Republican filibuster blocks Senate Cybersecurity bill
Why does the Republican party want to compromise our national security?
The latest attempt by the US government to ensure some kind of security standards for its critical infrastructure has failed, with Senate Republicans having blocked legislation over concerns at over-regulation of business and the weighing-down of the bill with useless ammendments.
"Despite the President’s repeated calls for Congress to act on this legislation, and despite pleas from numerous senior national security officials from this Administration and the Bush Administration, the politics of obstructionism, driven by special interest groups seeking to avoid accountability, prevented Congress from passing legislation to better protect our nation from potentially catastrophic cyber-attacks," said the White House in a statement.
The US Cybersecurity Act 2012 originally called for mandatory security standards to be enforced for companies forming the US national critical infrastructure – a rather nebulous term used to cover power, communications, water and the other stuff that makes life relatively safe and bearable. The government only has oversight of around 20 per cent of this, with private companies running the rest.
After the Republicans enforced a filibuster, the bill failed to meet the 60 votes required at a 52-48 split, with five Republicans and five Democrats crossing the floor. The US Chamber of Commerce, a lobbying group which was in the vanguard of opposition to the bill, applauded the vote.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/02/senate_blocks_cybersecurity_bill/
