Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act Clears First Senate Vote Barriers
The Senate slightly advanced the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-754) Thursday, voting 83-14 to end debate on a manager's amendment that Senate Intelligence Committee leaders have expanded in recent days to include language from a slate of new and existing amendments. Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., included language from eight amendments originally slated to receive separate votes on the Senate floor, in a bid to speed consideration of the bill (see 1510210052). They further expanded their manager's amendment Thursday before the Senate vote, agreeing to include language from an amendment proposed by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., that would significantly expand penalties for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Whitehouse criticized Senate leaders Wednesday for ruling his amendment wasn't germane and wouldn't be considered separately.
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The Senate also voted 65-32 against an amendment from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would have removed access to S-764's liability protections for any company that breaks a user agreement or privacy agreement as a result of its information sharing. Feinstein told reporters that Paul's amendment is viewed as a “bill killer,” particularly by the health industry. S-754 has been carefully crafted with “language people can agree to,” she said. “The Paul amendment wasn't one of them because it opened up additional challenges for companies getting liability” protections. Privacy advocates opposed to the current version of S-754 and some of the bill's industry supporters are railing against an amendment from Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., that would give S-754's liability protections to companies that share cyberthreat information with the FBI and Secret Service. Cotton didn't comment Thursday on his amendment's prospects.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., received unanimous consent Thursday to set a final vote on S-754 for Tuesday afternoon, with votes on all additional amendments to the bill set for Tuesday morning. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., one of the 14 votes against ending debate on S-754, told us off the Senate floor that he and other opponents of the bill will work through Tuesday to garner support for privacy-centric amendments. “Of course I understand the desire that people have” to address cyberthreats against the U.S., “but we need to get this right,” Wyden said. He noted that Burr has said S-754 wouldn't have stopped incidents like the Office of Personnel Management and “technology companies say it doesn't deal with people's privacy, so what's the point of being for it?”
Wyden later told reporters he's aiming to press for a vote Tuesday on one of his proposed amendments which would require the removal of personally identifiable information from cyberthreat data shared by the private sector. He said he's also pressing for votes on amendments from Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Dean Heller, R-Nev. Like Wyden's amendment, the Coons and Heller amendments would require additional PII scrubs of shared cyberthreat information. Wyden also pointed to his support for amendments from Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.