Enhancing Grid Security Through Public-Private Partnerships Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2931, the first of two grid security bills I have worked closely on with my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney) over the last several Congresses.

The goal of these two bills is to improve the resiliency of our Nation's energy grid against cyberattacks. Since the House last considered these bills on the floor, our country has experienced a new wave of cyberattacks on our critical infrastructure.

On December 13, 2020, the cybersecurity firm, FireEye, published research that a malicious actor was exploiting a supply chain vulnerability in SolarWinds products to hack into government and private sector information technology networks.

On May 8 of this year, the Colonial Pipeline Company announced that it was forced to halt its pipeline operation due to a ransomware attack, which disrupted critical supplies of gasoline and other refined products throughout the Southeast and the East Coast.

Cyberattacks on our critical infrastructure will only continue to grow in both size and severity and Congress must take a stand. H.R. 2931, the Enhancing Grid Security Through Public-Private Partnerships Act, will facilitate and encourage public-private partnerships in order to improve the cybersecurity of electric utilities.

Specifically, it would develop and provide for voluntary implementation of maturity models, self-assessments, and auditing methods for assessing the physical security and cybersecurity of electric utilities.

H.R. 2931 would provide training and technical assistance to electric utilities to address and mitigate cybersecurity supply chain management risks and increase opportunities for sharing best practices and data collection within the electric sector.

Finally, this legislation will require the Secretary of Energy to submit a report to Congress that assesses priorities, policies, procedures, actions, and implementations of electricity distribution systems to address threats to and vulnerabilities of such electricity distribution systems. We cannot allow criminal cyber behavior to go unchallenged. Both H.R. 2931 and H.R. 2928 will help in the fight against cyber attacks.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Pallone, Chairman Rush, leaders Rodgers and Upton for their efforts to advance these bills, and I encourage all my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on final passage.

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Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, again, from the recent attacks that we have had across the country in the last year and a half, it shows the importance of making sure that we are protected on the cybersecurity front. And working with my good friend and colleague from California, it has been so important that we get these two bills across the finish line today.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members today to support H.R. 2931, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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