HR 8239 Introduced – FY 2023 ARD Spending

Earlier this week, Rep Bishop (D,GA) introduced HR 8239, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023. The House Appropriations Committee has marked up the bill and published their Report. There is one minor mention of cybersecurity in the bill itself and a separate discussion in the Committee’s report about agricultural cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity Mentions

The cybersecurity mention in the bill is found on page 5, under this heading of “Office of the Chief Information Officer”. It provides for Department of Agriculture cybersecurity spending ($77,428,000) for internal support.

On page 26 of the Report the Committee discusses agricultural cybersecurity:

“The Committee remains concerned about the rising cybersecurity threats to our nation’s agricultural systems. The Committee requests that the Secretary report to the Committee on the research needed to identify, assess, and mitigate cybersecurity gaps within the agricultural spectrum, from seed, crop, and livestock production to distribution supply chains, with the goal of creating a national research network of regional academic cybersecurity centers in collaboration with industry partners, cooperatives, government authorities, and other stakeholders to strengthen security, data privacy, and resiliency, bolster the interdependent networks, and develop a skilled workforce for this critical area.”

Moving Forward

While there was no action taken on last year’s ARD spending bill (it was lumped into a consolidated bill in December), I suspect that, since this is an election year, this bill will be considered in the House next month and passed along mostly party lines. It is unlikely, however, that the bill will be taken up by the Senate before the end of September.