Bills Introduced – 09-18-15

Yesterday only the House was in session so there were only 31 bills introduced. Of those only two may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 3578 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to strengthen and make improvements to the Directorate of Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes. Rep. Ratcliffe, John [R-TX-4]

H Con Res 78 Expressing the sense of Congress that the President in consultation with the Department of the Treasury should apply economic sanctions against Chinese businesses and state-owned enterprises that can be linked to cyberattacks against United States entities. Rep. Wilson, Joe [R-SC-2] 

Okay, so I stretched the ‘may be of specific interest’ standards a bit today. Neither of these bills has a high potential for fitting in to my normal blog postings, but they may be covered any way because both could have significant impact on cybersecurity operations even though neither will specifically address control system security.

HR 3578 may increase the importance of cybersecurity in the Directorate’s focus on developing and supporting new homeland security related technology.

This resolution is interesting because instead of focusing on the Chinese government (as has been the target of many Republican congresscritters) it instead asks the President to specifically respond at Chinese businesses. Providing this, let’s face it, Republican backing for the President’s taking action under his recent cyber retaliation EO just might be the final push the President needs to take such action.