Over $ 500 million for cybersecurity included in house-passed sweep package

The House on Friday approved more than $ 500 million in cybersecurity funding as part of its version of President Biden’s roughly $ 2 trillion Build Back Better program.

The Social and Climate Expenditure Bill, passed by a narrow vote of 220-213, would primarily channel these funds to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to help address issues such as workforce training. cybersecurity work as well as state and local government cybersecurity.

The package gives CISA $ 100 million for cybersecurity risk mitigation issues, $ 100 million for cybersecurity workforce and training, $ 50 million for moving to a secure cloud architecture, and $ 50 million more to research and develop strategies to secure industrial control systems.

The bill also allocates $ 35 million to CISA to fund the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), $ 15 million for a cybersecurity teacher training effort, and $ 50 million for CISA’s CyberSentry program, which monitors networks. groups of critical infrastructure for threats.

Beyond the CISA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has received a total of $ 100 million to help state, local, territorial and tribal governments recruit and train a cyber workforce work and move to more secure website domains.

“I could not be prouder that the Democratic majority in the House has come together today, with a sense of urgency, to act for the people and to tackle climate change and a wide range of other challenges that put our communities at risk “, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie thompsonBennie Gordon ThompsonThe Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by ExxonMobil – Gosar censored as GOP drama prompts Bannon to plead not guilty in contempt of court (D-Miss.) Said in a statement Friday.

“It is also investing in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to help state and local governments develop secure and resilient critical infrastructure networks, including by accelerating the transition of state and local governments to the .gov domain and increasing it. the ability to hire advocates for the network, “said Thompson.

The cybersecurity funds in the bill are the latest effort by Congress and the Biden administration to fund security priorities after a year of growing cyber attacks on key organizations, such as the ransomware attacks against Colonial Pipeline and the meat producer JBS USA in May.

The $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure package sign enacted by President Biden earlier this week, included $ 1 billion over four years to fund state and local cybersecurity efforts, an area where money has been lacking, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The larger Build Back Better package, which Republicans uniformly oppose, still has to pass through the Senate before it has a chance to be enacted by President Biden.

“I look forward to swift passage through the Senate so that it can be signed by President Biden and begin to improve the lives of our constituents across the country,” Thompson said.