[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18874]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY PROTECTION ACT, S. 2519

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES R. LANGEVIN

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 11, 2014

  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the National 
Cybersecurity Protection Act and the Senate Amendment to the 
Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act. I applaud my friend and fellow 
co-Chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, Mike McCaul, as 
well as Chairman Carper in the Senate and Ranking Member Thompson here 
in the House, for their efforts to bring this legislation to this 
point.
  I believe that cybersecurity is one of the defining national security 
challenges of our time. No other issue affects our national defense, 
our economic well-being, and our individual lives as cybersecurity 
does. With each day's news rife with stories of cyberattacks and data 
breaches that target our agencies, companies, citizens and allies, we 
as policymakers have a responsibility to act.
  I have made no secret of the frustration I have felt for the past 
several years as Congress has failed to act to shore up our 
cybersecurity. This week, with these bills and others, we are making a 
down payment on what must be a sustained level of attention and effort. 
The challenge we face demands no less.
  But so very much more needs to be done--and soon. I am extremely 
disappointed that the Senate has failed to pass information sharing 
legislation that was approved by the House, legislation that the 
private sector and government agencies agree is long overdue. And while 
the bills before us and others that Congress has passed in recent days 
are important, even these measures are limited in scope. In particular, 
they do not address any organizational changes within the executive 
branch that I firmly believe are necessary, such as the creation of a 
National Office for Cyberspace within the Executive Office of the 
President, with budgetary oversight powers, able to coordinate and 
oversee the security of agency information systems and infrastructure 
across government.
  Still and all, these pieces of legislation move the ball forward in 
key areas, and above all ends the inaction on cybersecurity issues that 
has gripped this Congress for far too long. I applaud my House and 
Senate colleagues for their efforts, and urge support of these 
measures.

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