S 4670 Introduced – FY 2023 THUD Spending

Last month, Sen Schatz (D,HI) introduced S 4670, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not produced a report on this bill. The bill contains one cybersecurity funding mention, but no specific language about cybersecurity issues.

Cybersecurity Spending

On page 11, under the heading Cyber Security Initiatives, the bill provides $48.1 million for DOT “cyber security initiatives, including necessary upgrades to network and information technology infrastructure, improvement of identity management and authentication capabilities, securing and protecting data, implementation of Federal cyber security initiatives, and implementation of enhanced security controls on agency computers and mobile devices”. This is the same amount as authorized in HR 8294, the House version of this bill.

NTSB vs CSB Funding

In a post last month about problems at the Chemical Safety Board, I noted that CSB funding levels in the Committee Report (pg 132) on HR 8262 provided $14 million for the funding of CSB operations in FY 2023. The National Transportation Safety Board funding is actually listed in this bill (a measure of the increased relative importance of the NTSB over the CSB) at $129.3 million. The NTSB does conduct significantly more investigations than does the CSB (which has not initiated any new investigations in over a year), but that is probably more a measure of the amount of funding available than it is a reflection of the number of incidents worthy of investigation.

Moving Forward

HR 8294 was included in the House minibus spending bill (HR 8294) that was passed in the House before the Summer Recess. If (not really likely) the Senate takes up that bill before the end of next month, the language from this bill will likely be rolled into the substitute language that the Senate would actually consider. It is unlikely that the Senate would be able to get the 60-votes necessary to begin actual debate on the House bill, since that passed with a near party-line vote.

We will most likely see a continuing resolution (CR) passed late next month that would provide funding at current levels through some time in December. Depending on the outcome of the congressional elections in November, we could see another CR carrying over spending until January or February if Republicans manage to gain control of both the House and Senate. Otherwise, a consolidated spending bill will likely pass in late December after one or more short term CR’s are passed.

Review - S 4664 Introduced – FY 2023 CJS Spending

 Last month, Sen Shaheen (D,NH) introduced S 4664, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not reported on the bill. The bill contains the same two internal agency cybersecurity spending provisions found in HR 8256 that was reported in the House as well as the cyberthreat assessment requirements for medium- and high-impact information systems.

Moving Forward

HR 8256 was not rolled into the HR 8294 minibus that was passed in the House last month. It is unlikely that the House will take up HR 8256 before the end of the fiscal year. Since the House is constitutionally required to ‘initiate’ spending bills, the Senate is unlikely to try to take up S 4664 without a House approval of HR 8256. The Senate Appropriations Committee will use the language of this bill as the starting point for their negotiations with the House Appropriations Committee on the CJS Division of the end-of year spending bill.

 

For more details on the provisions of the bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed 

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.

S 4659 Introduced – FY 2023 LHH Spending

Last month, Sen Murray (D, WA) introduced S 4659, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023. The Senate Appropriations Committee has not produced a Report on this bill. As with the House version of this bill (HR 8295), there is one cybersecurity mention in the bill.

Cybersecurity Spending

On page 111 the bill lists $1.59-million “necessary to support activities related to countering potential biological, nuclear, radiological, chemical, and cybersecurity threats to civilian populations, and for other public health emergencies”. This is about $70,000 less than made available in the House bill. The Report for the House bill explained (pg 235) that this “the funding supports the activities of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, including “funding for the Department’s [Health and Human Services] cybersecurity efforts.”

Moving Forward

HR 8295 was not included in the mini-bus (HR 8294) passed last month in the House, so unless the House takes up that bill, it is unlikely that the Senate will take up this bill, which is probably why no report has been produced. Technically, the House is required to initiate spending bills, but the Senate could pass this bill (it would probably not pass cloture) and then substitute the language for the House bill once it is passed there. This bill will likely get rolled into the end-of-year omnibus spending bill.

HR 8294 Passed in House – FY 2023 Minibus Spending Bill

Yesterday, the House completed consideration of HR 8294, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Rural Development, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2023. This minibus spending bill includes six spending bills (HR 8294-THUD, HR 8239-ARD, HR 8255-EWR, HR 8254-FSGG, HR 8262-IER, and HR 8238-MC&VA). The bill passed on a party line vote of 220 to 207.

