House Homeland Security Committee Approves $865 Million for CISA
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By
Frank Konkel
The largest chunk of funds would go toward implementing a May 12 executive order focused on cybersecurity.
The House Homeland Security Committee Tuesday approved an additional $865 million in funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The committee voted along party lines to approve an amendment put forth by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., to the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Should the bill pass the House and Senate, CISA would receive a funding influx across numerous programs after numerous high-profile cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure and federal agencies.
“For far too long, Congress has waited until a cyber incident has already occurred before taking cybersecurity seriously. No more,” said Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee. “Thanks to President Biden and Chairman Thompson’s visionary leadership, the Homeland Security Committee is proactively equipping the experts at CISA with the tools they need to strengthen our cyber defenses and continue to Build Back Better.”
The largest chunk of money—$400 million—would be obligated to help CISA meet President Joe Biden’s May executive order on improving the nation’s cybersecurity. In particular, funds would be dispersed for “the implementation of multi-factor authentication, endpoint detection and response, improved logging, and securing cloud systems.”
CISA would also receive $50 million to support the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center and $25 million for the “execution of a national multi-factor authentication campaign.” Another $100 million would be obligated for cybersecurity workforce development and education, including providing education, training, and capacity development and to the Cybersecurity Education and Training Program.
The amendment for CISA funding is one of several relevant to the federal IT landscape. In early September, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform earmarked more than $3 billion for federal IT modernization efforts, including $1 billion for the Technology Modernization Fund.