[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 61 (Thursday, April 26, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H2147-H2156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3523, CYBER INTELLIGENCE SHARING
AND PROTECTION ACT; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF MOTIONS TO SUSPEND
THE RULES; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4628, INTEREST RATE
REDUCTION ACT; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I
call up House Resolution 631 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 631
Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this
resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule
XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of
the bill (H.R. 3523) to provide for the sharing of certain
cyber threat intelligence and cyber threat information
between the intelligence community and cybersecurity
entities, and for other purposes. The first reading of the
bill shall be dispensed with. All points of order against
consideration of the bill are waived. General debate shall be
confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally
divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority
member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
After general debate the bill shall be considered for
amendment under the five-minute rule. In lieu of the
amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence now printed in the
bill, it shall be in order to consider as an original bill
for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule an
amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the
text of Rules Committee Print 112-20. That amendment in the
nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. All
points of order against that amendment in the nature of a
substitute are waived. No amendment to that amendment in the
nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed
in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this
resolution. Each such amendment may be offered only in the
order printed in the report, may be offered only by a Member
designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall
be debatable for the time specified in the report equally
divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent,
shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject
to a demand for division of the question in the House or in
the Committee of the Whole. All points of order against such
amendments are waived. At the conclusion of consideration of
the bill for amendment the Committee shall rise and report
the bill to the House with such amendments as may have been
adopted. Any Member may demand a separate vote in the House
on any amendment adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the
bill or to the amendment in the nature of a substitute made
in order as original text. The previous question shall be
considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to
final passage without intervening motion except one motion to
recommit with or without instructions.
Sec. 2. It shall be in order at any time through the
legislative day of April 27, 2012, for the Speaker to
entertain motions that the House suspend the rules, as though
under clause 1 of rule XV, relating to the following
measures:
(a) The bill (H.R. 2096) to advance cybersecurity
research, development, and technical standards, and for other
purposes.
(b) The bill (H.R. 3834) to amend the High-Performance
Computing Act of 1991 to authorize activities for support of
networking and information technology research, and for other
purposes.
(c) The bill (H.R. 4257) to amend chapter 35 of title 44,
United States Code, to revise requirements relating to
Federal information security, and for other purposes.
Sec. 3. Upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be
in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 4628) to
extend student loan interest rates for undergraduate Federal
Direct Stafford Loans. All points of order against
consideration of the bill are waived. The bill shall be
considered as read. All points of order against provisions in
the bill are waived. The previous question shall be
considered as ordered on the bill and any amendment thereto
to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one
hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair
and ranking minority member of the Committee on Education and
the Workforce; and (2) one motion to recommit.
Sec. 4. The Committee on Appropriations may, at any time
before 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2, 2012, file privileged
reports to accompany measures making appropriations for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2013.
{time} 1230
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fortenberry). The gentleman from Florida
is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis),
pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During
consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose
of debate only.
General Leave
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this rule, House
Resolution 631. The rule provides for consideration of multiple pieces
of legislation meant to provide solutions to some of today's most
pressing threats and concerns. House Resolution 631 ensures that we'll
be able to have a robust debate on important issues facing our Nation's
cybersecurity infrastructure while also providing the path forward for
student loan legislation that reflects quick action we need to take on
this pressing issue.
First, House Resolution 631 gives this House the opportunity to be a
leader when it comes to our Nation's cybersecurity needs. The rule also
sets up the opportunity for us to vote tomorrow on a measure that
addresses our Nation's student loan programs. Without this legislation,
Americans with Federal student loans will see their rate double
starting in July.
These are issues that cannot wait. Our Nation's security cannot wait.
At a time when our workforce is so bleak and President Obama's policies
keep digging us deeper and deeper into a financial hole, we cannot wait
on finding a solution for those young people with student loan debt who
are still trying to find a place in our workforce.
We all know that the Internet has fundamentally changed the way we
live our lives day-to-day. I think it's safe to say that even 20 years
ago, many of us in this room couldn't have imagined that one day we
would live in a world where we could do almost anything we wanted, be
it buy groceries, run a business, or talk to a loved one serving our
country overseas, through a computer. The Internet has made all this
possible.
But for all the ways the Internet has made life, business, and even
government, to some extent, faster, more responsive, and more
transparent, it has also opened us up to new threats. U.S. companies
report an onslaught of cyberintrusions that steal sensitive
information. Even our own government has suffered from cyberattacks.
This type of rampant Internet theft not only costs American companies
valuable information, intellectual property, and research and
development work, it also costs American workers their jobs. It's hard
to say exactly how much cyberattacks cost our Nation's economy, but
they could cost as much as $400 billion a year, according to one report
from the Computer Security Institute and the FBI.
Today, the House will begin consideration of a bill that will help
protect our Nation from these kinds of threats. H.R. 3523, the Cyber
Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, would allow private companies
to voluntarily share information with each other and with the
government in a sort of public-private Internet security partnership.
The bill includes significant safeguards to protect personal and
private information. It significantly limits the Federal Government's
use of that information that the private companies voluntarily provide,
including the government's ability to search data.
It requires that the independent inspector general for the
intelligence community audit information shared with the government and
report the results to Congress to ensure regular oversight. It also
encourages the private sector to make the information it shares with
others, including the government, as anonymous as possible.
This is a strongly bipartisan piece of legislation, Mr. Speaker, that
was passed out of the Intelligence Committee with an overwhelming vote
of 17 1. In the Rules Committee yesterday, we heard testimony from both
sides, speaking to the cooperative, bipartisan work that was done in
this piece of legislation. I commend the work that the Intelligence
Committee did with members on both sides of the aisle, as well as with
private sector companies, trade groups, privacy and
[[Page H2148]]
civil liberty advocates, and the executive branch. It's because of
these efforts that virtually every sector of the economy supports this
legislation. It's also why there are more than 100 cosponsors of this
legislation, including 11 committee chairmen.
But recognizing that we don't always face one problem at a time, this
rule also provides for consideration of a measure to address student
loans. Our legislation, the Interest Rate Reduction Act, would prevent
federally subsidized student loan interest rates on new loan
disbursements from doubling to 6.8 percent from the current 3.4 percent
on July 1 of this year. This 1-year measure would cost the government
$5.9 billion.
Now, you all probably heard me talk again and again about bringing
our Nation back to its core mission. You've also heard me talk about
how we need to cut back on the ``nice-to-haves'' and make hard choices
of what we will and won't pay for. Back when the previous majority
passed their health care takeover in 2010, they paid for it, in part,
by taking $9 billion from college financial aid trust funds. Now that
they've robbed Peter to pay Paul, they're realizing Peter still needs
that money, too. To resolve the problem, the Interest Rate Reduction
Act pays for this stopgap measure by taking some of that stolen money
back from the ObamaCare slush fund and redirecting it to student
financial aid.
Sometimes this House has to multitask, Mr. Speaker. As we face an
economy that can't afford to lose any more jobs to cyberattacks and
college loan recipients who can't find a job thanks to President
Obama's failed policies, that is one of those times. House Resolution
631 provides the House with a way forward on both of these critical
measures.
With that, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the rule,
``yes'' on the underlying pieces of legislation, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding me the
customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the rule and the
underlying bills: H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and
Protection Act, or CISPA, and H.R. 4628, the Interest Rate Reduction
Act.
{time} 1240
Both bills are being brought to the House under a hyperpartisan,
closed process that limits debate and discussion that can improve the
legislation and allow the House to work its will. Many of the
meaningful amendments that would have protected privacy under CISPA
were not allowed under this rule, and under the Interest Rate Reduction
Act, no amendments were allowed.
