Cyber caucus slams groups’ request to oppose legislation

The co-chairmen of the House Cyber Security Caucus shut down a request this week from public interest groups asking the lawmakers to oppose a Republican-backed bill they claim threatens the privacy of asbestos victims.

Supporting or opposing legislation is not what the caucus does, Reps. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a strongly worded letter back to the Environmental Working Group Action Fund and five other organizations.

“We would have been happy to explain this to you had you raised the issue with us directly,” their letter said. “We regret that, in making this letter public without consulting us, you have impugned this worthy educational organization, which we believe has helped build policy knowledge on Capitol Hill.”

The groups, including Public Citizen and the Center for Justice and Democracy, asked the caucus in letter on Wednesday to oppose the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2015.

The bill, approved by the Judiciary Committee in May and introduced in the Senate, aims to protect the finite trusts that compensate asbestos victims from paying fraudulent or inflated claims by forcing them to produce quarterly reports that include information about demands for payment and the basis for payments made. 

Because the bill would force victims to disclose sensitive personal information on the Internet, the groups appealed to the cyber caucus for help.

But Langevin and McCaul said the groups did so without taking the time to familiarize themselves with the caucus, which formed in 2008 to raise awareness of cybersecurity as an issue and be a forum for members and their staffs to discuss the challenges of cyberspace. 

“In the future, we invite you to discuss your concerns and desires regarding the policy positions of particular members of Congress with those members directly, rather than implicating a neutral forum following its own mission of neither endorsing nor opposing legislation,” they said.

In a statement, EWG Action Fund Spokesman Alex Formuzis said the group hopes the caucus closely reviews any legislation that goes against its core mission. 

“Proposals that put innocent Americans, and in the case of the so-called FACT Act, suffering asbestos victims at risk of cyber attacks should be opposed by all members of Congress,” he said.

This story was updated to include a statement from EWG Action Fund.