| CISA DIRECTOR SPEEDBUMP: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Wednesday blocked a proposed unanimous consent vote on President Biden's nominee to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) until Vice President Harris visits the U.S.-Mexico border later this week. Scott made clear on the Senate floor that he is not opposed to Jen Easterly serving as the director of CISA, but that the block is meant to hold the Biden administration accountable for addressing migration concerns at the southern border. "This isn't about Ms. Easterly, this isn't about cybersecurity," Scott said. "I am here today because families in my state of Florida and across our nation deserve accountability, and President Biden has shown a total lack of accountability when it comes to addressing the border crisis." Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.) brought up both Easterly's nomination and the nomination of Robin Carnahan to serve as administrator of the General Services Administration for a vote Wednesday. Carnahan's nomination was unanimously approved by the Senate. Read more about the nominations here. JOHN MCAFEE DEAD: Antivirus software pioneer John McAfee died by apparent suicide in a Spanish prison on Wednesday, police sources told El País. McAfee, the creator of the McAfee antivirus software, was reportedly found dead in his cell on Wednesday, with the Catalan Justice Department saying it looked like a suicide. His death came shortly after a Spanish court approved his extradition to the U.S. to face tax evasion charges. Read more here. FBI ON THE MONEY: FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday told a Senate panel that a request for a $40 million increase in its cybersecurity budget for the upcoming fiscal year would go in part towards combating increasing and damaging ransomware attacks. "Our budget request, the enhancements we requested, include 155 positions and $40 million for cyber, and a huge part of that will be going very much to the ransomware campaign that we are working on," Wray testified to the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. Wray noted that the FBI is currently investigating over 100 types of ransomware variations, each of which he said had "scores and scores of victims," and that enhancing the FBI's ability to address ransomware attacks is a top priority. Read more here. NEW ELECTION SECURITY FUNDS (MAYBE): The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday included $500 million for election security grants in one of the proposed appropriations bills for next year. The proposed fiscal 2022 Financial Services and General Government bill would give $500 million to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to distribute to states and territories to help address election security concerns. This includes moving to voting machines with voter-verified paper ballots and improving election administration. The EAC would be given 45 days to distribute the funds once the bill is signed into law. Read more about the election security funding fight here. AMAZON UNION FIGHT 2.0: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters will vote Thursday on a resolution recognizing unionizing Amazon as one of the organization's top priorities. As part of an initiative called "The Amazon Project," the Teamsters will create a special Amazon-focused division that will assist workers interested in organizing, according to a copy of the resolution reviewed by The Hill. Vice first reported on the resolution, which is expected to pass easily. That project would be the most ambitious effort yet to organize the e-commerce giant, which is the country's second-largest private employer and has been hiring at staggering rates since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Read more here. | 
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