I want to address both of the bills that are contained in this
underlying rule. First, the Interest Rate Reduction Act. This is a bill
of rather mysterious origin that appeared in the Rules Committee
yesterday mere hours after having been introduced by its lead sponsor,
Mrs. Biggert of Illinois. No regular order was followed for this bill.
This bill received no hearings and no markups by the committee of
jurisdiction, and within hours of its being introduced, it was brought
immediately to the Rules Committee with direction to go to the floor of
the House of Representatives without a single member of either party
having any opportunity to amend the bill and with only 1 hour of
debate.
What is new about this cliff with regard to student loan rates? This
was a well-known fact with regard to the expiration date that, in fact,
the Stafford student loan interest rate would increase from 3.4 to 6.8
percent. I've joined my colleague, Mr. Courtney, who will later address
these issues as a sponsor of his bill that would address extending the
lower student loan rate, and yet, there had been no interest from the
committee chair or Republicans with regard to this issue until
yesterday afternoon, when a new bill, without the benefit of a markup,
was presented in committee and to the Rules Committee, going completely
around the committee of jurisdiction.
Look, there is a legitimate issue here. Middle class families are
having a tougher and tougher time affording college for their kids at
the same time that a college education is more necessary than ever for
young people to have the skills they need to compete in the global
economy. It's a serious issue that deserves serious treatment. There's
a lot of cost drivers with regard to education. Some have commented
about a higher education bubble that has led to higher and higher
tuition rates. Certainly, how the State and Federal share of higher
education funding is targeted and the manner in which it's spent
absolutely affect tuition rates and whether there's a bubble.
But instead of a thoughtful approach, an approach that looked at
drivers of cost, an approach that looked at outcomes from higher
education, and an approach that looked at employment levels pre- and
post-higher education, a bill was immediately created and brought to
the floor within a day. Again, there is technically a 3-day rule that
the majority has said that they would follow. They would give Members
of this body on both sides 3 days to consider legislation, but they
calculate 3 days in a very funny way. There were, as far as I know, no
Members of this body who saw that particular student loan bill before
yesterday afternoon. Here we are today on the rule, with final passage
vote--without any opportunity to amend--expected to occur midday
tomorrow.
By most calculations, it sounds like, well, less than 3 days. They
had maybe 6 hours, 7 hours yesterday, 24 today, and maybe 10 tomorrow.
It seems like, in fact, less than 48 hours, less than 2 days. But,
nevertheless, it's yet another example of only governing out of a sense
of crisis, and with regard to this issue one in which we do have time,
fundamentally, to follow regular order, and even more importantly, we
did have time. This is not an issue that appeared from nowhere. Why has
the chair of the committee of jurisdiction not been working on this
issue for weeks or months? While many of us on our side, including
myself, appreciate the sudden interest in helping middle class families
afford college, it would be good to do so in a more thoughtful manner
that truly addresses the cost drivers of education.
I also take issue with the other underlying bill, the initial bill
that we thought would be debated under this rule before this other
mysterious bill appeared out of nowhere and came to the Rules
Committee. This was a bill that did follow regular order in the
Intelligence Committee, and while a number of amendments that are
meaningful are included in this rule, several of the most meaningful
amendments that truly would have addressed the privacy concerns with
regard to CISPA are not allowed under this rule.
CISPA asks Americans, once again, to make a false choice between
security and liberty. Now, we all agree, on both sides of the aisle,
Americans in general, that cybersecurity is an important issue that
needs to be addressed. That's why it's critical that we get
information-sharing correct. This bill in its current form before us is
an unprecedented, sweeping piece of legislation that would waive every
single privacy law ever enacted in the name of cybersecurity. It would
even waive the terms of service and would supersede the terms of
service that most American consumers, American people, believe they are
entering into in a contract with a provider of a Web site or service of
their choice. That information, without any safeguards, would be shared
with the government.
As a former tech entrepreneur myself, I know very well how important
cybersecurity is. Frankly, it's something that I've never thought we
could rely on the government to do for us, and I think a lot of tech
companies feel the same way. But that doesn't mean that in the effort
for expediency we should give up our privacy rights and liabilities to
protect online networks.
While I appreciate the efforts the sponsors of the bill have made to
improve the bill slightly in the direction that people can have more
comfort with, they haven't gone nearly far enough to ensure that
customers' private information remains just that, private. There's
nothing in this bill to stop companies from sharing their private
information with every branch of the government, including secret,
unaccountable branches, including the military. And allowing the
military and the NSA to spy on American citizens on American soil goes
against
[[Page H2149]]
every principle that this Nation stands for.
A lot has been made of saying, oh, it's optional. Well, it may be
optional for the corporations to share information, but is it optional
for their users, whose information they have, who entered a specific
terms of service agreement, to have their information shared without
their consent? In many cases, under a terms of service agreement, the
users, in fact, may be the owners of the information. The company that
it's hosted on may, in fact, merely be a host or provider. But, again,
outside of any legal process, this gives that company, whether it's
hosting or providing, the ability to share wholesale information that
can include health records, that can include firearm registration
information, that can include credit card information, that can include
account information, and that can include political information, with
secret government authorities.
Now, we have government authorities that have the responsibility and
are charged with keeping America safe on American soil, namely, the
Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. They've worked hard over
decades to strike a fine balance between protecting our liberties and
security. The military and the NSA are unaccustomed to that balance.
That's why even within the military many from DOD have expressed
opposition to this bill. Eric Rosenbach, the Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Defense for Cyber Policy within DOD, said that a civilian agency,
and not an agency within DOD, should be responsible for securing the
domestic civilian Internet.
According to Mr. Rosenbach:
It's almost certainly not the right approach for the United
States of America to have a foreign intelligence focus on
domestic networks, doing something that throughout history
has been a domestic function.
So, not only will the military and the NSA be able to receive private
information if CISPA passes, but they'll be able to use it for almost
any justification. Now, while ostensibly a cybersecurity bill, CISPA
allows information-sharing ``for the protection of national security,''
a broad and undefined category that can include practically everything
under the sun. Is a Tea Party activist a threat to national security?
Is a Communist activist a threat to national security? The danger that
this can be used for political oppression and to stifle political
speech is very real under this bill.
In addition, because of the immunity clauses of this bill, there's no
incentive at all for companies to withhold their customers' sensitive
private information. Companies are exempted from any liability for
violating their own terms of service and sharing information with
secret government agencies. In fact, given the high compliance cost for
this sort of sharing, CISPA actually incentivizes companies to dump all
of their information on the government so they can take advantage of
this blanket immunity that this bill includes.
This legislation also has glaring omissions when it comes to the
Nation's future capacity to be competent in cybersecurity. The bill
lacks adequate support and direction for paths that can actually
improve the cybersecurity of our Nation: Training in the pipeline for
cybersecurity experts, including STEM programs in our K 12 schools in
computer science; embedding cybersecurity in computer science; and
providing scholarships and ways that students can attain the highest
levels and enter public service to support the cybersecurity of the
Nation.
{time} 1250
Mr. Speaker, there should be an open rule for both of the underlying
bills to give Members of this House across the ideological spectrum the
opportunity to address the deficiencies in both these bills.
Now, we've heard from supporters of the cybersecurity bill that
privacy concerns are overblown. ``Trust us,'' they've said. Republicans
say: Trust Big Government bureaucrats. Trust anonymous intelligence
officers to use that information responsibly.
