[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 139 (Monday, September 9, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H5061-H5062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1645
 REMOVING OUR UNSECURE TECHNOLOGIES TO ENSURE RELIABILITY AND SECURITY 
                                  ACT

  Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 7589) to direct the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the 
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, to 
conduct a study of the national security risks posed by consumer 
routers, modems, and devices that combine a modem and router, and for 
other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 7589

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Removing Our Unsecure 
     Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security Act'' or the 
     ``ROUTERS Act''.

     SEC. 2. STUDY OF NATIONAL SECURITY RISKS POSED BY CERTAIN 
                   ROUTERS AND MODEMS.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary shall conduct a study of the 
     national security risks posed by consumer routers, modems, 
     and devices that combine a modem and router that are 
     designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons 
     owned by, controlled by, or subject to the influence of a 
     covered country.
       (b) Report to Congress.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 
     to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
     Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
     Transportation of the Senate a report on the results of the 
     study conducted under subsection (a).
       (c) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Covered country.--The term ``covered country'' means a 
     country specified in section 4872(d)(2) of title 10, United 
     States Code.
       (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Commerce, acting through the Assistant Secretary of 
     Commerce for Communications and Information.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Latta) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material in the Record on the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my legislation, H.R. 7589, the 
ROUTERS Act.
  Routers and modems play a key role in communications networks. They 
are the entry point through which the public accesses the internet. 
Thus, we must make sure that they are secure.
  Bad actors can exploit vulnerabilities in routers to infect users' 
computers, access their information, or disrupt their networks.
  National security agencies, including the Director of National 
Intelligence, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Homeland 
Security, have reported on the threat posed by the vulnerability in 
routers and how some Communist Chinese Party-sponsored hackers have 
used these vulnerabilities to launch attacks. We should take these 
matters and reports seriously.
  Further, we know that companies with ties to the CCP could be forced 
to support China's intelligence activities. We can imagine how they 
could use vulnerabilities in their equipment to aid these efforts.
  That is why I am pleased to sponsor the ROUTERS Act, which would 
direct

[[Page H5062]]

the Secretary of Commerce through the Assistant Secretary of 
Communications and Information to study the national security risk 
posed by routers and modems produced by companies with ties to foreign 
adversaries. This study will help Congress understand the scope and 
risk of this threat and will inform whether we need to remove this 
equipment from our networks.
  This legislation bolsters our bipartisan efforts to remove untrusted 
equipment from our communications ecosystem.
  In the past 4 years, we passed the Secure and Trusted Communications 
Networks Act to remove Huawei and ZTE equipment from our networks, and 
we passed the Secure Equipment Act, which prohibits the Federal 
Communications Commission from authorizing equipment from untrusted 
vendors. Today's legislation builds on this work.
  I thank our chair, the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. Rodgers), 
and the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee for a strong 
bipartisan vote for this legislation back in March. It is imperative we 
move forward with these efforts to mitigate the widespread availability 
of this equipment.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7589, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7589, the Removing Our 
Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security Act, or the 
ROUTERS Act.
  This bill is an important step to provide Americans with the 
confidence to trust that the devices they use in their homes to connect 
to the internet are free from the influence of our foreign adversaries.
  H.R. 7589 accomplishes this objective by requiring the Secretary of 
Commerce, acting through the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 
Communications and Information, to study the national security risk 
posed by routers and modems found in American homes that are 
manufactured or sold to entities with ties to foreign adversary 
countries. The Secretary must also deliver a report to Congress of this 
study within 1 year.
  I think it is crucial that we understand the cybersecurity and 
national security risks that our networks face from equipment that 
originates from our foreign adversaries. This is especially true given 
that our Nation's communications networks are an integral component to 
nearly every facet of American life, which also makes them prime 
targets for attack.
  This legislation will help us to better protect American families and 
our country from bad actors who want to carry out malicious attacks.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Peltola and Chairman Latta of the 
Subcommittee on Communications and Technology for their bipartisan work 
on this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, this is another bill that is part of this effort to try 
to make sure that our foreign adversaries are not hurting us in many 
ways in the communications sector. It is an important bill, and I urge 
my colleagues to vote for it on a bipartisan basis. I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, this legislation moved through the Energy and 
Commerce Committee 43-0, showing the absolute importance of moving this 
legislation through. I urge support of H.R. 7589 and yield back the 
balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Meuser). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta) that the House suspend 
the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 7589.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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