[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 60 (Thursday, April 23, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E568]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        H.R. 1560 AND H.R. 1731

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                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 23, 2015

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I voted against H.R. 1560, the 
Protecting Cyber Networks Act and H.R. 1731, National Cybersecurity 
Protection Advancement Act.
  H.R. 1560 was an overly broad intrusion into civil liberties. While 
H.R. 1730 was more narrowly tailored and represented progress from 
previous cybersecurity bills that the House has considered, I continue 
to have reservations, particularly with the liability provisions in the 
bill.
  Protecting ourselves against cyber-attacks is critical for national 
security and for a robust economy, and I strongly support taking 
actions to ensure that we have the best mechanisms in place to defend 
against cybersecurity threats. In working toward this goal, however, we 
cannot sacrifice important civil liberties or the privacy of American 
citizens. We must also ensure that companies can be held accountable if 
they fail to protect personal information or fail to act on 
cybersecurity threat information.
  I will work to help these proposals to evolve so that we will 
consider an improved solution in the future.

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