Dutch Ruppersberger: “First thing, I want to thank the ranking member, Mr. Thompson, and I want to thank Mr. McCaul and Mr. Rogers for coming…”

“First thing, I want to thank the ranking member, Mr. Thompson, and I want to thank Mr. McCaul and Mr. Rogers for coming together. That's what we're elected to do, to come together in a bipartisan way and to deal with difficult issues. And they were difficult issues. But we're here today to all support this amendment. The White House and the privacy groups raised this as one of the main issues with the bill. These groups were concerned that there was an impression, wrongly, I believe, that the military would control the program. This was never the case, but we heard these concerns, and we are addressing them in this amendment. It means that companies sharing information about cyber threats will go to the Department of Homeland Security, a civilian agency. If the information is related to cybersecurity crime, the companies will go to the Department of Justice, another civilian agency. The amendment requires that the Department of Homeland Security share this information with other government agencies in real-time so they can use it to protect against future cyber threats and attacks. This amendment ensures we protect the security of our Nation, but also protect the privacy and liberties of our country and our citizens. I strongly support this amendment and urge other Members to do the same. I commend, again, Ranking Member Thompson, Chairman McCaul, Chairman Rogers for coming together at the last moment. I respectfully request a ``yes'' vote on the amendment.…”