Well, under this bill, we have no choice but to trust them, because
the bill imposes no serious limitation on what corporations or secret
government agencies can do with our private information.
It's outrageous to have a closed rule on the student loan interest
bill--a bill that no Member of this body, Democrat or Republican, has
had any opportunity to amend. And it is also outrageous to not allow a
full discussion of the thoughtful amendments brought forth by Members
of both parties that would remedy some of the very severe deficiencies
in the cybersecurity bill.
I, therefore, cannot support this rule or these flawed bills, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Thornberry).
Mr. THORNBERRY. I appreciate the gentleman from Florida for yielding
to me.
I rise in support of the rule and the cyber bill that it brings to
the floor, as well as the other cyber bills which the House will
consider today and tomorrow.
Let me begin, Mr. Speaker, by acknowledging the leadership of the
Speaker and majority leader for setting up a process for a thoughtful
examination of the many issues related to cybersecurity. They recognize
that not only is it a significant national security threat, it's a
threat to our economy and to jobs. But at the same time, what we are
trying to protect, at least 85 to 90 percent of it is owned and
operated by the private sector. So one has to tread carefully in this
area, and we have tried to do so with the limited legislation that is
before the House today and tomorrow.
I also want to thank the members of the House Cybersecurity Task
Force, who put in a great deal of time and expertise in sorting through
these issues and making recommendations: Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Chaffetz,
Mr. Coffman, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Hurt, Mr. Latta, Mr. Lungren, Mr.
McCaul, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Stivers, and Mr. Terry. Of course, a number of
Members have worked on these issues for several years, including a
number of those I've just mentioned, as well as Mr. Langevin, Mr.
Ruppersberger, people on both sides of the aisle.
Finally, I also want to take a second to thank the staffs of the
various committees who have worked on this issue, as well as Josh
Martin and Michael Seeds of my office, as well as Jen Stewart, the
Speaker's national security adviser, whose guidance on substance and
process was invaluable.
Mr. Speaker, we will have ample opportunity to debate the merits of
the individual pieces of legislation, but I think it's important at the
beginning just to step back and say: Why all this hubbub about
computers? What does all that mean?
Well, I think we should start with the point that cyber--and that
includes networks that are connected to the Internet and networks that
are not connected to the Internet--but cyber is deeply ingrained in
virtually every facet of our lives now, from the time we get up until
the time we go to sleep and all the times in between. We very much
depend on cyber, and anything you very much depend on can, and often
does, become a vulnerability.
We know of at least three different kinds of vulnerabilities these
days. People can reach through the Internet and steal information which
businesses, large, medium, and small, have produced. It happens every
day in this country. Intellectual property is ripped out of the
possession of those who produce it. And every time people steal
information, they cost us jobs; they are stealing jobs as well. So our
economy is directly affected by the difficulty in protecting the
information that we, as individuals and businesses, store on our
computers.
In addition to that, though, information can be destroyed on our
computers or it can be manipulated, or the computers themselves can be
manipulated so that what we intend to do or what we want to do is not
possible. If, for example, you have a lot of bank records that are
destroyed or other such important records, then it can have a huge
effect on our economy as well as our security.
But going beyond stealing information, destroying information, we now
know it's possible to reach through the Internet and other networks to
have physical consequences in the real world, to flip a switch, to open
a valve. It's the sort of thing that happened with the Stuxnet virus in
Iran. But there are physical consequences to doing so. So that's part
of the reason
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that people talk about the electricity grid going down, a whole city
being poisoned by its water supply, chemical plants releasing emissions
that they don't intend to release, physical consequences.
Real death, potentially, and destruction can occur all because of
things going on the Internet. That's the reason a lot of people talk
about a cyber 9/11 or a cyber Pearl Harbor.
I know it's tempting to think all that's hype, but the truth is that
over the past decade--and especially over the past couple of years--the
number and sophistication of threats has grown much more rapidly than
our ability to respond. And it's especially our laws and policies that
have not kept up with the growing sophistication of threats.
So the bills that we have before us this week, four of them, try to
begin to take a step to close that gap between the growing threat and
laws and policies. They don't solve all the problems, they don't try
to, but they are a step in the right direction.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. NUGENT. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute, if he needs
it.
Mr. THORNBERRY. I appreciate the gentleman yielding.
I would just point out two other things, briefly:
One is, again, one criticism one hears is that, well, you don't solve
this problem or that problem, and that is absolutely true. These bills,
all four of them, don't solve all the problems in cyberspace. But we
shouldn't let the pursuit of the perfect answer prevent us from
accomplishing some significant steps in the right direction, and that's
what these bills do.
The second point I'd make, as the gentleman from Florida mentioned,
is three of these bills were reported out of committee by voice vote.
The information-sharing bill was reported out 17 1. I believe that it
has been made better since then. New protections are there. A host of
restrictions on how the information can be used and privacy protections
have been added and will be added with the amendments to come.
So I think this deserves the support of all Members on both sides of
the aisle, and Members on both sides of the aisle should take credit
for taking a step to make our Nation more secure.
Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, it's my honor to yield 2 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I rise today to oppose the rule and the underlying bill, despite my
genuine concern for cybersecurity.
I believe that despite some positive changes by the chairman and
ranking member it still fails to adequately safeguard the privacy of
Americans, and that is why I am the one that voted against it in
committee.
We absolutely can combat the serious threat by cyberattacks and still
ensure that we are protecting not only our computer systems, but also
the civil liberties of Americans. As the Obama administration wrote
yesterday in opposition to this bill, ``cybersecurity and privacy are
not mutually exclusive.''
I am particularly concerned because this legislation has the
potential of exposing personal information of customers that may be
shared both with the government and between companies. The Obama
administration writes that the bill ``lacks sufficient limitations on
the sharing of personally identifiable information between private
entities.''
I offered an amendment to simply require companies to make reasonable
efforts to remove information unrelated to the cybersecurity threat
which can be used to identify specific persons. Even with this basic
standard for compliance, the big private companies refused to make the
effort, and my amendment was not made in order.
Further, the bill allows the U.S. military to directly receive
cyberinformation on Americans. By allowing companies to give
information to the NSA or other military agencies, this bill threatens
the long-held American tradition that the military does not snoop on
U.S. soil against U.S. citizens. So I also offered an amendment to
require that information to be received only by civilian agencies,
ensuring a layer of protection between citizens and the military.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. POLIS. I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Unfortunately, my amendments, together with all other
privacy amendments, will not be considered today.
{time} 1300
I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this rule and the
underlying bill. We can and we will have the opportunity to do better.
Mr. NUGENT. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Schiff).
Mr. SCHIFF. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to this rule and to the
underlying bill in its current form. I greatly appreciate the
nonpartisan work on the issue by Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member
Ruppersberger. They've worked in a refreshingly collaborative fashion
on this bill and on the work of the Intelligence Committee, generally.
Yet, I find I cannot support the bill in its current form due to my
concerns about its impact on civil liberties and the privacy of
Americans. While amendments were submitted to the Rules Committee that
would address these issues, including an amendment I jointly submitted
with Ms. Schakowsky and Mr. Hastings, none of these amendments were
made in order in this rule.
I share the view of the sponsors of the legislation that
cybersecurity is a serious issue that requires congressional action. I
also believe that information-sharing is an important piece of
responding to the cybersecurity threats, though it is, by no means,
sufficient alone without other elements such as hardening critical
infrastructure against cyberattacks.
I'm disappointed in the rule because the problems with the bill are
eminently fixable and, in fact, multiple amendments, including my own,
were submitted that would improve the bill.
