{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/10/more-bipartisan-support-for-king-risch-bill-to-secure-energy-infrastructure", "More Bipartisan Support for King, Risch Bill to Secure Energy Infrastructure", "2017-10-05", "2017", "2017-10", "Republican", "House", "ID", "Jim Risch", "R000584", "www.risch.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Companion bill introduced in the House of Representatives\r\n\u00a0\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), members of both the Senate Intelligence and Energy and Natural Resources Committees, today applauded the introduction of the Securing Energy Infrastructure Act in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representatives Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) and John Carter (R-TX). The bipartisan legislation serves as a companion bill to legislation introduced by Senators King and Risch and aims to examine\u00a0solutions to defend the U.S. energy grid using a \u201cretro\u201d approach that could safeguard against cyber-attacks.\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u201cOver the past several years, we have weathered numerous cyber-attacks that have targeted American businesses, people, and government agencies, with the potential for bigger and more damaging attacks growing by the day. That\u2019s why strengthening major components of our national infrastructure \u2013 like our electric grid \u2013 is critical to our national security,\u201d Senator King said. \u201cBy making our electric grid more resilient, we can mitigate the impact of major cyber-attacks on our country and protect American people. I am encouraged to see this common-sense bill has gained support in the House, and urge my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to move it through Congress.\u201d\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u201cRecent cyber-attacks against the U.S. demonstrate how urgently we must act to better defend ourselves, our critical energy infrastructure and our control systems from potentially catastrophic threats,\u201d\u00a0said Senator Risch.\u00a0\u201cI appreciate Congressmen Ruppersberger\u2019s and Carter\u2019s leadership in introducing a companion version of our Senate bill in the House today. There is a clear need to develop techniques and technologies to secure our grid and I look forward to working with our partners in the House to see it through.\u201d\r\n\u00a0\r\nCongressman Ruppersberger said, \u201cThe serious threats to our critical energy infrastructure continue to escalate in cyberspace at an alarming rate. We know our adversaries are exploiting vulnerabilities that exist at both large and small energy companies. In a world centered on technology, we must shore up systems that protect critical resources.\u201d\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u201cSecuring our country\u2019s energy infrastructure is a national security priority.\u00a0 Understanding where our system\u2019s weak spots are will only enhance efforts to support robust efforts to ensure we have the most stable and secure energy networks in the world,\u201d said Congressman Carter.\r\n\u00a0\r\nThe text of the\u00a0Securing Energy Infrastructure Act\u00a0is included as part of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence\u2019s markup of the Fiscal Year 2018 Intelligence Authorization Act, which currently awaits the consideration before the full Senate. The bill was inspired in part by Ukraine\u2019s experience in 2015, when a sophisticated cyber-attack on that country\u2019s power grid led to more than 225,000 people being left in the dark.\u00a0The attack\u2019s severity was limited by Ukraine\u2019s use of manual technology to operate its grid, a concept that helped inspire the bill.\r\n\r\nMore specifically, the legislation would:\r\n\u00a0\r\n \r\n\u2022 Establish a two-year pilot program within the National Laboratories to study covered entities and identify new classes of security vulnerabilities, and research and test technology \u2013 like devices engineered to be simple and secure \u2013 that could be used to isolate the most critical systems of covered entities from cyber-attacks.\r\n \r\n\u00a0\r\n \r\n\u2022 Require the establishment of a working group to evaluate the technology solutions proposed by the National Laboratories and to develop a national cyber-informed strategy to isolate the energy grid from attacks. Members of the working group would include federal government agencies, the energy industry, a state or regional energy agency, the National Laboratories, and other groups with relevant experience.\r\n \r\n\u00a0\r\n \r\n\u2022 Require the Secretary of Energy to submit a report to Congress describing the results of the program, assessing the feasibility of the techniques considered, and outlining the results of the working groups\u2019 evaluation.\r\n \r\n\u00a0\r\n \r\n\u2022 Define \u201ccovered entities\u201d under the bill as segments of the energy sector that have already been designated as entities where a cyber-security incident could result in catastrophic regional or national effects on public health or safety, economic security, or national security.\r\n \r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/10/more-bipartisan-support-for-king-risch-bill-to-secure-energy-infrastructure"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0441970080137253, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}