Bills Introduced – 2-18-21

Yesterday with the House meeting in proforma session and the Senate recovering from the impeachment trial, there were 121 bills introduced. Three of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 1119 To codify an Executive order securing the United States bulk-power system.  Rep. Duncan, Jeff [R-SC-3] 

HR 1162 To make supplemental appropriations for the Departments of Agriculture, the Interior, Homeland Security, Labor, and Commerce for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, and for other purposes  Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]

HR 1178 To establish the National Commission on Domestic Terrorism, and for other purposes. Rep. Speier, Jackie [D-CA-14]

I will be watching HR 1162 for spending related to cybersecurity or chemical security issues.

HR 1178 probably will not fit into any of the ‘normal’ categories of topics that I cover in this blog, but I suspect that it will have future impacts on chemical security and transportation security down the road. It also might have impacts on cybersecurity, but that is less certain.

NOTE: The Government Printing Office is getting further and further behind in publishing official copies of legislation. As I write this the latest bill printed is HR 550 which was introduced on February 5^th. As congress continues to accelerate its bill writing efforts, this is going to have an impact on the ability of legislative analysts like myself to provide timely analysis of legislation before it is considered by Congress.

House Passes HR 1158 – Cyber Response Teams

Yesterday, the House passed HR 1158,, (corrected bill number, thanks to Toshio Miyachi for catching my error - see the comment below) the DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2019, by a voice vote. There were no voices of dissent during the eight minutes of debate on the Floor of the House.

One common theme in the voices raised in support of the bill was the importance of the use of ‘private-sector capabilities’ to address these growing and evolving threats. Rep. McCaul (R,TX), the author of the bill, noted that it “really provides a force multiplier, and I think it is a very important step forward in the right direction” {pg H4368}.

A similar bill  (HR 5074) was passed in the 115^th Congress, but it was not taken up by the Senate. This year the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has favorably reported a similar Senate bill (S 315). It is no yet clear whether either version of the legislation will make it to the floor of the Senate for consideration. If one of the two bills is considered, it will almost certainly be done under the Senate’s unanimous consent process.