Yesterday afternoon, the White House issued a Statement of
Administration Policy saying the President's senior advisers would
advise him to veto the bill if it came to him in the current form
because of the lack of protection for civil liberties. As the
administration's statement said: ``Cybersecurity and privacy are not
mutually exclusive.''
I believe we can and must protect ourselves from cyberattack and that
we can and must preserve our privacy. This is eminently doable, but we
are not there yet.
My amendment, which was not made in order, would have accomplished
four tasks. First, it would have made DHS, a civilian agency, the
primary coordinating agency for information-sharing.
Second, it would require rules to minimize the sharing of personally
identifiable information. The amount of personally identifiable
information shared would be the least amount needed to combat the
cybersecurity threat, and no more.
Third, it would narrow the uses of cybersecurity information to
cybersecurity purposes, specific national security threats, and certain
other serious crimes.
And, finally, it would more specifically define cyberthreat
information to make sure that we don't sweep up information we don't
intend to and don't need.
In conclusion, amendments like this one would have improved the bill
and better balanced the need to protect ourselves against cyberthreats
with the equal imperative of preserving the privacy of the American
people.
I am disappointed that the House won't have the opportunity to vote
on those amendments; and, as a result, I urge a ``no'' vote on the
rule.
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Barton).
(Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and
extend his remarks.)
Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I do rise in support of the rule. I
think the number of amendments that they've made in order is consistent
with Speaker Boehner's policy of running an open House.
Unfortunately, one of those amendments that was not made in order is
[[Page H2151]]
the Barton-Markey amendment on privacy. I am going to vote ``no'' on
the underlying bill because it does not protect the privacy of the
individual American citizen.
We do have a real threat, a cyberthreat, in this country. This bill
is an honest attempt to deal with that threat; but absent explicit
privacy protection against individuals, to me, that is a greater threat
to democracy and liberty than the cyberthreats that face America.
So unless they pull the bill and they revise some of the privacy
protections, I am going to ask for a ``no'' vote on the bill. But on
the rule, I do think we should vote for the rule.
Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to
this rule and the underlying bill.
At the beginning of this Congress, expectations were high for
meaningful progress on cybersecurity. Speaker Boehner even established
a task force within the Republican Conference to come up with
recommendations.
But a funny thing happened on the way to Cyber Week. Key Republican
task force recommendations were abandoned. They abandoned measures to
approve data breach notification laws, formalize DHS' cyber-role and,
more importantly, enhance the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure
networks.
These omissions from Cybersecurity Week were no small matter. We all
have critical infrastructure in our districts, be it a pipeline, a
power plant, an airport or even a dam.
Top national security officials, both in the Obama and Bush
administrations, have briefed us on the significant cyberattacks to
critical infrastructure. They have told us that voluntary information-
sharing is simply not enough.
In fact, the CSIS Cyber Commission, the Republican task force, and
NSA Director Alexander have all said that Congress must do something to
proactively address critical infrastructure vulnerabilities.
But House leadership ignores these voices. Instead, it has decided
that information-sharing alone is enough to fix the problem.
Mr. Speaker, this boils down to a simple question: Who do you trust?
Turning to H.R. 3523: What does it do?
In an effort to improve our cybersecurity, this bill would erode the
privacy protections of every single American using the Internet. Put
simply, this bill would allow any certified business to share with any
government agency, who can then use this information for any national
security purpose and grant that business immunity from virtually any
liability. None of these amendments authored by the Intelligence
Committee would change that truth.
Further, the Rules Committee decided to block consideration of
amendments submitted by me and other like-minded colleagues to address
the fundamental privacy flaws in this bill.
If my colleagues want to do something on cybersecurity, then vote
``yes'' on any or all of the suspension bills to be considered today;
but do not vote for H.R. 3523. It would set back the privacy rights
that our constituents have enjoyed since the beginning of the Internet.
Again, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule and the
underlying bill.
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey).
Mr. MARKEY. This legislation might as well be called the Cyber
Insecurity Bill because it fails to address the reality of cyberthreats
already facing our Nation. And if this bill had a privacy policy, it
would read: you have no privacy.
They would not even allow the Barton-Markey privacy language to be
put in order to debate out here on the House floor.
Let's talk about what the bill does not do. Although the bill would
allow the government to tell nuclear power plant operators that a new
version of the Stuxnet computer worm could cause widespread Fukushima-
style meltdowns in this country, would this bill require the industry
to take even a single step to protect American nuclear reactors? No.
Would this bill require industry to even tell the government what it
is doing to protect against a cyberthreat nuclear meltdown? No.
Would this bill require industry to even tell the government when it
had experienced an actual cyberattack? No.
Now, let's talk about what this bill would do. Could companies share
personal information about consumers with other companies, even if that
information had nothing to do with cybersecurity? Yes.
Would companies be free from liability if they share that personal
information of every American? Yes.
Could the government use personal information to spy on Americans?
Yes.
In this last Congress, Fred Upton and I wrote the GRID Act, which
passed by voice vote on the suspension calendar 2 years ago.
{time} 1310
It would have said to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: Do
you have the authority to mandate grid security standards against an
attack coming in from Iran or from China?
This bill does nothing to protect against the threat at the
electricity grid system in this country that could lead to nuclear
meltdowns. This Republican Congress still refuses to bring up the real
security we need against a cyberattack. We have an all-volunteer Army
in Iraq and Afghanistan, brave men and women, but they follow orders.
We must give the orders to the electric industry and to the other
industries to protect this country against a cyberattack. This bill
does not do it.
Mr. NUGENT. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. POLIS. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an
amendment to the rule to provide that, immediately after the House
adopts this rule, we will bring up H.R. 4816, Mr. Tierney's bill, to
prevent the doubling of student loan interest rates, fully paid for and
then some, reducing the deficit by $7 billion by repealing tax
giveaways for big oil companies.
To discuss our student loan bill, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney).
Mr. TIERNEY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that this House take action to stop the
need-based student loan interest rates from doubling at the end of
June. If we defeat the previous question, the House will have an
opportunity to take up a bill that I have filed and introduced that
will keep those interest rates at 3.4 percent for 1 year.
My Democratic colleagues and I recognize the importance of being
fiscally responsible, so our bill is completely paid for. We pay for it
by ending unnecessary tax subsidies for big oil and gas companies.
These are the same companies that took home $80 billion in profits last
year. Exxon pocketed nearly $4.7 million every hour.
We have to make choices here in Congress. Our side of the aisle
believes that it is a fair and reasonable choice to eliminate an
unjustified subsidy to hugely profitable industries so that 7 million
students, including some 177,000 in my Commonwealth of Massachusetts
alone, will not see an increase in their student loans. Our side of the
aisle believes that encouraging middle class students and their
families to be able to pay for college educations should be a bigger
priority than continuing tax subsidies for Big Oil.
Now, the other side of the aisle has been tremendously late to this
issue. I know the presumptive nominee for the Presidential race has
changed his mind and has come around to believing that this is
important--a practice that he does on a regular basis. They've come
around to the side of knowing that we should keep these interest rates
low, and we welcome that; but the fact of the matter is that they have
decided to make the wrong choice in how we're going to pay for it.
The bill that is expected to come to the House floor tomorrow
includes a short-term fix for the student loan issue, but it will do it
at the expense of women and children. What is it with my colleagues on
the other side of the aisle with the knee-jerk reaction of,
[[Page H2152]]
every time they have to do something, they take a gratuitous swipe at
women's health benefits and women's health choices? Their bill would
end funding for breast and cervical cancer screenings for women, and
their bill would end funding for child immunizations. Their bill makes
the wrong and the reckless choice.
