House will vote on sunset clause for cyber bills

Lawmakers will get to vote on whether the House’s two major cybersecurity bills should sunset after seven years.

In a Tuesday night meeting, the Rules Committee set the floor procedure for the two bills, which are expected to be approved during votes Wednesday and Thursday.

{mosads}As expected, the majority of the 62 amendments offered — many of them privacy-oriented — will not get full House votes. The sunset clause, however, which failed to get adopted during the markup of either bill, will get another shot on the floor.

The two cyber bills — one from the Intelligence panel, another from Homeland Security — are considered complementary measures.

Together, they would grant companies liability protections when sharing hacking information with civilian government agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Treasury Department.

A broad, bipartisan group of lawmakers, government officials and most industry groups argue greater data sharing is necessary to better understand hackers’ tactics and defend the country’s networks.

But privacy advocates have warned the bills will simply shuttle more sensitive data to the National Security Agency (NSA).

A bevy of amendments reflecting these fears were filed to the Rules Committee ahead of the meeting. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) alone filed 11 privacy alterations.

None of his proposals will make it to the floor.

Reps. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) also offered as an amendment to their popular bill that would require a warrant for law enforcement to access email. The measure was co-sponsored last Congress by more than half of House members. But the Rules Committee decided Tuesday the language was not germane to the cyber bills at hand.

Fourth Amendment protections from unreasonable search and seizures “somehow stop with the Internet arena,” Yoder told the panel.

Several lawmakers expressed interest in taking the Polis-Yoder language up at some point, but said this was the appropriate time.

The seven-year sunset clause — which divided Republicans and Democrats during the markup process — might have a shot on the floor.

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Tuesday he would actually be open to such a provision. The chairman had previously opposed the idea when the committee’s top Democrat, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), offered it during markup.