drive performance to meet and sustain the mission. If the work of SAMOSA is done properly and thoroughly, that dynamic will shift in the agency’s favor to make smarter buying decisions now and in the long run.”

A former administration official said there may be no better time for SAMOSA to get over the finish line.

“There is a much greater focus across many more parts of the executive branch on this issue. There are very few issues that can get bi-partisan support across Congress and administration and this is right in the middle of that,” the former official said. “What DOGE has done around software licenses is checkers, but what SAMOSA wants to do is chess. It will establish a far more long lasting process of reconciliation, management and oversight of software.”

The U.S. DOGE Service has been focusing on reducing the number of software licenses across government over the last five months.

On May 30, DOGE posted on “X” that, “Agencies often have more software licenses than employees, and the licenses are often idle (i.e. paid for, but not installed on any computer). These audits have been continuously run since first posted in February.”

DOGE said most recently, the IRS had 3,000 Visio licenses and were only using only 25. It says the agency cut the remaining 99%.

The Labor Department cut 68% of unused “project planning” software licenses

The Securities and Exchange Commission was only using 22% of their remote desktop software and cut the remaining 78%.

“These 3 changes alone, a small portion of the total, saved more than $5 million a year,” DOGE said on “X.”

Additionally, the General Services Administration has been pursuing enterprisewide software licenses. It has agreed to four so far with Microsoft, Google, Adobe and Salesforce.

One of several bills in the works

The HSGAC aide said Peters and other sponsors feel good about SAMOSA passing this year, whether as a stand alone bill or as part of another piece of legislation like the Defense authorization bill.

“This is a priority for Sen. Peters. The key is for the chairman [Sen. Rand Paul] to schedule a markup. We have a markup that was postponed that still has to happen. We hope for the next one this bill will be in contention,” the aide said. “The bill passed unanimously last time and we hope for similar outcomes this time.”

The former administration official also is confident that SAMOSA will pass, especially given the focus by

the Trump administration on improving software procurement and finding savings.
The aide added Peters also is looking to sponsor or co-sponsor several other technology related bills in the coming months.

Peters and Lankford introduced the Streamlining Federal Cybersecurity Regulations Act last week to address overlapping and contradictory compliance requirements that the lawmakers say hinder effective cybersecurity efforts and create unnecessary burdens for critical infrastructure owners and operators.

Additionally, Peters co-sponsored the MGT Reform Act last year and expects to be part of the Senate’s version this year. Mace introduced the House bill in April.

Peters also is expected to introduce the Transparent Automated Governance Act (TAG Act) again in the coming weeks. This bill would require agencies to provide more transparency around the use of artificial intelligence. He also is looking to bring the Prepared for AI Act, a related measure.

The post Sen. Peters believes the time is right for SAMOSA first appeared on Federal News Network.

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GOP Senator John Thune Quietly BLOCKS Trump Recess Appointments with Sneaky Procedural Maneuver — Launches Series of Pro Forma Sessions to Keep Senate in Fake “Session” During August Recess

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13 hours ago

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August 3, 2025

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R‑SD) has unveiled a procedural scheme to block President Donald Trump from making any critical appointments during the August recess, effectively aiding the Democrats’ obstructionist agenda.

Under the U.S. Constitution, the president can make “recess appointments,” temporary appointments to federal positions, if the Senate is in recess and not conducting business. These appointments don’t require immediate Senate confirmation and can last until the end of the next session of Congress.

But there’s a loophole: if the Senate holds pro forma sessions, very short, symbolic meetings where no actual business is conducted, then technically, the Senate is still in session. That means the president cannot legally make recess appointments during that time.

John Thune has quietly secured unanimous‑consent for a paper‑thin Senate schedule through the Trump appointee confirmation deadline, ensuring only pro forma sessions on five key dates in early August.

Under the agreement, the chamber will adjourn after today’s business and reconvene without conducting any votes or business on:

  • Tue, Aug 5 – 1:00 p.m.
  • Fri, Aug 8 – 1:05 p.m.
  • Tue, Aug 12 – 8:00 a.m.
  • Fri, Aug 15 – 10:15 a.m.
  • Tue, Aug 19 – 10:00 a.m.
  • Fri, Aug 22 – 9:00 a.m.
  • Tue, Aug 26 – 12:00 p.m.
  • Fri, Aug 29 – 7:00 a.m.

WATCH:

Thune’s pro forma blueprint comes amid mounting pressure from Donald Trump, who has demanded the Senate remain open until all 150+ administration nominees are confirmed.

Under the Recess Appointments Clause, a president may only install nominees without Senate approval if both chambers are in formal recess for at least 10 days. By convening the Senate just long enough every few days, Thune blocks the possibility of Trump making unilateral appointees.

The Senate went into its August recess without confirming all of Trump’s pending judicial and district‑level appointments.

By the time lawmakers left town on Saturday evening, no deal had been reached to move dozens of Trump’s nominees, including U.S. district court picks, through final floor votes.