I urge my colleagues to defeat this motion so that we can consider my
bill for a vote on the floor, a bill that makes the right choice, that
makes sure we keep the rates low, that makes sure the oil companies get
rid of that subsidy they no longer need or should have.
Mr. NUGENT. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. POLIS. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California, the
ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Mr.
Miller.
(Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California asked and was given permission to
revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I rise in strong support of the Tierney motion, the legislation that
he and Mr. Courtney of Connecticut introduced yesterday in the
Congress.
For years now, the Democrats have stood on the side of lower interest
rates for families and for students. We have paid for 4 years of that
starting in 2007. We took the money and the subsidies away from the big
banks, and we recycled that on behalf of students and their families in
order to lower the cost of college and to make it more affordable for
those families seeking college educations for their young children.
The fact of the matter is that the Republicans fought that effort.
They're fighting that effort today. Actually, they were fighting it
yesterday, and they changed their minds. After almost a unanimous vote
on their budget--the Ryan budget, the Republican budget--to allow
student interest rates to double, they have now changed their minds.
That's important. That's good. We need to make sure that the rates
don't double on July 1.
How are you going to pay for that?
We want it paid for. We don't want to do what they did last week and
provide $46 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and add it
to the deficit--$46 billion in new deficit spending in 1 year. So the
Speaker says, well, he's just going to take it out of the slush fund.
Really? The Speaker of the House thinks that the prevention fund is a
slush fund? The Speaker of the House thinks that birth defects and the
funding to mitigate birth defects is a slush fund? Does the Speaker of
the House really believe that a screening program for women with
cervical and breast cancer is a slush fund?
No. This is a matter of life and death for young children who get
immunized out of the prevention fund. For women who get this screening,
we know what the early detection of breast cancer means for women and
their survivability rates. This isn't a slush fund; but what they're
asking you to do is to repeal this fund that goes to communities all
over this country in order that people will have access to this kind of
preventative care.
Yes, they'll say, but you took some money out of this fund to do the
payroll tax reduction for the middle class. Yes, but we didn't repeal
the fund. They're taking $10 billion out of the fund and repealing it
and putting women and children at risk. That's not a slush fund, Mr.
Speaker. That's immoral.
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney).
Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, our second President, John Adams, once
said:
Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes
or the dictates of our passion cannot alter the state of
facts.
As to how we got here on the student loan bill, here are the facts.
Unlike what was stated by the proponent of this rule, on January 24,
the President of the United States stood on that podium and challenged
Congress to block the increase of rates from 3.4 percent to 6.8
percent. The Republican majority has done nothing over the last 3
months to respond to that--no bill, no hearing, no markup. In fact,
they passed the Ryan budget, which locked in the higher rate at 6.8
percent and doubled down and went after Pell Grants for needy students
who need those grants to pay for college.
The politics has changed. That's the fact.
What happened here, and the Speaker's reversal over the last 24
hours, which we welcome, is now being paid for by a grotesque pay-for
which goes after women and children rather than going after the folks
who can afford to pay for it--the oil companies, the gas companies that
made $137 billion in profits last year.
Support the Tierney motion and oppose this rule.
Mr. NUGENT. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. POLIS. It is my honor to yield 1 minute to my colleague, the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Peters).
Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have cosponsored legislation
with my colleagues Mr. Courtney and Mr. Tierney in order to keep
student loan rates from doubling in 65 days.
Right now, millions of high school seniors are deciding where they
are going to attend college. At kitchen tables across the country,
students are making decisions that will impact the rest of their lives.
So, today, I find it hard to believe that Republicans have decided to
pit public health against higher education. By introducing this
misguided, deeply partisan bill, it is clear that my Republican
colleagues aren't taking the responsibility to families very seriously.
It is unconscionable that this body would be playing politics with our
children's futures.
With the same urgency that Republicans rammed through a $46 billion
tax cut to millionaires and billionaires, I am sure we can find a
responsible way to prevent piling on even more debt on our college
students. I urge my colleagues to vote for the defeat of the previous
question and to adopt a bipartisan, bicameral solution that can be
quickly signed by the President.
Mr. NUGENT. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. POLIS. I would like to inquire of the gentleman from Florida if
he has or is expecting any additional speakers.
Mr. NUGENT. I do not.
Mr. POLIS. It is my honor to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democratic leader.
Ms. PELOSI. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for giving us this
opportunity to talk about a choice we have here today.
Everybody knows that what is essential to a democracy is the
education of our children, of investments in the future so that people
can reach their own personal self-fulfillment and provide for their
families but, also, so that our country can be competitive in the
global economy. It is a very important part of the American Dream.
{time} 1310
Democrats believe in imposing ladders of opportunity where people can
have the opportunity to succeed if they want to work hard, play by the
rules, take responsibility.
An important rung of that ladder is education. We all know the impact
that the GI Bill had on America's great middle class, growing America's
great middle class, the education of our returning veterans to our
country, enabling them to have more education than their parents, and
that has been the way it has always been in our country's history, the
enduring theme of reigniting the American Dream.
So we have a challenge before us, because the clock is ticking on a
July deadline. At that time, left to the budget of the Republicans, the
Ryan-Republican-Tea Party budget, there would have been a doubling of
interest rates from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. We've been having this
debate for a while on how we could stop that doubling from happening.
Republicans told us they were tired of hearing about the interest rate
debate.
Until now, thanks to President Obama taking this issue public so that
the American people understood what was at stake here and that the
doubling of interest rates would deprive some people of even going to
college and be more costly for many others. In fact, 7 million students
would be affected, and that means at least 20 million people, assuming
they have an average of two people in their families.
So this has a direct impact on many people in our country. It's a
bread-and-
[[Page H2153]]
butter issue. It's a kitchen table issue where people talk about how
they're going to make ends meet, and one of those ends is the education
of their children.
So all of a sudden Republicans in the House have seen the light.
They're willing to reverse a vote that they took not more than a week
ago--100 percent of them voted for the Ryan budget, which would allow
the interest rates to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. Thank God
they have seen the light. Thank you, President Obama, for shedding some
light on this, and now they say they're for stopping that.
But how do they want to pay for it? They want to take it from their
favorite target--women's health. I don't know why it hasn't dawned on
them yet that the health of America's women is very important to the
health of America's families.
So they want to take the funds from women's health and then also
childhood immunizations. That's very important. Immunization of every
child in America is very important to every other child in America.
That's where they want to take the money from.
The motion that we have here today is to say instead of taking the
money, instead of robbing Paula to pay Peter, we should be taking the
money from the tax subsidies that go to Big Oil in our country. That's
what we should be doing. Isn't that a better show of what our values
are, that we value the health of our women and our children?
To make matters worse, not only are they suggesting that we take the
money from the prevention fund, the immunization and screening for
breast cancer and cervical cancer and other women's health issues, not
only are they saying we should take the $6 billion from there, they're
saying we should take the additional $5 billion that would be left in
the account and repeal it. We're taking twice as much money as we need
for the student loan bill because we're going to use this as an excuse
to do away with this prevention initiative that affects women's health
so directly. It's outrageous. We prefer tax subsidies for Big Oil
rather than the health of America's women.
Once again, they're targeting women's health.
So, I urge my colleagues to vote against the previous question so we
will have an opportunity to at least put before the House an
alternative that says give us a choice to choose between whether we
want to pay for our young people's education by removing some of the
subsidies to Big Oil or we want to take it out of women's health.
