Senator Carper Reacts to House Action on Information Sharing Bills

WASHINGTON – Today, Tom Carper (D-Del.), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a statement following the House of Representatives votes to approve H.R. 1560, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act of 2015 and H.R. 1731, the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015:

“The House of Representatives sent a clear signal that Congress can and should pass a cyber threat information sharing bill into law,” said Sen. Carper. “Now, all eyes are on the Senate. I hope my Senate colleagues and I can continue this important progress to strengthen our nation’s cyber defenses in a timely and transparent manner. It’s important that any bill that Congress passes empowers companies with clear legal authority and liability protection to share critical data while upholding the civil liberties we all cherish. It must also ensure that the Department of Homeland Security has a clear and central leadership role in the threat information sharing process. While neither bill is perfect, I commend my colleagues in the House for this significant accomplishment. I look forward to continuing this bipartisan and bicameral effort and moving forward to deliver an effective and robust information sharing bill to the President’s desk soon.”

In February, Sen. Carper introduced the Cyber Threat Sharing Act of 2015, which would take critical steps to provide liability protections to increase the sharing of cyber threat data between private industry and the federal government.

Last Congress, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee authored several cybersecurity bills, which the president signed into law in December. Those include the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (S.2521) to improve the security of federal networks, the National Cybersecurity Protection Act of 2014 (S.2519), which authorized the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center at the Department of Homeland Security for information sharing, and two bills to improve the federal cybersecurity workforce — the Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act (H.R.2952) and the Border Patrol Pay Reform Act (S.1691) (which contains provisions from the DHS Cybersecurity Workforce Recruitment and Retention Act of 2014). 
 

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