Cybersecurity bill fails to advance in US Senate

Xinhua, August 3, 2012

The U.S. Senate on Thursday failed to agree to advance the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 to a formal vote due to deep divisions among the lawmakers on how to deal with the challenge in a right way.

The bill, aimed at beefing up the digital defense of critical infrastructure companies against cyber attacks, needed 60 votes to advance to the Senate floor, but a motion filed by Majority leader Harry Reid to force a vote failed in a vote of 52-46.

Republican lawmakers were opposed to the bill for fear that the government will only increase costs for companies running the country's critical infrastructure industries without substantially reducing risks of cyber attacks.

In response, White House spokesman Jay Carney criticized the Republicans for playing the "politics of obstructionism, driven by special interest groups seeking to avoid accountability," by blocking the legislation to better protect the U.S. from " potentially catastrophic" cyber attacks.

The U.S. military has been warning about the risks to national security posed by cyber attacks on the U.S. critical infrastructure networks running the power grid, water plants, and transportation system.

In mid-July, U.S. President Barack Obama also strongly urged the Senate to pass the cybersecurity bill to prevent future cyber attacks, warning they could paralyze the country by disrupting critical infrastructure networks.

Obama said the legislation will make it easier for the government and critical infrastructure companies to share data and information on the cyber threat, so they can be better prepared.

The Cybersecurity Act, which was first proposed in February, calls for setting up the National Cybersecurity Council, to be chaired by Secretary of Homeland Security, to coordinate efforts to deal with the cyber threat.

But Republican lawmakers and business lobbyists, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, oppose the bill, citing it would harm the private companies that operate the critical infrastructure networks by creating new bureaucracy and increasing the costs of operation.