Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, today I rise with my good friend and fellow co-chair of the Congressional Career and Technical Education Caucus, Mr. Thompson, to introduce the Cybersecurity Education Integration Act, a bill to develop CTE programs that include cybersecurity education. Whether in our hospitals or our power grid, systems that make up our critical infrastructure are increasingly internet-enabled. These connections undoubtedly increase efficiency and service quality but, unfortunately, they also provide pathways for cyber intruders to wreak havoc. Mr. Speaker, we need to provide training for workers who deal with these systems on a day-to-day basis, whether it is in the transportation, energy, or health sectors, so that they can keep us safe, so they can identify these cybersecurity vulnerabilities early on and prevent them, hopefully, from happening in the first place. Many CTE programs already have strong physical safety elements; however, cybersecurity is rarely included. We can't think of this as an afterthought. It needs to be a forethought. By funding the creation of CTE programs that fully integrate cybersecurity into their coursework, we can ensure workers have the skills to protect our Nation's infrastructure. I thank Representative Thompson for his partnership on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support our bipartisan effort. ____________________”