Only a small handful of nominees (such as Jeanine Pirro to be U.S. Attorney in D.C.) had advanced. Otherwise, nominees remained stalled in committees or waiting for cloture roll‑calls on the executive calendar.

Roughly 150–160 executive and judicial nominations, including over a dozen district court judges and U.S. attorney nominations, remained scheduled but unconfirmed.

The post GOP Senator John Thune Quietly BLOCKS Trump Recess Appointments with Sneaky Procedural Maneuver — Launches Series of Pro Forma Sessions to Keep Senate in Fake “Session” During August Recess appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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‘That’s What I Call Results!’: Trump Admin Saves Jobs, Kicks 1500 Non-English-Speaking Truckers Off the Road

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13 hours ago

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August 3, 2025

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed that there have been about 1,500 truck drivers who do not speak English taken off the roads as part of a push to ensure foreign truck drivers are not causing accidents.

Back in 2016, the Obama administration stopped enforcing English proficiency requirements for truckers, according to a report from The Daily Signal.

But in May, Duffy issued a guidance making clear that truck drivers who cannot demonstrate a proficiency in English cannot drive.

The 1,500 drivers were taken off the roads within the first 3o days of the rules once more being enforced, according to The Daily Signal.

“Since I took action to enforce language proficiency requirements for truckers, our state partners have put roughly 1,500 unqualified drivers out of service. That’s what I call results!” Duffy posted on X.

“If you can’t read or speak our national language — ENGLISH — we won’t let your truck endanger the driving public.”

He added, “America First = Safety First.”

Duffy’s concerns were far from unfounded.

In January, there was a truck driver involved in a fatal crash that had to use a language interpreter for the post-crash investigation, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Another incident from 2019 involved a truck driver who could not proficiently speak English speeding through signs that warned of steep grades and dangerous curves, all at more than 100 miles per hour.

Four people died in that crash, per the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

President Donald Trump had likewise insisted with an April executive order that the move centered on public safety.

“They should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers,” the order said of truck drivers.

They also “need to provide feedback to their employers and customers and receive related directions in English,” a position the order called “common sense.”

“It is the policy of my Administration to support America’s truckers and safeguard our roadways by enforcing the commonsense English-language requirement for commercial motor vehicle drivers and removing needless regulatory burdens that undermine the working conditions of America’s truck drivers,” the notice added.

“This order will help ensure a safe, secure, and efficient motor carrier industry.”

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post ‘That’s What I Call Results!’: Trump Admin Saves Jobs, Kicks 1500 Non-English-Speaking Truckers Off the Road appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Slovenia Imposes Arms Embargo on Israel, Citing Gaza Conflict

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13 hours ago

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August 3, 2025

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via Wikimedia Commons

Slovenia has imposed an arms embargo on Israel, banning the export, import, and transit of weapons to and from the country.

This decision was announced by Prime Minister Robert Golob following a government session on July 31, 2025.

Slovenia claims to be the first European Union member to take such a step, citing the EU’s inability to act due to internal disagreements.

The government stated that no permits for military exports to Israel have been issued since October 2023, when the conflict in Gaza began.

Officials emphasized that the embargo is an independent measure to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Slovenia has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and increased aid deliveries to the region.

In early July 2025, Slovenia declared two Israeli ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, persona non grata, barring them from entry.

This action was based on their public statements regarding the conflict. Earlier, in June 2024, Slovenia recognized Palestinian statehood, joining countries like Ireland, Norway, and Spain in this move.

The conflict in Gaza started after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israeli territory, which resulted in over 1,200 deaths and the taking of hostages.

Israel responded with a military operation aimed at dismantling Hamas infrastructure. Reports from Gaza’s health ministry indicate significant casualties, with ongoing international efforts to negotiate truces and provide aid.

Several other nations have taken similar diplomatic steps, including France, Britain, and Canada announcing potential recognition of a Palestinian state. Australia has also indicated that recognizing Palestinian statehood is under consideration.

Israel has criticized these declarations, arguing they could reward Hamas for its actions.

Israeli officials dismissed Slovenia’s embargo as insignificant, noting that Israel does not procure any defense materials from Slovenia.

An unnamed official stated that the country buys nothing from Slovenia, not even minor items.

Within the EU, there is growing pressure for measures against Israel, with Sweden and the Netherlands advocating for suspending parts of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

The European Commission has proposed limiting Israel’s participation in the Horizon research program, though Germany opposes such steps.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul expressed concerns about Israel’s potential diplomatic isolation during a visit to Jerusalem.

The United States remains a key ally to Israel, with President Donald Trump warning that recognizing Palestinian statehood might benefit Hamas.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff recently met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to advance Gaza truce talks. These efforts aim to address the humanitarian crisis and secure a ceasefire.

The post Slovenia Imposes Arms Embargo on Israel, Citing Gaza Conflict appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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