CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – TECHNOLOGY & COMMUNICATIONS
Aug. 1, 2012 – 12:06 a.m.
Unable to Reach Deal on Amendments, Reid Files Cloture on Cybersecurity Bill
By Tim Starks, CQ Staff
Senate hopes of passing cybersecurity legislation dwindled Tuesday as Democratic and Republican leaders hit an impasse over not just the bill itself, but even over how to proceed on it.
In a bid to force action, Majority Leader
The bill’s chief sponsor,
Republicans who oppose the bill, meanwhile, contend it is running into trouble because it is a complicated measure being considered in rushed fashion, and that it can be taken up later, if need be.
But with time running out this week to begin chopping away at amendments, and without any agreement on which of the more than 100 prospective amendments should even be allowed, odds are increasing that the Senate will defer action on legislation addressing what most national security experts view as the most dangerous threat to the United States.
“I hope I’m wrong, and I’m by nature an optimist,” Lieberman said. “But right now I’m a pessimist.”
The bill’s sponsors have watered down aspects of the legislation that had drawn criticism. Chiefly, they eliminated an earlier proposal that would have imposed mandatory security standards on businesses that own some of the nation’s most critical infrastructure, instead putting forward a proposal to create voluntary standards and offer incentives to industry to shore up computer network defenses.
But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many GOP lawmakers insist the bill still goes too far with the creation of those standards; that the incentives, such as protections against lawsuits, are not extensive enough; and that, in trying to strengthen privacy protections for U.S. citizens whose data is shared between businesses and the federal government exchanging information on threats, sponsors have made it too difficult for businesses to share such threat information.
Health Care Repeal Vote
Some of the fights aren’t, however, on the substance of the bill itself. In his opening statement Tuesday, Reid praised the 2010 health care law (PL 111-148, PL 111-152). Then, McConnell said he wanted to offer an amendment to the cybersecurity bill to repeal the health care law, a request Reid panned.
“Can you imagine how ridiculous the statement my friend the Minority Leader just made is?” said Reid. “He’s now telling me he wants to repeal all the things I just talked about — on the cybersecurity bill?”
Majority Whip
Said McConnell: “I guess the answer is no.” But he said he would continue to make the request to vote on an amendment to repeal the law.
Unable to Reach Deal on Amendments, Reid Files Cloture on Cybersecurity Bill
Democrats condemned McConnell’s gesture.
“It’s seriously disappointing that Republicans are dragging out a buffet of unrelated amendments in what looks like a calculated attempt to hurt the cyber reform bill,” said Vince Morris, a spokesman for
Reid later said some Republicans have indicated they will filibuster the cybersecurity bill without a vote on an amendment repealing the health care overhaul.
“To say I’m disappointed is a tremendous understatement,” Reid said, before filing for cloture on the cybersecurity measure and filling all the slots for amendments that could be offered. “Above all, I thought we had been prepared to put national security above partisan politics to address this urgent matter.”
Reid acknowledged the procedural maneuver was unlikely to succeed.
“I would hope we could get cloture,” he said. “But I’m a realist, after having tried to work through 85 filibusters in this congressional session.”
Reid, Lieberman and others said the Chamber’s lobbying against the bill has swayed many Republicans to oppose it. Republicans have repeatedly said the Chamber’s view matters in this debate because businesses own most of the critical infrastructure any legislation would seek to protect.
Lieberman said he hoped the Senate could begin working out its differences over the bill on the floor, in the event that an agreement could be reached on amendments.
But one sponsor of a rival GOP bill (
“This is a technical, complicated bill, and we’re trying very hard to come to an agreement,” Hutchison said. The Senate might end up fighting it out piece by piece, she said, but “it’s very hard to write a big technical bill on the floor that hasn’t been marked up in committee.”
McConnell said Tuesday afternoon that the Senate could take the bill up later if need be.
“I’m not so bold as to predict where we are at the end of the week, but I think there’s a widespread agreement that a bill should pass,” he said. “There may be some differences of opinion about whether it should pass at the end of this week, but there’s a clear indication we’ll need to act at some point in the future.”
And
Unable to Reach Deal on Amendments, Reid Files Cloture on Cybersecurity Bill
Bill sponsors, though, have said if the Senate doesn’t act this month, it is unlikely to pass anything. There are big differences between Lieberman’s cybersecurity legislation and a House-passed cyber bill (
Emily Ethridge and Emily Holden contributed to this story.