The House is Shuttling Through Tech and Cyber Bills but the Senate's Behind

The House passed a slew of tech and cyber bills the week of Sept 3, ranging from imposing automatic sanctions on foreign hackers to creating a new chief data officer position at the Homeland Security Department. With a tight legislative calendar before this Congress turns into a pumpkin in January, however, the Senate will have to work fast if any of those bills are going to become law.

The Cyber Deterrence and Response Act (HR 5576), sponsored by Rep Ted Yoho (R-FL), would require the president to take one or more punitive actions against people or organizations that are deemed “cyber threat actors,” such as limiting humanitarian or security assistance or blocking investments. Sen Cory Gardner (D-CO) introduced a Senate companion to the bill in Aug, which hasn’t been marked up yet. Another bill the House passed Sept 4, the Securing the Homeland Security Supply Chain Act of 2018 (HR 6430) would dramatically expand the Homeland Security Department’s power to block contractors and subcontractors like Kaspersky Lab and Huawei that officials believe pose cybersecurity and national security risks. The bill, sponsored by Rep Peter King (R-NY), is narrower than a Trump administration proposal that would give Homeland Security authority to block contractors across the civilian government. Rep King said on the House floor that he hopes the House will get to vote on the broader proposal. The bill would create positions for drone coordinator and chief data officer at Homeland Security.