House Passes Three Homeland Security Bills

Yesterday the House took up 17 homeland security related bills under the suspension of rules process and passed all of them. Of these, three are probably of interest to readers of this blog:

• HR 437, the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act;

• HR 612, the United States-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2017; and

• HR 677, the CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2017.

HR 437 passed by a voice vote after less than 10 minutes of ‘debate’; no one spoke in opposition to the bill.

HR 612 passed by a voice vote after about 16 minutes of ‘debate’; no one spoke in opposition to the bill.

HR 677 passed by a voice vote after about 5 minutes of ‘debate’; no one spoke in opposition to the bill.

All three of these bills would almost certainly pass in the Senate if they make it to the floor for consideration. Since earlier versions of all three of these bills passed in the House in the 114^th Congress, but were not taken up by the Senate, it is obvious that consideration by the Senate is not a given.

With these bills being passed in the first 30-days of the 115^th Congress, time constraints will not be a factor in whether or not they make it to the floor. What matters is whether or not there is a champion in the Senate with enough political influence with the leadership to bring them to the floor. If any of these bills are considered, they will most likely be considered under the Senate’s unanimous consent procedure with no debate and no actual vote. A single Senator can block a bill under this procedure.

Committee Hearings – Week of 01-29-17

With both the House and Senate back in town this week the number of committee hearings scheduled begins to approach normal. Of the hearings scheduled this week there is one that may be of specific interest to readers of this blog; electric sector cybersecurity.

Respond to Cybersecurity Threats

On Wednesday the Energy Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on “The Electricity Sector's Efforts to Respond to Cybersecurity Threats”. No witness list has yet been made available.

On the Floor

As I have mentioned in a couple of posts, the House will take up a number of homeland security related bills on Tuesday under their suspension of rules procedures. These procedures allow for limited debate (typically 40 minutes of mostly praise for the bill), no amendments, and a super majority required for passage. Bills considered under these procedures typically have significant bipartisan support.

Bills of interest in Tuesdays list include:

• HR 437 – Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act (Sponsored by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R,FL) / Homeland Security Committee)

• HR 612 – United States-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2017 (Sponsored by Rep. James Langevin (D,RI) / Homeland Security Committee)

• HR 677 – CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act of 2017 (Sponsored by Rep. Martha McSally (R,AZ) / Homeland Security Committee)

HR 437 Introduced – Medical Preparedness Grants

Last week Rep. Bilirakus (R,FL) introduced HR 437, the Medical Preparedness Allowable Use Act. The bill would allow medical preparedness programs to be funded under two separate homeland security grant programs. The bill is virtually identical to HR 361 from the 114^th Congress. That bill passed in the House but was never taken up in the Senate.

The medical preparedness grants would be authorized for programs to “to protect first responders, their families, immediate victims, and vulnerable populations from a chemical or biological event”. Because the word ‘event’ is not defined, the bill would only authorize grants for programs related to “preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to acts of terrorism” {existing 6 USC 609(a)}, not accidental or weather related chemical releases.

As with last session’s bill, no additional funding would be authorized for the medical preparedness grants. This means that funds for medical preparedness would effectively be taken away from existing grant monies under the Urban Area Security Initiative and the State Homeland Security Grant Program.

Bills Introduced – 01-11-17

Yesterday with both the House and Senate in session (and the Senate in a late night session) there were 46 bills introduced. Of those three may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 437 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to codify authority under existing grant guidance authorizing use of Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program funding for enhancing medical preparedness, medical surge capacity, and mass prophylaxis capabilities. Rep. Bilirakis, Gus M. [R-FL-12]

HR 458 To require the Secretary of Transportation to conduct a study on the economic and environmental risks to the Great Lakes of spills or leaks of oil, and for other purposes. Rep. Trott, David A. [R-MI-11]

S 94 A bill to impose sanctions in response to cyber intrusions by the Government of the Russian Federation and other aggressive activities of the Russian Federation, and for other purposes. Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. [D-MD]

HR 437 will probably be very similar to HR 361 from the last session. That bill passed in the House early in the 114^th Congress, but was never taken up in the Senate. A large number of bills never make it to the floor in the other body. This is simply part of the two-body politics problem of a bicameral legislature. The bill’s author not only has to be able to work for passage in his home body, but also needs to have some influence in the other body to gain floor access for the legislation there. It will be interesting to see if Bilirakis has done anything to achieve success with the bill in the Senate.

It will be interesting to see if HR 458 includes rail-specific language.

S 94 will be of interest here if it includes language that addresses control system security or retaliation language that goes beyond the Russian-election fiasco.