Senate cybersecurity bill hits snag
An effort to quickly move through the Senate a bipartisan bill authorizing $903 million over five years for cybersecurity research has snagged on an anonymous Republican "hold," sources said. GOP aides on Thursday said the issue of concern has been resolved and the hold will be lifted, but at presstime, the Senate Democratic cloakroom said it is still active.
"It is our understanding there is a hold on it from the Republican side," said Carol Guthrie, the spokeswoman for bill sponsor Ron Wyden, D-Ore. "This is particularly distressing in light of Senator Wyden's policy of publicly announcing when he puts a hold on a piece of legislation." Publicly announcing a hold is "a step toward resolving differences in a bipartisan manner."
A Republican aide, however, said the delay is not a formal hold but rather one Republican office "taking a closer look" the legislation.
The bill, S. 2182, was "hotlined" for senators' review on Monday evening, a step designed to hasten floor action, but it has not moved since. The reason for the hold is not clear, but sources said it arose from Bush administration concerns about a management provision that the Senate Commerce Committee placed in the measure.
In a speech before the National Academy of Sciences earlier Thursday, House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., who led the push for easy passage of a similar House bill, H.R. 3394, said he is optimistic about the legislation's prospects.
"The Senate is likely to pass a slightly revised version that we've worked out with them by unanimous consent today, and then the House should send it on to the president next week," Boehlert said.
The measure would authorize grants for basic research, to be managed by the National Science Foundation, and industry partnership programs, to be managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The draft set for Senate action represents a compromise reached by Senate and House staff last week.
The tech industry has taken note of the latest Senate maneuvering. "If the bill is formally delayed, we will wonder why and the tech industry will be concerned," said Shannon Kellogg, vice president of information security at the Information Technology Association of America.
"It would be a real shame if the bill were delayed because there is consensus on the aims and substance of the legislation," added Mario Correa, vice president at the Business Software Alliance. "I think members have worked hard to move this quickly before Congress recesses."
Correa said the bill is of particular interest to the technology industry. "We are seeing other legislation of interest to the tech industry such as the [homeland security] bill delayed, so we're hoping to make progress on other fronts such as this bill."