The House Homeland Security Committee reported to the...

The House Homeland Security Committee reported to the House Wednesday an amended version of the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (HR-3696) after the House Oversight and Science committees agreed to waive their jurisdiction over the bill (http://1.usa.gov/1rebvQx). Neither the Oversight nor Science committees had taken action on the bill, while House Homeland Security cleared it in February (CD Feb 6 p7). The bill would codify the Department of Homeland Security’s existing role in dealing with cybersecurity issues, but would not extend the department’s powers. HR-3696’s supporters have been pushing behind the scenes for the bill to get a House vote before the upcoming recess, an industry lobbyist said. The version of HR-3696 reported to the House Wednesday included the removal of a section that would have dealt with federal civilian networks, which sponsors agreed to remove because of a “jurisdictional issue” with House Oversight, along with other minor changes, a House Homeland Security aide told us. House leaders are considering the bill for floor action “in the near future,” the aide said.