Election Will Test Cybersecurity Measures Put In Place After 2016
*By Conor White*
While Americans nationwide wait for midterm voting results on Tuesday, the F.B.I. and the department of Homeland Security will be watching for something less easily tallied ー signs of potential hacking or meddling.
Rob Marvin, associate features editor at PCMag, told Cheddar that the level of election interference in 2016 from "outside malicious actors" [was at a scale never seen before](https://www.pcmag.com/feature/364358/under-attack-how-election-hacking-threatens-the-midterms).
Marvin is skeptical that authorities in the U.S., and around the world, can successfully thwart more interference.
"Facebook ($FB) and the social media platforms have admitted they're kind of in an arms race with troll armies and nation states to find and delete fake accounts that are influencing elections," Marvin pointed out.
"And they can't do it fast enough," he added.
Marvin cautioned voters to be wary of any last-minute revelations about a candidate that surface on social media.
"You should be voting your mindset," he said.
While many see the 2018 midterm elections as a referendum on President Trump's first two years in office, it is also a litmus test on the country's ability to thwart hackers.
"We're going to see what we've learned," Marvin said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/hacking-the-midterms).
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