The very idea that the Republicans would deny us a vote to do that
speaks very clearly about how focused they are on targeting women's
health as something that they want to cut.
So, again, I urge my colleague to vote ``no'' on the previous
question, which would allow the House to vote on a Democratic bill that
reduces the interest rates, keeps them at 3.4 instead of raising them
to 6.8, which is in the Republican budget. If we cannot do that, I urge
my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this ill-conceived, way-out-of-whack
statement of values that we would make women's health pay for
children's education when we should be doing both.
So ``no'' on the previous question--we're not allowed to at least
even take a vote--``no'' on the bill, and let's admit that we can do
better than that.
Mr. NUGENT. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. POLIS. I yield myself the remainder of the time.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the
amendment of Mr. Tierney's bill into the record along with extraneous
material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gingrey of Georgia). Is there objection
to the request of the gentleman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
Mr. POLIS. Mr. Tierney's bill will not only provide the House, as was
passionately argued by the leader, Ms. Pelosi, and Mr. Tierney, the
opportunity to decide between women's health or special tax breaks for
oil and gas companies, but will also reduce the deficit by $7 billion.
The time of record deficits when restoring the fiscal integrity of our
Nation is critical to our competitiveness in job creation. I hope that
this House acts boldly by defeating the previous question and allowing
us to vote on reducing the deficit by $7 billion.
With regard to CISPA, it simply strikes the wrong balance between
security and liberty. Information-sharing is important. I think a
bipartisan consensus can be reached. And while I appreciate the spirit
with which CISPA was offered and members of both parties worked on it,
the bill is so far from perfect, we need to continue to work on it and
defeat this rule and allow more amendments.
Any American who values his or her privacy should be concerned by the
implications of this bill trusting Big Government and secret agencies
with our most personal information. The reality is that CISPA
represents a massive government overreach in the name of security. We
need accountability and we need oversight. We can't have secretive
agencies accountable to no one with vast powers over American citizens
on our soil.
For these reasons, I oppose the underlying pieces of legislation. I
urge a ``no'' vote on the rule and the previous question.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I've been here now 1 year and 4 months, and
I'm always amazed at what we hear from the other side. I hear about how
this is supposed to be an attack on women's health. You know, it's
interesting because that's the position that President Obama's taken. I
understand that that's the position that my friends on the other side
of the aisle have taken, but it's not true.
You know, yesterday in markup in Energy and Commerce in regards to
this pay-for, they talked about a number of issues in regards to this
slush fund that HHS has. Now, it's interesting, part of that slush fund
comes out to a partly paid for by the U.S. Department Health and Human
Services, the Department's Communities Putting Prevention to Work
campaign.
{time} 1330
It's $100 million. Part of it was in spaying and neutering pets,
which I agree with, but I don't see how that is taking money away from
women's health. If you go on to HHS' Web site, where they actually
chronicle the spending from this slush fund, not one place does it talk
about cervical cancer or breast cancer in regards to the dollars spent.
So to stand here on this floor and accuse Republicans of being against
women and women's health when the facts don't back it up--if you go to
HHS' Web site, you will see specifically where the money has been
spent. Like I said, in one area it is $100 million. The other area that
they've gone after is media campaigns as they relate to soda, fast-
foods, and others. That's not women's health.
Mr. Speaker, the Democrats would like you to forget that in 2010,
they took over $9 billion away from student financial aid. The same
argument that they're making today, they took it away. I wasn't here in
2010, so it's kind of hard to have your cake and eat it, too. When we
say robbing from Peter to pay Paul, and now Peter needs the money,
those are students that need the money. Those are students that can't
afford to pay additional interest on loans that they're already having
a hard time paying off because they are trying to find a job.
Mr. Speaker, we've heard so much about cybersecurity today, but
remember that the committee started their work on cybersecurity over a
year ago in regards to hearings and working in a bipartisan way that
produced a bill that was overwhelmingly bipartisan, 17 1. In this
Congress, that's pretty difficult to do. But they saw the need based
upon their experience within where we stand today as it relates to
threats against our infrastructure, those people that actually create
jobs, and against our government.
Not only have they worked tirelessly amongst themselves, but they
reached out to other stakeholders in a way that I believe has been
unprecedented in regards to trying to craft a bill that, while not
perfect, is a step in the right direction.
This isn't about government coming in--you heard one gentleman up
here talking about how government should tell businesses what to do.
Folks, this is America. This is about freedom for businesses. If they
don't act upon information, shame on them. It's not about
[[Page H2154]]
government takeover of private businesses that tells them how to
operate. It is about, though, the ability of government to help
formulate the aspect of protecting our cybersecurity. It's all about
that. It's about sharing of information. It's about right now the
Federal Government is precluded from sharing information to help alert
those businesses out there to protect themselves. We know about it, and
we can't even tell them.
That was one of the inherent problems we had back in 9/11, the fact
that we couldn't talk to each other, that agencies didn't talk and
share information. Now we want to set ourselves up for a greater
catastrophe, one that could bring this Nation down to its knees or
worse.
You heard about regular order or not regular order. We had regular
order on the cybersecurity bill, and it's not enough. Sixteen
amendments were made in order. The gentleman from Colorado's amendment
was made in order. Five privacy-related amendments were made in order,
two Republican and three of those bipartisan. Of the total of those 16
amendments made in order, eight were Republican, four were Democrats,
and four were bipartisan. Mr. Speaker, I believe in regular order, and
I think that was a perfect example of how this House is supposed to
work. That was regular order at its best.
We talk about a fair and open process. I want to make sure that we
protect the American people; that when you go to bed tonight, your
financial information is still going to be secure tomorrow, that you're
going to have the ability to protect yourself financially. One of those
is to allow businesses to share cyberthreats that are made against them
and others, and also for the Federal Government to share when they see
a cyberthreat coming that could affect a business today in America.
HHS has discretion on how they spend that slush fund. Remember, that
money was stolen from students back in 2010 to provide for their
education. It was stolen. Call it what you want, but now it's just
righting a wrong. It's about making sure that our students have the
ability to get an education and hopefully get a great job.
I also heard my good friend from Colorado mention about how we're
going to make a decision as to who's a national security threat. He
mentioned the Tea Party in the same word with Communists. I think it's
pretty clear that the Tea Party is not a national security threat and
communism is. I don't think that takes a whole lot of rocket science.
Mr. POLIS. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. NUGENT. I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. POLIS. The point being made is that it depends on one's political
perspective where one sees a national security threat. Some see it on
the left, some see it on the right. I don't trust Big Government
decisionmakers to decide who is and isn't a threat to security.
Mr. NUGENT. Reclaiming my time, I get what you're saying. But at the
end of the day when you're trying to say, I guess, a description in
regards to that, and you say Communists and then you say Tea Party, I
think it's pretty clear. The Tea Party is not a threat to national
security. Communism is and has been.
Mr. Speaker, I support this rule and encourage my colleagues to
support it as well.
We're talking about two issues here today that have a lot of
bipartisan agreement. Our Nation's cybersecurity is just an integral
part of our national security as a whole. It's part--not all--but part
of our national security as a whole. And we agree something must be
done with our Nation's students as it relates to the loan debt that
they have. These are issues that I think we all agree on, Democrats and
Republicans alike.
I know from some of our previous conversations that my friend, Mr.
Polis, is a fan of NPR. So I wanted to let him know this, just in case
he didn't. This morning NPR did a story about the fact that China and
Russia aren't the only threats to our Nation's cybersecurity anymore.
