Mike Thompson: “I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank both the ranking member and the chairman for their good work on this…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank both the ranking member and the chairman for their good work on this measure and for including all of us in trying to build a better product. Clearly, the threat of a devastating cyber attack is real and, as has been mentioned by a number of previous speakers, can't be understated. Advanced cyber attacks from China and other nation-state actors are stealing hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of cutting-edge research and development from our U.S. companies and even from our Federal Government. That's why it's essential that the business community and the Federal Government work together to share cyber threat information for the purpose of protecting the American people from the fallout of cyber attacks and cyber hackers. While it's important that we protect against the threat of cybersecurity, it's equally as important that we recognize the responsibility to protect the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Though I support H.R. 624, both for the fact that it is important that we address these issues and because I believe it needs to be moved on and we can get it in conference committee with the Senate bill, I remain somewhat concerned that the bill as drafted could lead to the broad sharing of consumer information which in turn could be used in ways unrelated to combating cybersecurity threats.…”