Committee Hearings – Week of 3-26-23

This week, with both the House and Senate in Washington,
there is a relatively heavy hearing schedule. A major focus remains on budget
hearings, but we also have two cybersecurity related hearings, one oversight
hearing, a markup hearing, and another look at the East Palestine derailment.

Budget Hearings

Cybersecurity

On Wednesday, the Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the Senate
Armed Services Committee will hold a
hearing on “To Receive Testimony on Enterprise Cybersecurity to Protect the
Department of Defense Information Networks”. The witness list includes:

• John B. Sherman, DOD CIO, and

• LTG Robert J. Skinner, USAF

Probably very little discussion about operational technology
issues.

On Thursday, the Cyber, Information Technologies, and
Innovation Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee will hold a
hearing on “Cyberspace Operations: Conflict in the 21st Century”. The
witness list includes:

• John F. Plumb, DOD,

• Gen Nakasone, Cyber Command

Again, probably very little discussion about OT technology
issues.

DHS Oversight

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a
hearing on “Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security”. No witness
list is currently available, so it is hard to tell where the focus will be in
this hearing.

Markup Hearing

On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs Committee will hold a business
meeting that will include markups
of 28 bills, five of which have not yet been introduced. Bills of potential
interest here include:

S. ___, Securing Open Source
Software Act of 2023,

S. ___, Reporting Efficiently to
Proper Officials in Response to Terrorism (REPORT) Act,

S. 885, DHS Civilian Cybersecurity
Reserve,

Derailment Hearing

On Tuesday, the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical
Minerals Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a
hearing on “Government Response to East Palestine: Ensuring Safety and
Transparency for the Community”. The witness list includes:

• Debra Shore, EPA,

• Wesley Vins, Columbiana County
General Health District, and

• Anne M. Vogel, Ohio EPA

On the Floor

The House will be considering HR 1 this week, the Republican’s
signature energy bill. While the Republicans criticized large omnibus type
bills, this is a typical politically-focused conglomerate of 17 previously
introduced bills that we have come to expect from the House of Representatives.
153 amendments have been proposed to the House Rules Committee. The Committee will
meet today to decide which amendment will be considered on the floor. Only two
of those amendments may be of potential interest here:

#102
Ocasio-Cortez (D,NY) – Prevents oil and gas companies that have been found responsible
for chemical spills or environmental disasters in the past 20 years from accessing
reduced royalty rates.

#147
Schiff (D,CA) – Directs the Secretary of Energy to create a task force that
would work with frontline communities to examine the environmental and public
health impacts of petrochemical refineries, including local, global, and
cumulative impacts. Requires the task force to research alternative options for
energy security and offer recommendations to improve energy security in the
United States.