Last month Rep Latta (R,OH) introduced HR 866, the Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security (ROUTERS) Act. The bill would require the Department of Commerce to conduct a study on the national security risks of consumer routers and modems manufactured in China. No new funding is authorized by the legislation.
The bill is essentially identical to HR 7589, that was introduced by Latta in March of 2024. On March 20th, 2024, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a business meeting that included consideration of HR 7589. The Committee adopted the bill, without amendments, by a vote of 43 to 0. The Committee Report was published on May 19th, 2024. HR 7589 was considered by the Full House on September 9th, 2024, under the suspension of the rules process and was passed by a voice vote. No action was taken on the bill in the Senate.
Moving Forward
Both Latta, and his sole cosponsor {Rep Kelly, (D,IL)} are members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to which this bill was referred for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. As with HR 7589 last session, I would expect the bill to receive strong bipartisan support, both in Committee and on the floor of the House.
Commentary
Since the requirements of this bill are specifically focused
on “consumer” routers and similar devices, this bill would be unlikely to
provide anyone with actionable information. Congress is unlikely to make the
sale of Chinese routers illegal in this country. Even if it were to do so,
there would be no practical way for them to eliminate those already here. This
is another case of Congress trying to look like it is doing something about a
problem over which it has no control.
For more information on the provisions of this bill,
including an expanded commentary, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-866-introduced
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