Technology

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Monday that the online sales tax bill would create a new tax.

Wyden said the Marketplace Fairness Act being considered by the Senate this week, leads America down a “dark path.”

“This will be seen as a new tax,” Wyden said. “This is money that is going to come out of the pockets of American families … an additional $22 billion in sales taxes they have never had to pay before.”

A Democratic cosponsor of a bill allowing states to collect taxes from online sales said Monday that the bill is needed to save states that are drowning in red ink, and brick-and-mortar stores that are trying to compete with Internet retailers.

"What it means is a lot of money for the states and localities," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on the Senate floor of the Marketplace Fairness Act, which will be the subject of a procedural vote Monday evening.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said Friday that some senators are “trying to muscle” through a “disastrous” bill that would allow states to collect online sales taxes.

"Supporters of this online sales tax bill are trying to muscle it through before senators find out how disastrous it would be for businesses in their states," Ayotte said. "I will fight this power grab every step of the way to protect small online businesses in New Hampshire and across the nation."

The House bill will set up a framework for companies and the government to share information on cyber threats.

Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Intelligence Committee offered assurances on Wednesday that legislation allowing companies to share information on cyber threats with the government would not allow the government to collect data on private customers.

Consumer privacy remains a major concern related to H.R. 624, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA.

The House on Wednesday made a last-minute change on the floor that could make privacy advocates more comfortable with a cybersecurity bill that the House is expected to pass on Thursday.

Members were considering a rule for H.R. 624, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. That bill would allow the government and companies to share information with each other on potential cyber threats, but some have criticized it for letting companies share that information directly with the military, instead of sending it to a civilian agency first.

The House on Tuesday afternoon passed three bills aimed at updating the federal government's cybersecurity controls, and boosting research and education in information technology fields.

None of the three bills were controversial, and all were easily approved under a suspension of House rules, which requires a two-thirds majority vote for passage.

The House is preparing to work on a cybersecurity bill next week that is similar to a version the Obama administration threatened to veto last year.

Republicans will call up H.R. 624, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a bill sponsored by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.).

A bipartisan group of nine lawmakers has introduced legislation that would require the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to plan a return to the moon by 2022.

Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) and eight of his House colleagues introduced the bill on Tuesday, H.R. 1446, which also calls on NASA to develop a "sustained human presence on the moon."

A Texas Republican on Monday said President Obama's gun control campaign is a fraud based on fake messages over Twitter.