War over CISPA



Mike Rogers is shown. | AP Photo

House Republicans are confident they can win the spin war with Rep. Mike Rogers's bill. | AP Photo
By JONATHAN ALLEN and JENNIFER MARTINEZ | 4/25/12 7:21 PM EDT

The White House brandished the president's veto pen Wednesday in an escalating fight with House Republicans — and a leading Democrat — over how best to protect the nation from cyberattacks.

In a bid to tamp down Democratic support for a House Republican cybersecurity bill known as CISPA — and give cover to Democrats who vote against it — the president's top advisers said they would recommend he veto it if it came to his desk in its current form.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, author of a competing cyber bill, sided with the White House, saying along with other senators the House approach leaves out protection of the nation’s electric grids, water systems and transportation networks — and “ignores the advice of our intelligence community, our national and homeland security leaders, as well as a number of prominent Republicans.”

It all amounts to a high-stakes battle over national security and rising online threats that could easily spill into congressional elections and the race for the White House. Aides to Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney did not respond to requests for comment on where he stands on the issue, but House Republicans are confident they can win the spin war and some Democrats worry that they're right.

But Republicans believe they have an ace in the hole in Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.). The top Intelligence Committee member in the president's own party is working to whip up support on his side of the aisle. Ruppersberger gave a private presentation on the bill to fellow House Democrats on Wednesday morning, and he and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) put out a statement to counter the White House veto threat.

Speaker John Boehner raised the specter of government entrance into the largely unregulated world of Internet communications.

“The president wants the government to set the standards and to write the law for what cybersecurity’s going to look like,” Boehner said. “You want to get the American people a little exercised, put the government in charge of the Internet.”

Many tech industry players prefer the House’s approach rather than Lieberman’s Senate bill, which would impose new requirements on private companies and utilities.

House Republicans run the risk that their bill will be seen as a Band-Aid on a mortal wound if the nation’s critical infrastructure is attacked. Even National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander said there need to be "some set of standards" that operators of critical infrastructure must meet when he testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year.

The White House, which had previously expressed concerns privately, released its statement Wednesday afternoon just as the House Rules Committee was meeting to decide which amendments to CISPA will get a vote on the floor.

“The administration looks forward to continuing to engage with the Congress in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion to enact cybersecurity legislation to address these critical issues," the statement from the Office of Management and Budget read. "However, for the reasons stated herein, if H.R. 3523 were presented to the president, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill."

The statement made clear the White House doesn’t plan to reverse its position unless there are significant changes to boost privacy protections, to add new protections on users' personal information and to alter the bill's liability protection language.

But the White House’s language — that senior advisers would recommend a veto — is less powerful than an outright threat from the president to veto the bill, which some supporters noted.

“It’s a lower level threat in my judgment,” said Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas). “It would be very difficult for the president to veto something like that.”



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