Review - HR 8255 Introduced – FY 2023 EWD Spending

Last week, Rep Kaptur (D,OH) introduced HR 8255, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023. The House Appropriations Committee published their Report on the bill. The bill contains only one cybersecurity mention; the funding for DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). There are a number of cybersecurity discussions directed at CESER in the Report.

Moving Forward

Again as with the earlier spending bills that I have discussed this month, this spending bill is likely to be taken up by the House before their summer break (currently scheduled to start August 1^st). There will be a large number of amendments submitted and many will be adopted on the floor. The bill will almost certainly pass on a near party-line vote. And it will not be taken up by the Senate. Again, when the FY 2023 spending bill is finally passed in December, the conference report will make this report applicable to that bill.

 

For more details about the spending and CESER directives in the bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-8255-introduced - subscription required.

S 2470 Introduced – FY 2020 EWR Spending

Last week Sen. Alexander (R,TN) introduced S 2470, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2020. Like the House bill (HR 2960), S 2470 provides specific funding for Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER, pg 90) and the Appropriations Committee Report includes specific DOE cybersecurity funding.

CESER and Cybersecurity

The Senate bill would fund CESER at $179 million, $29 million higher than the House bill. Of that spending the Committee targets $96 million for Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems. From those monies the Committee requests DOD spend $10 million on the DarkNet project and $7 million for Consequence driven Cyber-informed Engineering.

Finally, the Report recommends continued funding for the two following programs at $3 million for each program:

• DE–OE–00000807, “Improving the Cyber and Physical Security Posture of the Electric Sector”; and

• DE–OE–0000811, “Improving the Cyber Resiliency and Security Posture of Public Power”

Moving Forward

Again, as with S 2474 this bill will not see consideration as a stand-alone bill. The language will be substituted for Division E of HR 2740 as it starts the consideration process today.

Second Rule Provides for Additional Amendments to HR 2740 – FY2020 Spending Minibus

The House Rules Committee adopted the second Rule for the consideration of amendment to HR 2740, the first FY2020 Minibus. The rule authorizes the consideration of 115 additional amendments, including #72 proposed by Rep. Walberg (R,MI), the same amendment I discussed on Saturday. That amendment increases the spending for Cybersecurity, Energy Security, And Emergency Response (CESER) by $7 million. This amendment is likely to be taken up on Thursday.

The Gosar amendment that I described in that post was not included.

Amendments Proposed to HR 2740 – First FY 2020 Spending Minibus

The House Rules Committee will meet Monday to consider what amendments will be considered next week during the consideration of HR 2740, the first FY 2020 spending bill to be considered in the House. HR 2740 will include the original HR 2740 (LHHE), HR 2729 (Legislative Branch), HR 2968 (DOD), HR 2839 (State), and HR 2960 (EW).

The Rules Committee HR 2740 web site lists the 521 amendments that have been submitted to the Committee. Two of those amendments (to the HR 2960 portion of the bill) would affect Cybersecurity, Energy Security, And Emergency Response (CESER) spending in the Department of Energy.

• Division E, #3, Rep. Walberg (R,MI); and

• Division E, # 70, Rep. Gosar (R,AZ)

The Walberg amendment would add $7 million to the CESER account ($150 million). The money would be taken from the DOE administration account ($264 million).

The Gosar amendment would add $3 million to the CESER account ($150 million). The money would be taken from the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy ($2,651 million).

Rules Committee to Meet on HR 5895 – FY 2019 EWR Spending

The House Rules Committee will meet twice this coming week (Tuesday and Wednesday) to formulate the rule for consideration of HR 5895, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019. The version of the bill that will be affected by the two rules (general debate and amendment consideration) will include language from HR 5894 (Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2019) as Division B and HR 5786 (Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019) as Division C.

The date for the submission of amendments to be considered by the Rules Committee has passed. A total of 173 amendments were submitted for all three divisions of the bill. Only one of the amendments may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

Division A, #59, Soto (D,FL) – Increases funding to the Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) program by $1,000,000 to further facilitate the Department of Energy’s effort to secure the nation’s energy infrastructure against all hazards, reduce the risks of and impacts from cyber events, and assist with restoration activities.

The amendment would take the $1 million from the DOE salary and administration account; decreasing that account to $279.5 million. It would increase the CESER account to $147 million.

The bill is currently scheduled to come to the floor of the House on Thursday.