Senate Votes Down Privacy-Centric Amendments Ahead of CISA's Likely Passage
The Senate was on the cusp Tuesday of passing the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-754), with votes on several amendments and a final vote on the bill still pending at our deadline. The Senate voted down a set of privacy-centric…
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amendments earlier Tuesday, including one from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that would require the removal of personally identifiable information (PII) from cyberthreat data shared by the private sector. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., opposed the privacy amendments, saying they would "undo the careful compromises we have made on this bill." The Senate voted down the Wyden amendment 41-55. The Senate turned down two similar PII amendments -- one from Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., by 41-54, and one from Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., 47-49. Heller later criticized Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Rand Paul, R-Ky., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and David Vitter, R-La., via Twitter for missing the vote on Heller's amendment. “Personal ambition should come second to fighting for Americans' liberties on the Senate floor,” Heller tweeted. The Senate voted 37-59 on an amendment from Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that would have removed a provision from S-754 that would exempt information shared under the bill from Freedom of Information Act requirements. Leahy told reporters he was concerned the Freedom of Information Act provision in S-754 “would even cut off state and local FOIA.” The Senate also voted 35-60 on an amendment from Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., that would have restricted the definition of what constitutes cyberthreat information under S-754.