Likelihood Increasing of Conference Cyber Information Sharing Bill Becoming Part of Omnibus
It was increasingly likely -- but still uncertain -- that conference language for cybersecurity information sharing legislation would be included in the expected FY 2016 omnibus funding bill, two industry lobbyists told us Tuesday. The omnibus text wasn't available at…
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our deadline but was expected to circulate late Tuesday. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told reporters she was still uncertain if the cyber bill would be included in the omnibus but said most issues with the conference language had been resolved. Negotiation leaders were attempting to assuage concerns that earlier draft language significantly reduced the Department of Homeland Security's role as a civilian information sharing portal, industry lobbyists said. Other issues remained under negotiation. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters that negotiation leaders hadn't officially told her that they'd removed from the conference bill a section of the Senate-passed Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-754) that would require the Department of Homeland Security to assess which critical infrastructure entities are most at risk. Collins, who had sought to preserve the section in the conference bill, said she wouldn't sign onto the conference report if the section was ultimately removed. Several telecom industry entities indicated their opposition to requiring the DHS assessments in a conference bill soon after the Senate passed S-754 (see 1510280057). R Street Institute and TechFreedom were among four groups that jointly urged House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Tuesday to stop efforts to attach the conference information sharing bill to the omnibus. Efforts to fast-track negotiations on the conference bill are “contrary to Republican pledges about restoring normal legislative order,” the groups said in a letter.