A large number of the 190 proposed amendments were adopted, mostly in en bloc votes. There were no cybersecurity, chemical transportation or UAS amendments proposed.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. With no spending bills published by the Senate Appropriations Committee, there are no substitute languages currently available to begin Senate consideration. With the party-line vote, the Senate is unlikely to take up the House language for consideration. This bill is unlikely to be considered in the Senate.

Committee Hearings – Week of 7-17-22

This week, with both the House and Senate in session and the summer recess approaching there is an interesting mix of congressional hearings. We have a spending bill rule hearing in the House. On the Senate side, we will see weapons of mass destruction, hydrogen pipelines, and a TSA confirmation hearing.

Spending Bill

On Tuesday, the House Rules Committee will consider a rule for a minibus spending bill. HR 8294 will be the vehicle for the six spending bills (HR 8294-THUD, HR 8239-ARD, HR 8255-EWR, HR 8254-FSGG, HR 8262-IER, and HR 8238-MC&VA). I will be looking at possible amendments in a separate post.

This bill is scheduled to come to the floor this week, probably on Wednesday.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

On Tuesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on “Addressing Weapons of Mass Destruction and Health Security Threats to the Homeland”. The  witness list includes:

• Gary Rasicot, DHS,

• Pritesh Gandhi, DHS, and

• Tina Won Sherman, GAO

This looks like it might focus on the biological side of the CBRNE threat, but you never can tell where questions will lead.

Hydrogen Pipelines

On Tuesday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will be holding a hearing on “Hearing On Federal Hydrogen Pipeline Regulatory Authorities”. The witness list includes: 

• Holly Krutka, University of Wyoming,

• Andy Marsh, Plug,

• Richard E. Powers, Jr., Venable LLP, and

• Chad Zamarin, Williams

TSA Confirmation Hearing

On Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on “Nomination of the Honorable David P. Pekoske to be Administrator, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security”. Pekoske will be the sole witness. There will probably be some (not many) questions on surface transportation security, including cybersecurity.

Review - HR 8294 Reported in House – FY 2023 THUD Spending

Last week, Rep Price (D,NC) introduced HR 8294, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023. The House Appropriations Committee also published their Report on the Bill. It currently looks like the bill will be rolled into a six spending-bill minibus next week. The House Rules Committee is soliciting amendments for this bill as part of the preparation of the rule for considering that minibus.

There is only one cybersecurity mention in the actual bill, the outlay for DOT internal cybersecurity spending for the year (pgs 11-2). The Report includes discussions about:

• Transportation cybersecurity programs,

• Chemical transportation safety, and

• UAS regulation.

Moving Forward

As I noted earlier today, the House Rules Committee is working on rolling six separate spending bills into a single ‘minibus’ spending bill. This is an effort to get the least controversial spending bills through the legislative process before the end of the fiscal year, leaving only a portion of the government to continue to operate under a continuing resolution (more probably a series of continuing resolutions). The Democrats tried this last year and were not able to make it work, we will just have to see how it goes.

 

For more details on the discussions in the report and links to background information, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-8294-reported-in-house - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 7-5-22

Yesterday, with the House and Senate meeting in pro forma session, there were 17 bills introduced. Three of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 8285 To support research, development, and other activities to develop innovative vehicle technologies, and for other purposes. Rep. Dingell, Debbie [D-MI-12] 

HR 8294 Making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Rep. Price, David E. [D-NC-4] 

HR 8295 Making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, and for other purposes. Rep. DeLauro, Rosa L. [D-CT-3]

I will be watching HR 8285 for language and definitions that would include vehicle cybersecurity technology within the scope of the bill.

I will be covering both the spending bills, but based on past experience, there may be little to write about here on the LHH spending bill.

In Passing

I do want to mention one bill in passing here:

HR 8291 To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit a report to Congress on counterterrorism security at certain passenger rail stations, and for other purposes. Rep. Torres, Ritchie [D-NY-15].

This looks like it may be part of periodic attempt to start some sort of TSA people controls on passenger railroads. This has proven to be too costly and complicated in the past looks and that is unlikely to have changed. It took using planes as a weapon to get TSA into the airports, I do not see the same threat level for trains, but they are certainly a potential terrorist target.