Senate Aides Working Overtime on Cybersecurity Compromise
Senate negotiators continue “intense” negotiations on a comprehensive cybersecurity overhaul measure, but there’s no news on whether the Department of Homeland Security or the Commerce Department will lead the nation’s cybersecurity defenses, said sources. The Senate has been wrestling with multiple cybersecurity bills this session, notably S-773 sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and S-3480, sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn. (WID July 12 p1). A major difference is that Rockefeller’s bill would list Commerce as the lead cybersecurity agency and Lieberman’s would tap Homeland Security.
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"Staff from [the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee] HSGAC and the Commerce Committee have been meeting in intense efforts to meld the two bills, and Senator [Majority Leader Harry] Reid [D-Nev.] has met with the chairmen of the relevant committees to urge them to work together to produce a cybersecurity bill that the Senate can consider in September,” said Senate Homeland Security Committee spokeswoman Leslie Phillips. She declined to elaborate but emphasized that the negotiations are about harmonizing the bills and not choosing one at the other’s expense.
Reid stressed “the urgency of the legislation and impressed” on committee chairmen at a meeting last week in the Senate and “that work needs to proceed quickly,” said Reid spokeswoman Regan LaChapelle. She didn’t give precise timing for introducing the comprehensive bill. Reid “asked committee chairs to reach out to Republican members of their committees and work on a bipartisan basis as the bill moves forward,” she added.
Reid, Rockefeller and Lieberman continue to work together on comprehensive legislation, a Senate staffer said Monday. Last week, Rockefeller said negotiations were “going well” and he believed that he and Lieberman would work out differences between their bills (CD July 14 p12) .
Senate staffs “redoubled their efforts” last weekend toward hammering out a compromise bill, Federal Affairs Counsel Prudence Parks of the Utilities Telecom Council said on her blog Monday. The goal is to get a cybersecurity bill on next week’s Senate agenda, she said.