In fact, according to the story today, the newest cybersecurity threat
we face today is going to continue and grow, and it's from Iran. Even
though Iran may not have as strong a cyberpresence now as Russia and
China do, it's continuing to grow. It's growing at the same time as
their nuclear program is growing, too. Iran has learned how to
manipulate the Internet to shut down protesters in their own country,
to hack Web sites that have antigovernment messages, and carry out
sophisticated cyberattacks in their own country to identify those
dissidents who may disagree with the government. With threats like that
growing every day, we need to make sure our networks here at home in
America are safe and secure.
This bipartisan--I can't stress this enough--this bipartisan Rogers
cybersecurity bill is critical. It's a critical step in ensuring
America and our private industry are safe from cyberattacks. We talk
about bipartisan a lot in this Chamber. We don't always practice it.
This committee not only practiced it, but they reached outside of the
committee itself to those that may be supportive and may be opposed,
and they tried to work and put forth amendments that would make this a
better bill.
{time} 1340
That's what it's all about, the amendment process, is to make
something better, nor tear it down. So I encourage colleagues on both
sides of the aisle to support this strongly bipartisan legislation both
on cybersecurity and protecting our students and student loans.
As the President begins his taxpayer-funded college tour, which is
really more like a reelection tour, he's going to be talking a lot
about student loan debt. Well, he can talk all he wants because in this
House we're going to act--and we're going to do it in a way that fixes
a problem that was a temporary fix for 5 years.
Well, guess what. We're going to fix it again. We're going to make
sure that our students have the ability to get a college education and
be able to pay it back in a way that they can be successful in the
future. We're going to make sure that the ratio of the student loan
rates don't double come this July 1.
In Washington-speak, to a lot of people, that's a ways off. But up
here, this House, this Congress has kicked cans down the road before to
the tune of 20 years when they're looking out and saying, oh, we've got
plenty of time, and all of sudden we have other issues facing this
country--and now we have one here.
This House is taking action to correct a wrong or a problem that
exists today in America, both in cybersecurity and in student loans,
and we're going to do it without costing the taxpayers anything by
taking money out of the ObamaCare slush fund, which was funded by cuts
to student loan programs to begin with, and sending it back to our
student loans.
Now remember, this slush fund can be used for anything. As we saw,
they used it for a whole bunch of things. As they tried to link us to
women's health issues, not one of those were related to that. Not one
nickle or dime was spent on those, even though they would like to say
it was.
So, Mr. Speaker, I support the rule and the underlying legislation.
The material previously referred to by Mr. Polis is as follows:
An Amendment to H. Res. 631 Offered by Mr. Polis of Colorado
Amend section 3 to read as follows:
Sec. 3.(a) Immediately upon adoption of this resolution the
Speaker shall, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XVIII, declare
the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole House on
the state of the Union for consideration of the bill (H.R.
4816) to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend the
reduced interest rate for Federal Direct Stafford Loans, and
for other purposes. The first reading of the bill shall be
dispensed with. All points of order against consideration of
the bill are waived. General debate shall be confined to the
bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided among and
controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the
Committee on Education and the Workforce and the chair and
ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means.
After general debate the bill shall be considered for
amendment under the five-minute rule. All points of order
against provisions in the bill are waived. At the conclusion
of consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee
shall rise and report the bill to the House with such
amendments as may have been adopted. The previous question
shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments
thereto to final
[[Page H2155]]
passage without intervening motion except one motion to
recommit with or without instructions. If the Committee of
the Whole rises and reports that it has come to no resolution
on the bill, then on the next legislative day the House
shall, immediately after the third daily order of business
under clause 1 of rule XIV, resolve into the Committee of the
Whole for further consideration of the bill.
(b) Clause 1(c) of rule XIX shall not apply to the
consideration of the bill specified in subsection (a).
____
(The information contained herein was provided by the
Republican Minority on multiple occasions throughout the
110th and 111th Congresses.)
The Vote on the Previous Question: What It Really Means
This vote, the vote on whether to order the previous
question on a special rule, is not merely a procedural vote.
A vote against ordering the previous question is a vote
against the Republican majority agenda and a vote to allow
the opposition, at least for the moment, to offer an
alternative plan. It is a vote about what the House should be
debating.
Mr. Clarence Cannon's Precedents of the House of
Representatives (VI, 308 311), describes the vote on the
previous question on the rule as ``a motion to direct or
control the consideration of the subject before the House
being made by the Member in charge.'' To defeat the previous
question is to give the opposition a chance to decide the
subject before the House. Cannon cites the Speaker's ruling
of January 13, 1920, to the effect that ``the refusal of the
House to sustain the demand for the previous question passes
the control of the resolution to the opposition'' in order to
offer an amendment. On March 15, 1909, a member of the
majority party offered a rule resolution. The House defeated
the previous question and a member of the opposition rose to
a parliamentary inquiry, asking who was entitled to
recognition. Speaker Joseph G. Cannon (R Illinois) said:
``The previous question having been refused, the gentleman
from New York, Mr. Fitzgerald, who had asked the gentleman to
yield to him for an amendment, is entitled to the first
recognition.''
Because the vote today may look bad for the Republican
majority they will say ``the vote on the previous question is
simply a vote on whether to proceed to an immediate vote on
adopting the resolution . . . [and] has no substantive
legislative or policy implications whatsoever.'' But that is
not what they have always said. Listen to the Republican
Leadership Manual on the Legislative Process in the United
States House of Representatives, (6th edition, page 135).
Here's how the Republicans describe the previous question
vote in their own manual: ``Although it is generally not
possible to amend the rule because the majority Member
controlling the time will not yield for the purpose of
offering an amendment, the same result may be achieved by
voting down the previous question on the rule. . . . When the
motion for the previous question is defeated, control of the
time passes to the Member who led the opposition to ordering
the previous question. That Member, because he then controls
the time, may offer an amendment to the rule, or yield for
the purpose of amendment.''
In Deschler's Procedure in the U.S. House of
Representatives, the subchapter titled ``Amending Special
Rules'' states: ``a refusal to order the previous question on
such a rule [a special rule reported from the Committee on
Rules] opens the resolution to amendment and further
debate.'' (Chapter 21, section 21.2) Section 21.3 continues:
``Upon rejection of the motion for the previous question on a
resolution reported from the Committee on Rules, control
shifts to the Member leading the opposition to the previous
question, who may offer a proper amendment or motion and who
controls the time for debate thereon.''
Clearly, the vote on the previous question on a rule does
have substantive policy implications. It is one of the only
available tools for those who oppose the Republican
majority's agenda and allows those with alternative views the
opportunity to offer an alternative plan.
