House Homeland Security Committee approves additional $865M for CISA
House lawmakers on the Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday approved an amendment that will provide the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency with an additional $865 million if it passes into law.
The amendment to the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill was proposed by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and includes specific details of how the funding must be used.
It includes $400 million for the implementation of Biden’s cybersecurity executive order, $100 million for cybersecurity education and training, and $210 million for general operations and support.
The $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill passed the House on August 24, and earlier this week was partially approved by the House Ways and Means Committee.
CISA has in recent months sought further support from Congress to address cybersecurity threats to the U.S. Speaking at CyberScoop’s CyberTalks conference in June, acting director of the agency Brandon Wales called for additional support from lawmakers.
“We are using our voice at CISA to raise awareness, provide best practices, advocate for more funding, but we can’t do it alone,” Wales said, speaking at the time. “We need continued support from Congress, including in critical new areas such as dedicated cybersecurity preparedness grants for our state and local governments, and establishing a new cybersecurity recovery fund to ensure our nation can respond to catastrophic cyber incidents.”
Democrats are hoping to pass the full $3.5 trillion package in the coming weeks throught the reconciliation process.
