House GOP Leadership Planning Cybersecurity Push After Spring Recess
House Republican leaders are planning to bring at least four cybersecurity bills to the House floor sometime after the Easter/Passover recess, hill staffers told us. Republican leadership is in the process of scheduling a so-called “cyberweek” where they will bring the various cybersecurity bills to the floor and begin voting on them separately, staffers said.
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The plan is consistent with the goals of the House GOP Cyber Security Task Force, established in June with a goal to preserve American job creation through greater cybersecurity (CD Oct 12 p12). The task force is led by Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, and overseen by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio (CD Oct 6 p13). Also included in the task force are Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, Mike Coffman, R-Colo., Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., Robert Hurt, R-Va., Bob Latta, R-Ohio, Dan Lungren, R-Calif., and Mike McCaul, R-Texas.
The House GOP is planning to launch the cyberweek in four to six weeks, a Thornberry spokeswoman told us. That timeline was also confirmed by a spokeswoman for House Select Committee on Intelligence Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md. If the House plans to vote on cybersecurity bills next month the first available date would be April 16 when members return from the break. Spokesmen for Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., did not respond to our requests for comment.
The two cybersecurity bills awaiting a floor vote are the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-3523), approved by the Select Committee on Intelligence in December, and the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act (HR-2096), which was forwarded by the Science, Space, and Technology Committee in July. Also pending are the Promoting and Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness (PrECISE) Act (HR-3674), which came through the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee in February, and the Secure and Fortify Electronic (SAFE) Data Act (HR-2577), which was introduced in the House Commerce Manufacturing Subcommittee in July.
That subcommittee’s Chairman Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., is currently preparing a House companion bill to the Senate SECURE IT Act, her spokesman told us. The House bill will be nearly identical to the Senate version, which aims to remove the hurdles that prevent cyberthreat information sharing, reform the Federal Information Security Management Act, update the criminal code to reflect cybercrimes and encourage federal investment in cybersecurity research (CD March 2 p8), he said. Bono Mack also plans to incorporate new data security protections that reflect the provisions in her SAFE Data Act, he said. The coming bill will be co-sponsored by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., her spokesman told us last week.
The House Homeland Security Committee has not yet scheduled a markup of the PrECISE Act, despite its unanimous approval in the Cybersecurity Subcommittee (CD Feb 2 p8).