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Jan. 12, 2015

Pres Obama will use speech at Federal Trade Commission to call on Congress to pass Personal Data Notification and Protection Act, which will create national standard for companies regarding breaches of their customers' personal data; Obama will also unveil Student Data Privacy Act, which prohibits companies from making profit from information they collect in schools; both laws will be touched on in Obama's State of the Union address. MORE

House passes bill altering definition of full-time worker under Affordable Care Act from one who works 30 hours per week, to one who works 40 hours; Republicans contend measure will stop businesses with 50 or more employees from cutting worker hours to avoid mandatory health insurance; measure is seen as symbol for Republican efforts to undermine Pres Obama's signature health care act. MORE

House is attempting to put together measure funding most of Homeland Security Dept, while stopping Pres Obama's executive action on immigration; bill is seen as unlikely to be approved by Senate, and Obama has threatened a veto if it does pass. MORE

House is expected to pass bill approving Keystone XL pipeline with Senate approval to follow, but energy and policy experts say fight over Keystone is over politics, not facts; they contend pipeline will have little effect on economy, energy supply or climate change; bill is seen as Republicans' initial challenge to Pres Obama in new Congress. MORE

President Obama's goal of gaining trade authority to fast track Trans-Pacific Partnership faces opposition within Democratic Party; critics say authority, which has been granted to president only 5 out of the last 21 years, will lead to loss of American jobs and undermine health and environmental standards. MORE

Pres Obama will try to rectify slow housing sector by dropping insurance rates on federally issued mortgages to first-time home buyers, minorities and low-income Americans; modest move would give savings of $900 annually per home buyer. MORE

Political Memo; former Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee and former Florida Gov Jeb Bush, both of whom are mulling whether to seek Republican nomination for president in 2016, will contend with younger, stricter conservatives as they try to broaden party's appeal; they will have to respond to GOP activists who are angered over Pres Obama's liberal tenure and record. MORE

Mexican Pres Enrique Pena Nieto meets with Pres Obama at White House; lauds Obama's plan to protect millions of illegal immigrants from deportation. MORE

Frank Bruni Op-Ed column describes how Julian Zelizer book The Fierce Urgency of Now, which focuses on Pres Lyndon B Johnson's tenure, has caused him to reassess criticisms of Pres Barack Obama, particularly in way he has dealt with Congress; notes book shows how rare it is for presidents to impose their will on Congress, and that Johnson's reputation for manipulating Congress has been blown out of proportion. MORE

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Barack Obama - The New York Times

The guest list hasn't changed, but President Barack Obama faces a different type of crowd when he meets with congressional leaders on Tuesday.

Obama's sit-down with House and Senate leaders is his first since the new, fully Republican-run Congress was seated last week. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, long Obama's stronghold in the Senate, was demoted by the November elections to minority leader. GOP leader Mitch McConnell, a persistent thorn in Obama's side as minority leader, now has Reid's old job running the upper chamber.

The three were to join House Speaker John Boehner and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office to discuss opportunities for potential cooperation between Democrats and Republicans this year. Yet it was far from clear that the two parties would be able to overlook their open disagreements on most issues to focus on limited areas of common ground.

Both parties exited the midterms last year speaking optimistically about working together on tax reform, trade promotion and infrastructure development ? areas where Obama and Republicans see at least partially eye to eye. But the start of the year has been dominated by familiar battles over the Keystone XL pipeline, Obama's immigration actions and foreign policy.

Over the last two weeks, Obama has repeatedly threatened to veto bills that Republicans have put forward as their top priorities for the new Congress. Still, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said there were a "whole host of things" that Obama could do this year with Republicans.

"It doesn't mean we're gonna agree on everything ? certainly we're not," Earnest said. "But the question is, are we going to allow disagreement over a few things to become a deal-breaker for all the others?"

"The president certainly hopes that it won't," he added.

Although the Democratic and Republican leaders from both chambers were invited, it was unclear whether Reid would show. The Nevada Democrat is recovering from an exercise-related injury and his spokesman declined to say whether he planned to attend.

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Obama Sits Down With Leaders of New GOP-Run Congress

U.S. President Barack Obama will push Congress to pass a law requiring companies that are victims of data breaches to notify affected consumers within 30 days and a second law that gives consumers more control over their digital data, he said.

Obama will call for a national data breach notification law and a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights in ID theft and privacy initiatives in his State of the Union speech Jan. 20, he said Monday at the Federal Trade Commission.

