D.C. Dispatch: Electric vehicles, drug trafficking and cybersecurity

The U.S. Capitol on Sept. 28, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

New electric vehicle standards, veteran local health care access and cybersecurity concerns were all the subjects of letters sent to different government agencies by Iowa lawmakers this week.

A new bill would require social media platforms to report instances of drug trafficking to authorities.

Read about what Iowa’s congressional delegation has been up to below:

New bill targets drug trafficking on social media platforms

Iowa Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Minnesota Democrat Rep. Angie Craig introduced legislation aimed at preventing the sale of drugs on social media platforms.

The “Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act,” named after two teens who died from drugs purchased on Snapchat, requires social media companies to alert authorities when drug dealing occurs on their platform.

“Fentanyl is a plague in our communities, killing countless Americans and destroying their families,” Miller-Meeks said in a press release. “By requiring social media companies and other communication service providers to alert law enforcement of fentanyl distribution on their platforms, we could hopefully save many more lives.”

Roughly 1 in 3 instances of illegal drug trafficking is connected to social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, according to data from the Drug Enforcement Agency.

“In the years since Cooper and Devin lost their lives to drug dealers operating on social media, we’ve heard the same canned response from social media companies that they’re aware of the problem and are working to correct it. However, they’ve done nothing to put a stop to these dealers targeting our children,” Devin Norring’s mother Bridgette Norring said in the press release.

Grassley calls for boost of cybersecurity defense

Sen. Chuck Grassley is launching an oversight inquiry into the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) after the agency revealed it suffered a days-long hack in January.

The hackers potentially had “unauthorized access” to internal surveys, security plans and assessments which may have revealed sensitive information about U.S. infrastructure, according to CISA.

In a letter sent to CISA Director Jen Easterly, Grassley demanded access to records showing the agency’s response to the hack, what information the hackers had access to, how the agency assessed damages and contacted impacted parties.

“I’ve been conducting oversight of the departments with known cyber vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure, but now we’re learning CISA – the agency whose sole responsibility is to protect U.S. cybersecurity – doesn’t even have its own house in order,” the letter says. “CISA’s failure to safeguard its systems puts Americans at risk.”

Grassley previously called for bolstering the U.S.’s cybersecurity in a different letter he sent to multiple agencies in April.

Read the full letter here.

Grassley: Improve veterans’ access to health care

Grassley and Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran sent a letter to the Veteran Affairs (VA) Department Secretary Denis McDonough requesting he change policies harming veteran health care access.

According to the senators, recent changes in the VA have limited community health care options for veterans which hurts the progress made under the Trump administration.

“It is incumbent on you to reprioritize resources from non-patient care areas and reduce waste, fraud and abuse, not to unilaterally implement purported cost-savings measures that, even as an unintended consequence, decrease veteran choice and endanger veteran lives,” the letter says.

Back in May, Grassley and others launched an oversight inquiry into the Veterans Community Care Program regarding the findings of an internal report. The senators alleged the VA was limiting veterans’ access to local health care options in favor of connecting veterans to the VA’s direct care system.

Grassley and Moran’s letter was co-signed by 18 other Republican senators, including Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst. 

The full letter can be read here.

Republicans criticize new EPA electric vehicle rules

Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra and Indiana Sen. Mike Crapo penned a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging the administration to reverse a decision requiring new emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles.

Alongside Feenstra and Crapo, over 150 other lawmakers co-signed the letter, including the entirety of the Iowa congressional delegation.

The decision is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by mandating that 25% of sleeper cab tractors, which includes semi-trucks, buses and tractors, be zero-direct-emission vehicles by 2032.

Some lawmakers and car manufacturers are criticizing the move over the financial costs of the switch and its impact on agricultural workers.

“The Biden administration’s mandate that impacts all trucks, tractors, buses, and semis would strain our supply chains, hurt our farmers, harm our economy, and increase costs for every single American,” Feenstra said in a press release.

Feenstra and others have called the rule a “de facto electric mandate,” although the rule does not ban the driving or production of new gas-powered vehicles.

“This unaffordable and unachievable regulation will leave rural communities with grid capacity challenges and limited range versus comparable diesel vehicles. When regulations are rushed and the impacts on the economy are not sufficiently considered, business closures and job losses will result,” the letter reads.

The zero-direct emissions do not account for emissions associated with the production, distribution or disposal of the vehicle.

Read the full letter here.

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