HR 6865 Passed in House – FY 2022 CG Authorization

Yesterday, the House took up HR 6865, the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, under the suspension of the rules process. The bill passed by a reasonably bipartisan vote of 378 to 46. The version of the bill published in the Congressional Record as part of the record (pgs H3901-19) of yesterday’s debate was not the same version as was reported yesterday by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The most obvious difference is the insertion a new TITLE IV—Federal Maritime Commission. I will be able to tell better what other changes were made to the bill before the vote when Congress.gov publishes the engrossed version of the bill.

The debate was interesting as there was actually some opposition voiced to some of the provisions of the bill. Represenatatives Auchincloss (D,MA), Rouzer (D,MA) and Keating (D,MA) objected (pgs H3921-2) to provisions that would interfere with access to wind turbine installation vessels for current and future development of offshore wind projects. Specifically, they asked to have those provisions revised during conference with the Senate. Rep DeFazio (D,OR) assured them (pg H3922) that he would work with them to see their concerns addressed in Conference.

The one pipeline protection measure that I discussed earlier remains in the bill, but it is now found at §502. Providing requirements for vessels anchored in established Anchorage grounds.

Committee Hearings – Week of 3-27-22

This week with both the House and Senate in session, there is a nearly normal hearing schedule. The FY 2023 spending process starts with the presentation of the President’s budget. There will be one markup hearing that includes cybersecurity legislation. There will also be two hearings of interest here, one on critical infrastructure cybersecurity and one on DHS counter-drone operations.

FY 2023 Budget Hearings

• Tuesday – House Budget Committee

• Wednesday – Senate Budget Committee

Cybersecurity Markup

On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a business meeting. In addition to eight nominations to consider, the Committee will take up eleven postal naming bills and eleven ‘normal’ pieces of legislation. One of the later is S 3511, the Satellite Cybersecurity Act. Do not expect much discussion, whatever issues exist in this Committee are normally dealt with behind closed doors, but amendments are possible.

Cyber Threat Hearing

On Wednesday, The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on “Mobilizing Our Cyber Defenses: Securing Critical Infrastructure Against Russian Cyber Threats”. The witness list includes:

• Adam Meyers, Crowdstrike,

• Mr. Steve Silberstein, CEO, Financial Services-ISAC 

• Kevin Morley, American Water Works Association

It will be interesting to here the private sector point of view on this topic after all of the warnings from various Federal agencies over the last couple of weeks.

Counter-Drone Operations

On Thursday, there will be a joint hearing of two Subcommittees of the House Homeland Security Committee looking at “Assessing the Department of Homeland Security's Efforts to Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems”. The witness list includes:

• Samantha Vinograd, Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans,

• Rear Admiral Scott W. Clendenin, USCG,

• Austin Gould, TSA,

• Dennis J. Michelini, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

The last witness was added by the Republicans. They will be using Michelini’s testimony to attack the President’s ‘lack of action on the Southern Border’. Just a reminder, DHS has very limited authority to conduct counter-drone operations.

On the Floor

The major bill in the House this week will be HR 3617, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. It will come to the floor later in the week, so the House will have time to consider a total of 17 bills under their suspension of the rules process. Those bills include:

S 2629 – the Better Cybercrime Metrics Act, and

HR 6865 – the Don Young Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022,

The Senate is scheduled to finish up action on HR 4521 this evening. While many things could happen to delay the final vote, I suspect that the Senate will adopt the substitute language this evening. Then the conference process will begin to iron out the major differences in the two bills. The final bill will be larger than either of the two alternatives and will almost certainly contain both sets of cybersecurity provisions.

T&I Committee to Markup HR 6865 - CG Authorization

This afternoon, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee updated their website for tomorrow’s markup hearing. As I wrote yesterday, that hearing will consider HR 6856, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022. The update today included a link to a Committee Print of the bill and a list of amendments that are currently scheduled for consideration.

There is currently nothing in the bill relating to cybersecurity, or the Maritime Transportation Security Act, or chemical safety issues. Pipeline safety is obliquely addressed in §403, Providing requirements for vessels anchored in established anchorage grounds. It adds a new §70006, Anchorage grounds, to 46 USC. It would require the CG to “define and establish anchorage grounds in the navigable waters of the United States for vessels operating in such waters” {new §70006(a)(1)} as well as regulating such anchorage grounds. Factors to be consider in the definition would include “proximity to undersea pipelines and cables” {new §70006(a)(2)}.

None of the listed amendments are of any particular interest here.

Bills Introduced – 2-28-22

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate back in Washington, there were 38 bills introduced. Four of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 6865 To authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard, and for other purposes. Rep. DeFazio, Peter A. [D-OR-4] 

HR 6868 Cybersecurity Grants for Schools Act of 2022 Rep. Garbarino, Andrew R. [R-NY-2] 

HR 6869 To authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of marque and reprisal for the purpose of seizing the assets of certain Russian citizens, and for other purposes. Rep. Gooden, Lance [R-TX-5]

HR 6873 Bombing Prevention Act of 2022 Rep. Malinowski, Tom [D-NJ-7]

I will be watching HR 6865 for language addressing cybersecurity and the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) program. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration will hold a markup hearing on the bill tomorrow. A committee print of the bill is not yet available on the Committee website.

HR 6868 is a cybersecurity job training package not a bill funding cybersecurity for schools. I will be covering this bill.

HR 6873 is a perennial attempt to codify the existing Office for Bombing Prevention in DHS. I will be covering this bill.

HR 6869 is one of a number of bills that was introduced yesterday that appears to be a response to last week’s invasion of Ukraine. I suspect that this bill is dead on arrival as an overreach, but I will be covering the bill because of the cybersecurity implications it carries.

For those that are interested (there will be no further coverage here), here is a listing of the other bills introduced yesterday that appear to be responses to the Russian invasion:

H.R.6867 To designate the area between the intersections of 16th Street, Northwest and Fuller Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest and Euclid Street, Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, as "Oswaldo Payá Way". NOTE: This is the location of the Russian Ambassador’s residence.

H.R.6874 To establish a program to reduce the reliance of allied European countries on natural gas, petroleum, and nuclear fuel produced in Russia, and for other purposes.

H.R.6876 To provide authority for the President to authorize the United States Government to lend or lease defense articles to the Government of Ukraine to help bolster Ukraine's defense capabilities and protect its civilian population from potential invasion by the armed forces of the Government of the Russian Federation, and for other purposes.