Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 498, the 9-8-8 Lifeline Cybersecurity Responsibility Act, led by Mr. Obernolte. In 2021, more than 48,000 people died by suicide in the United States. That equates to 132 people every day. These are our family members, our neighbors, and our friends. This number is staggering, and unfortunately, suicide deaths are continuing to rise. People need hope and healing. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers used to support people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. This has proven to be a vital resource, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when government-imposed lockdowns led to increased social isolation and loneliness. The lifeline suffered a cybersecurity attack in December 2022 and was proactively taken offline for several hours. It is unknown how many individuals were hurt by the outage, but we do know that individuals in emotional distress or suicide crisis were unable to utilize the lifeline for hours. H.R. 498 would improve the lifeline's cybersecurity protections by requiring coordination between SAMHSA and the chief information security officer within HHS. Additionally, this bill would require the lifeline administrator and local call centers to report any cybersecurity incidents and vulnerabilities to SAMHSA as soon as they are identified.…”