Janice Schakowsky: “I sincerely want to thank the chair and ranking member of the Intelligence Committee and express my appreciation for all…”

“I sincerely want to thank the chair and ranking member of the Intelligence Committee and express my appreciation for all of their efforts to work in a bipartisan manner and to address the concerns raised by me, by civil liberties groups, and by the White House. However, I rise today in opposition to the bill. While I strongly believe that we need to address the serious cybersecurity threat--there is no question about that--I think we can do it without compromising our civil liberties. Despite some positive changes, I feel this bill fails to adequately safeguard the privacy of Americans. Cybersecurity and privacy are not mutually exclusive, and this bill fails to achieve a balance between protecting our networks and safeguarding our liberties. Yesterday, I offered an amendment that would have made critical advances toward protecting privacy. My amendment would have required that companies report cyber threat information directly to civilian agencies, maintaining the longstanding tradition that the military doesn't operate on U.S. soil or collect information of American citizens. Another important amendment offered by Congressman Schiff would have required companies to make ``reasonable efforts'' to remove personal information before sharing cyber threat information. Unfortunately, those critical amendments were not made in order. Yesterday, the Obama administration expressed ongoing concerns about this legislation, issuing a veto threat.…”