Mr. NUGENT. With that, I yield back the balance of my time, and I
move the previous question on the resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on ordering the previous
question.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule
XX, this 15-minute vote on ordering the previous question will be
followed by 5-minute votes on adopting House Resolution 631, if
ordered; and suspending the rules and passing H.R. 2240, if ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 241,
nays 179, not voting 11, as follows:
[Roll No. 182]
YEAS--241
Adams
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Amash
Amodei
Austria
Bachmann
Bachus
Barletta
Bartlett
Barton (TX)
Bass (NH)
Benishek
Berg
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boren
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Brooks
Broun (GA)
Buchanan
Bucshon
Buerkle
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canseco
Cantor
Capito
Carter
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Coble
Coffman (CO)
Cole
Conaway
Cravaack
Crawford
Crenshaw
Cuellar
Culberson
Denham
Dent
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Dold
Dreier
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers
Emerson
Farenthold
Fincher
Fitzpatrick
Flake
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Gardner
Garrett
Gerlach
Gibbs
Gibson
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Green, Gene
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Grimm
Guinta
Guthrie
Hall
Hanna
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Heck
Hensarling
Herger
Herrera Beutler
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurt
Issa
Jenkins
Johnson (IL)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Jordan
Kelly
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kinzinger (IL)
Kline
Labrador
Lamborn
Lance
Landry
Lankford
Latham
LaTourette
Latta
Lewis (CA)
LoBiondo
Long
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Manzullo
Marchant
Matheson
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul
McClintock
McCotter
McKeon
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
Meehan
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Myrick
Neugebauer
Noem
Nugent
Nunes
Nunnelee
Olson
Palazzo
Paulsen
Pearce
Pence
Petri
Pitts
Platts
Poe (TX)
Pompeo
Posey
Price (GA)
Quayle
Reed
Rehberg
Reichert
Renacci
Ribble
Rigell
Rivera
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross (FL)
Royce
Runyan
Ryan (WI)
Scalise
Schilling
Schmidt
Schock
Schweikert
Scott (SC)
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shimkus
Shuler
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Stearns
Stivers
Stutzman
Terry
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Turner (NY)
Turner (OH)
Upton
Walberg
Walden
Walsh (IL)
Webster
West
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Wolf
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
Young (IN)
NAYS--179
Ackerman
Altmire
Andrews
Baca
Baldwin
Barrow
Bass (CA)
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Bonamici
Boswell
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown (FL)
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Carson (IN)
Castor (FL)
Chandler
Chu
Cicilline
Clarke (MI)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly (VA)
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Critz
Crowley
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
DeFazio
DeGette
DeLauro
Deutch
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly (IN)
Doyle
Edwards
Ellison
Engel
Eshoo
Farr
Fattah
Frank (MA)
Fudge
Garamendi
Gonzalez
Green, Al
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hahn
Hanabusa
Hastings (FL)
Heinrich
Higgins
Himes
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hochul
Holt
Honda
Hoyer
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson Lee (TX)
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Kaptur
Keating
Kildee
Kind
Kissell
Kucinich
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lujan
Lynch
Maloney
Markey
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McIntyre
McNerney
Meeks
Michaud
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Moore
Moran
Murphy (CT)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Olver
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor (AZ)
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peters
Peterson
Pingree (ME)
Polis
Price (NC)
Quigley
Rahall
Reyes
Richardson
Richmond
Ross (AR)
Rothman (NJ)
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrader
Schwartz
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell
Sherman
Sires
Smith (WA)
Speier
Stark
Sutton
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Tonko
Towns
Tsongas
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Watt
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Woolsey
Yarmuth
[[Page H2156]]
NOT VOTING--11
Davis (KY)
Filner
Holden
Marino
McHenry
Paul
Rangel
Slaughter
Sullivan
Waters
Waxman
{time} 1405
Mr. BILIRAKIS changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the previous question was ordered.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Stated against:
Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, on rollcall 182, I was away from the
Capitol due to prior commitments to my constituents. Had I been
present, I would have voted ``nay.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). The question is on the
resolution.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. POLIS. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. This will be a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 236,
nays 185, not voting 10, as follows:
[Roll No. 183]
YEAS--236
Adams
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Amash
Amodei
Austria
Bachmann
Bachus
Barletta
Bartlett
Barton (TX)
Bass (NH)
Benishek
Berg
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Black
Blackburn
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Brooks
Broun (GA)
Buchanan
Bucshon
Buerkle
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canseco
Cantor
Capito
Carter
Cassidy
Chabot
Chaffetz
Coble
Coffman (CO)
Cole
Conaway
Cravaack
Crawford
Crenshaw
Culberson
Denham
Dent
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Dold
Dreier
Duffy
Duncan (SC)
Duncan (TN)
Ellmers
Emerson
Farenthold
Fincher
Fitzpatrick
Flake
Fleischmann
Fleming
Flores
Forbes
Fortenberry
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Gardner
Garrett
Gerlach
Gibbs
Gibson
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Goodlatte
Gosar
Gowdy
Granger
Graves (GA)
Graves (MO)
Griffin (AR)
Griffith (VA)
Grimm
Guinta
Guthrie
Hall
Hanna
Harper
Harris
Hartzler
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Heck
Hensarling
Herger
Herrera Beutler
Huelskamp
Huizenga (MI)
Hultgren
Hunter
Hurt
Issa
Jenkins
Johnson (IL)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson, Sam
Jordan
Kelly
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kinzinger (IL)
Kline
Labrador
Lamborn
Lance
Landry
Lankford
Latham
LaTourette
Latta
Lewis (CA)
LoBiondo
Long
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Manzullo
Marchant
Matheson
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul
McClintock
McCotter
McKeon
McKinley
McMorris Rodgers
Meehan
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Mulvaney
Murphy (PA)
Myrick
Neugebauer
Noem
Nugent
Nunes
Nunnelee
Olson
Palazzo
Paulsen
Pearce
Pence
Petri
Pitts
Platts
Poe (TX)
Pompeo
Posey
Price (GA)
Quayle
Reed
Rehberg
Reichert
Renacci
Ribble
Rigell
Rivera
Roby
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Rokita
Rooney
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross (FL)
Royce
Runyan
Ryan (WI)
Scalise
Schilling
Schmidt
Schock
Schweikert
Scott (SC)
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Shimkus
Shuler
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Southerland
Stearns
Stivers
Stutzman
Terry
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tipton
Turner (NY)
Turner (OH)
Upton
Walberg
Walden
Walsh (IL)
Webster
West
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Wolf
Womack
Woodall
Yoder
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
Young (IN)
NAYS--185
Ackerman
Altmire
Andrews
Baca
Baldwin
Barrow
Bass (CA)
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Bonamici
Boren
Boswell
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown (FL)
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Carson (IN)
Castor (FL)
Chandler
Chu
Cicilline
Clarke (MI)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly (VA)
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Critz
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
DeFazio
DeGette
DeLauro
Deutch
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly (IN)
Doyle
Edwards
Ellison
Engel
Eshoo
Farr
Fattah
Frank (MA)
Fudge
Garamendi
Gonzalez
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hahn
Hanabusa
Hastings (FL)
Heinrich
Higgins
Himes
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hochul
Holt
Honda
Hoyer
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson Lee (TX)
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Jones
Kaptur
Keating
Kildee
Kind
Kissell
Kucinich
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee (CA)
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lujan
Lynch
Maloney
Markey
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McIntyre
McNerney
Meeks
Michaud
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Moore
Moran
Murphy (CT)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Olver
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor (AZ)
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peters
Peterson
Pingree (ME)
Polis
Price (NC)
Quigley
Rahall
Reyes
Richardson
Richmond
Ross (AR)
Rothman (NJ)
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrader
Schwartz
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell
Sherman
Sires
Smith (WA)
Speier
Stark
Sutton
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Tonko
Towns
Tsongas
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watt
Waxman
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Woolsey
Yarmuth
NOT VOTING--10
Davis (KY)
Filner
Holden
Marino
McHenry
Paul
Rangel
Sessions
Slaughter
Sullivan
Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). There are 2 minutes
remaining.
{time} 1414
So the resolution was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Stated against:
Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 183, I was away from the
Capitol due to prior commitments to my constituents. Had I been
present, I would have voted ``nay.''
____________________