Thread: Cybersecurity Bill Fails to Advance in Senate

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Cybersecurity Bill Fails to Advance in Senate
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By Josh Smith
Updated: August 2, 2012 | 12:28 p.m.
August 2, 2012 | 10:58 a.m.

After months of wrangling, the Senate on Thursday rejected White House calls and failed to advance sweeping legislation aimed at protecting American computer networks from cyberattacks.

The cloture vote to end debate on the bill was 52-46, short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.

The administration and top national-security and defense leaders had pressed the Senate to pass the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, but negotiations between Democratic supporters and Republican critics failed to yield an agreement.

"Despite the President’s repeated calls for Congress to act on this legislation, and despite pleas from numerous senior national security officials from this Administration and the Bush Administration, the politics of obstructionism, driven by special interest groups seeking to avoid accountability, prevented Congress from passing legislation to better protect our nation from potentially catastrophic cyber-attacks," the White House said in a statement, calling the situation a "profound disappointment."

Republicans in the Senate echoed industry concerns that the bill could lead to government regulation, but debate over the legislation devolved into finger pointing.

“No one doubts the needs to strengthen our cyberdefenses,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in floor remarks on Thursday morning. “We all recognize the problem, that’s really not the issue here; it’s the matter that the majority leader has tried to steamroll a bill.”

McConnell and other Republicans called on the Senate to continue to work out a compromise on cybersecurity.

Besides a lack of agreement over provisions of the bill, Democrats were steamed over Republican efforts to inject amendments that would repeal the 2010 health care law and ban certain abortions in the District of Columbia.

“Republicans are running like a pack of scared cats,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the floor before the vote. “We know how important this legislation is, we know it’s more important than getting a pat of the back from Chamber of Commerce.”

The lead sponsor of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., said if Republicans had agreed to a limited list of germane amendments, the Senate could have returned in September to finish the bill.

“This is one of those days that I fear for my country and I’m not proud of the United States Senate,” Lieberman said. He said if Congress fails to act to secure American networks, it would be a "colossal abdication" of its responsibility.

The Cybersecurity Act would have established a system of voluntary security standards for certain critical businesses, encouraged businesses and government to share cyberthreat information, boosted programs to educate and train cybersecurity professionals, and updated federal network-security policies.

Republican and industry detractors such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, however, say that the government should have little—if any—role in setting standards for private companies. Other critics contend that the Homeland Security Department couldn’t handle an increased role in cybersecurity matters.

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Cybersecurity Bill Fails to Advance in Senate - Josh Smith - NationalJournal.com

Dear kathye,

Thanks to your efforts and those of thousands of liberty activists across the country, by a vote of 52-46, the Senate defeated Senator Lieberman's Cybersecurity Act of 2012 - for now.

Unfortunately, bad legislation frequently shares a trait with Hollywood movie villain, Freddy Krueger.

No matter how many times you kill it, it just keeps coming back.

As the statists continue to try and centralize control over the internet, you and I can guarantee this legislation will rear its ugly head again in September.

After using this August recess to regroup and refocus their attack, there is a real threat Harry Reid and his cronies will have the votes to shove this bill down our throats.

While today's victory will have defeated the so-called Cybersecurity Act momentarily, it's absolutely vital the liberty movement remain vigilant.



In Liberty,

Matt Hawes
Vice President

P.S. Thanks to your efforts and those of thousands of liberty activists across the country, today we defeated Lieberman's Cybersecurity Act of 2012 - for now.

Unfortunately, you and I can guarantee this legislation will once again rear its ugly head in September.

Newsflash!! The current King of the United States doesn't like the outcome of that so he is "considering" fixing that by Royal Decree. When will this Socialist Monarchy stop? JMO
http://www.alipac.us/f19/after-defea...option-262089/

Obama Wants to Control the Internet and You’re the Target
posted on August 5, 2012 by Gary DeMar
20 Comments
75

CyberSecurity Image Number 2Republicans in the Senate blocked cybersecurity legislation. At least on this issue, there is a dime’s worth of difference between most Republicans and Democrats. So what is the White House considering? You guessed it — another executive order. Obama wants the authority and power to police the internet to protect us from “cyber threats.”

Who gets to define what constitutes a “cyber threat”? We think it means threats from foreign groups who want to bring down the United States. But there’s more to it.

The . . . Cybersecurity Act . . . would have encouraged private companies and the government to share information about cyber threats and would have required critical infrastructure operators to meet minimum cybersecurity standards.

The president wants “private companies” to share information with the government. There are a lot of private companies that are very liberal. Could they try to sabotage conservative companies by claiming that they are involved in anti-government rhetoric?

A report on terrorism in the United States has been published by the Department of Homeland Security. The goal of the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) program is to sponsor research that will aid the intelligence and law enforcement communities in identifying potential terrorist threats and support policymakers in developing prevention efforts.

And what should law enforcement agencies be looking for when it comes to domestic terrorism?

Americans “suspicious of centralized federal authority, reverent of individual liberty” and protecting their personal freedoms are categorized as extreme right-wing terrorists. The study claims that “right-wing extremists” are “groups that believe that one’s personal and/or national ‘way of life’ is under attack and is either already lost or that the threat is imminent.”

Can you imagine the field day liberals will have with control of the internet? Even if there is no guilt, having to defend oneself against government investigation could cripple or even bankrupt a company. Websites could be shut down until the government is “satisfied” that there is no “cyber threat.”

Benjamin Franklin astutely reminded his fellow anti-government compatriots that “In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.” Franklin was not the only founder who distrusted power in the hands of man.

“There is,” in the words of James Madison, a “‘degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust.’“ Madison speaks of the “caprice and wickedness of man,” and of the “infirmities and depravities of the human character.’”

Read more: Obama Wants to Control the Internet and You