Neither of those proposals is a new onethe White House first called for a consumer privacy bill of rights in February 2012 and has backed a national breach notification law for yearsbut Congress has failed to pass those proposals. With a growing number of data breaches coming to light, its important for Congress to protect Internet users from a direct threat by hackers, Obama said.

If were going to be connected, then we need to be protected, Obama said. As Americans, we shouldnt have to forfeit our basic privacy when we go online to do business.

More than 45 states have their own data breach notification laws, but theres no national standard. A lack of a national standard confuses consumers and raises compliance costs for companies, Obama said. Sometimes folks dont even find out their credit card information has been stolen until they see charges on their bill, and then its too late, he said.

The privacy bill of rights would allow consumers to decide what pieces of their personal data are collected by companies and decide how the data is used. The legislation would allow consumers to prohibit companies that collect their data for one purpose to use it for another purpose, Obama said.

Obama will also push Congress to pass a student digital privacy bill that would limit companies that collect data as part of educational services to use it only for educational purposes. The proposal would prohibit companies from selling student data to third parties for non-educational purposes and from using data collected in an educational setting to deliver targeted advertising.

Educational technology is delivering great benefits, but some companies have explored other ways to use the collected data, Obama said. We want our kids privacy protected, wherever they sign on or log on, including at school, he added. Were saying that data collected from students in the classroom should only be used for educational purposes to teach our children, not to market to our children.

Obama noted that 75 educational tech companies have signed a pledge to protect parents, teachers and students from the misuse of personal data. Obama called on other educational tech companies to sign the pledge.

If you dont joint this effort, we intend to make sure those schools and those parents know you havent joined this effort, he said.

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Obama calls for data breach notification law, privacy bill of rights

In the days ahead, President Obama plans plans to focus on privacy in the digital age.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

One proposed law would give a company 30 days to let you know if your personal information -- such as your address or Social Security number -- has been exposed by hackers or careless employees.

The Personal Data Notification & Protection Act is an attempt at a nationwide, uniform rule. Right now, there are 47 different state laws that govern data breaches. Depending on the situation, people in some states get notified, while others are left in the dark. It's a mess.

Data breaches are increasingly common. Last year, hackers broke into Home Depot, Albertson's and so many others that CNNMoney developed its own tool: What hackers know about you.

The president's other proposed law, the Student Digital Privacy Act, is meant to stop the sale of sensitive student data for non-education purposes. Now that students routinely use laptops, tablets and computer programs at school, lots of that data is being collected -- and sometimes sold to advertisers and financial companies.

The fear? That information might be used by money lenders to prey on students -- or by colleges or future employers to judge students unfairly.

"Parents have a legitimate concern about those kinds of practices," Obama said at a midday speech Monday before the Federal Trade Commission. "Our children are growing up in cyberspace."

The president also endorsed the "student privacy pledge" already signed by 75 firms including Apple (AAPL, Tech30) and Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30). It's a promise by companies to only use student data collected at school for education purposes, not observe behavior to target advertisements and not keep data for long.

Obama said any companies that provide school services and don't sign the pledge will be singled out and censured.

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Obama proposal: Hacked companies have 30 days to fess up

President Obama on Monday proposed the first federal standard for data breaches, which would require companies to notify customers within 30 days of the discovery that their personal information was exposed to hackers.

In a speech at the Federal Trade Commission, Obama also called for federal protection of information collected from students at school. That proposal, based on a California law enacted last year, would prevent companies from selling student data to third-party firms for purposes unrelated to education, such as sending them targeted advertising.

Obama said the hacking at Sony Pictures Entertainment and large-scale data breaches at major retailers showed the enormous vulnerabilities of the nation and the economy to cyberattacks.

This is a direct threat to the economic security of Americans' families and weve got to stop it, Obama said. If we are going to be connected, then we need to be protected.

The initiatives come as Obama focuses this week on technology issues, including strengthening cyber security and increasing Internet access, that he will tout in his Jan. 20 State of the Union address.

One of his proposals is the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act, which the White House said would "help bring peace of mind to tens of millions of Americans whose personal and financial information has been compromised in a data breach."

Target Corp. and Home Depot Inc.are among the retailers thathave reported large data breaches.

Obama said the proposal to require customer notification of such breaches within 30 days would create a single, strong national standard so consumers know when their information is stolen and make it easier for companies to deal with such hacks.

Currently, a patchwork of state laws govern data breach notification. But some of those laws are tougher than Obamas proposal.

California, for example, requires notification of customers when a company discovers their information has been acquired by unauthorized parties. Companies must make the notification "in the most expedient time possible, without unreasonable delay," a standard many states have.

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Obama wants firms to notify customers within 30 days of data breaches