Communications Security Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1717, the Communications Security Act.

Our Nation's communications networks play an important role across many aspects of our daily lives. We are more connected than ever before, and it is vital that we do all we can to protect this critical infrastructure and ensure it is reliable and available to all Americans.

The Federal Communications Commission's Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council, or CSRIC, is meant to do just that. It is made up of government leaders at the Federal, State, and local levels and thought leaders from industry and public interest organizations. The Council provides the FCC with recommendations on the best practices and actions the agency could take so that our communications networks are secure, reliable, and compatible with each other.

CSRIC has been in existence since 2009 and was rechartered in 2024 under the Biden administration and former FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel for another 2 years. It has served the FCC well by operating in a collaborative manner with representatives from private industry, government, and other key stakeholders. The Council is also now co- chaired by a representative from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to help foster collaboration between our Nation's leading cybersecurity experts across the government.

However, given the important objectives of CSRIC, we should not leave it to the FCC's discretion on whether to recharter this Council or not every 2 years. Instead, CSRIC must become a permanent fixture at the FCC.

H.R. 1717 requires the FCC to do just that. Under this bill, the FCC would be required to establish a permanent council to advise the agency on the security, reliability, and interoperability of communications networks within 90 days. This Council would include representatives from trusted communications companies, public interest organizations, and academic institutions, as well as Federal, State, local, and Tribal Governments for a term of 2 years.

This bill also requires the Council and its working groups to submit reports offering their recommendations to the chair of the FCC every 2 years. In turn, the FCC must make these reports publicly available on its website.

I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce) for their bipartisan leadership on this bill. It is an important step in protecting our communications networks from bad actors and foreign adversaries.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I urge unanimous support for this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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