HR 1073 Introduced – EMP

As I mentioned earlier Rep. Franks (R,AZ) introduced HR 1073, the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act. This bill would require DHS to consider electromagnetic pulse events (natural and man-made) in federal planning scenarios.

As I mentioned in my earlier post this bill is closely patterned after HR 3410 which was introduced and passed in the House last session. Now that I have had a chance to actually read HR 1073 it is clear that it is the same bill with two inconsequential additions;

Section 3 was added to specifically state that this bill cannot be “be construed to grant any regulatory authority”;

Section 4 was added to specifically state that this bill provides no authorization for new spending and that it may only “be carried out only by using funds appropriated under the authority of other laws”.

The added wording was superfluous as there is no mention of regulations or spending authority in the bill. As with the previous bill this will require DHS to undertake new work without providing any new money or manpower. That being said I don’t see any significant opposition to this bill in either house.

If it is brought up it will be considered under suspension of the rules in the House and under unanimous consent procedures in the Senate, so there will be not real debate and no amendments offered. If it gets to the floor in either case it will be passed with a substantially bipartisan vote.