Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4998, the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act.

We must protect our critical communications infrastructure from vulnerabilities, and today we are taking further steps to remove suspected equipment from our networks and ensure its overall security going forward.

This bill takes into account important concerns we have heard from small, rural providers that were previously unaware of possible security risks when selecting vendors and making purchasing decisions. H.R. 4998 will help fix this information gap by ensuring they have access to the information they need to keep their networks and Americans secure.

It should not matter where you are trying to connect, whether you are in rural America or anywhere else. We must ensure the entire communications system is protected from bad actors.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4998, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot reiterate enough how important it is that we pass this legislation and address this critical weakness in our Nation's telecommunications infrastructure.

This legislation came about through the hard work of the majority staff and the minority staff of the Energy and Commerce Committee. In particular, I would like to thank Gerry Leverich, Phil Murphy, Dan Miller, AJ Brown, Parul Desai, and Alex Hoehn-Saric of the majority staff, and Kate O'Connor, Evan Viau, and Rachel Rathore on the minority staff for their hard work and diligence to get this bill to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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