A bill to increase the public’s awareness of cybersecurity threats and the latest version of a long-discussed infrastructure bank bill were among the legislative proposals members of Congress introduced in November.
Sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the “Cybersecurity Public Awareness Act” (S. 1638) is intended to help the public better understand the scope of cyber threats facing the nation. The legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security to submit an unclassified report to Congress every three years on the nature, prevalence, and seriousness of cyber threats facing each critical infrastructure sector. The report would also include DHS-recommended steps to “thwart or diminish” cyber threats, and a summary of the degree to which cooperative public-private cyber defense activities have been employed in each sector.
The infrastructure bank legislation – known as the “Building and Renewing Infrastructure for Development and Growth in Employment (BRIDGE) Act” (S. 1716), would establish an independent authority to oversee a multibillion-dollar fund to repair highways, bridges, ports, transit, and aviation systems, as well as drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.
Sponsored by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) the BRIDGE Act closely resembles other infrastructure bank proposals that have drawn some bipartisan support in previous sessions of Congress, but which have never gained enough traction to advance through the House and Senate.
AMWA has generally remained neutral on such wide-ranging infrastructure bank proposals in the past, due to concerns that the vast majority of funding would be devoted to transportation projects rather than less prominent water and wastewater infrastructure.