Political Quotes

“I want to begin by thanking Chairman Issa for sponsoring this legislation and for making this a truly bipartisan effort. I am pleased to join the chairman in sponsoring this bill again this Congress. Also, I thank the other cosponsors of the bill, including the chairman and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, Representatives John Mica and Gerry Connolly, and the chairman and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on National Security, Representatives Jason Chaffetz and John Tierney. Last month, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, placed cyber attacks at the top of his list of national security threats. This bill is an important step in Congress' response to the cyber threat. This legislation would ensure that Federal agencies use a risk-based approach to defend against cyber attacks and protect government information from being compromised by our adversaries. It is important that the Federal Government set the example by ensuring that its own information is protected. The Department of Energy was hacked in January, and personal data for hundreds of employees was compromised. We are better than that, Mr. Speaker, and we can do better. Personal data for more than 100,000 accounts in the Thrift Savings Plan was compromised last year when a contractor's computer was hacked. This bill would shift the Federal Government to a system of continuous monitoring of information systems.…”