Review - S 4660 Introduced – FY 2023 EWR Spending

Last month, Sen Feinstein (D,CA) introduced S 4660, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023. The Senate Appropriations Committee also published their Report on the bill. As with the House version of this bill (HR 8255), there is only one mention of cybersecurity in the bill itself, but numerous cybersecurity related discussions in the Report.

CESER Spending

On page 26, the bill provides funding for CESER funding for “expenses including the purchase, construction, and acquisition of plant and capital equipment, and other expenses necessary for energy sector cybersecurity, energy security, and emergency response activities”. The bill would provide $202 million for FY 2023 which about $3 million less than the funds allocated in the House bill.

More details on CESER programs are provided in the Committee Report on pages 125-7. This includes funding ($20 million) for the Cyber Testing for Resilient Industrial Control System (CyTRICS) program. The Report also directs DOE “to continue supporting consequence-driven cyber-informed engineering activities at a level consistent with prior years” (pg 126).

Moving Forward

HR 8255 was rolled into the HR 8294 minibus that was passed by the House last month. That means that if the Senate takes up HR 8244 before the end of the fiscal year (possible but not real likely, based upon recent history) this bill will be incorporated in the substitute language upon which the Senate will actually base their debate/amendment process. If the bill is considered, it would not receive much more support than necessary to overcome the cloture process in the Senate, and that level of support would be problematic.

 

For more details about the programs and spending discussed in the Report, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-4660-introduced - subscription required.

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.

Bills Introduced – 6-30-22

Yesterday, with neither the House nor Senate in session, there were two bills introduced. Both will receive additional attention in this blog:

HR 8255 Making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Rep. Kaptur, Marcy [D-OH-9]

HR 8256 Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Rep. Cartwright, Matt [D-PA-8]