House intel chair: Cyber bill may lack mandatory standards

The White House and Senate Democrats may be forced to settle for cybersecurity legislation that doesn’t include mandatory standards for critical computer networks, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said on Monday.

Rogers successfully shepherded a controversial cybersecurity information-sharing bill through the House in April, but White House officials and Senate leaders say any cybersecurity legislation must include more authority for Homeland Security Department officials to require some businesses to more effectively protect their networks.
 

A bill that includes such standards is bogged down in the Senate, however, and at a luncheon hosted by The Week, Rogers expressed skepticism that the bill’s sponsors will be able to gather enough support. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., are trying to work out a compromise that may include voluntary standards, but Republicans wary of any new government regulations still may not buy it.
 

Still, Rogers said he is optimistic that the House and Senate can eventually come to an agreement.

The White House threatened to veto Rogers’s bill, objecting that it doesn’t go far enough to protect critical infrastructure such as water systems and power grids. But Rogers said he believes the administration will back down eventually.