Senate Cybersecurity Bill Stalled By Ridiculous Amendments

wiredmikey writes "Despite a recent push by legislators, it remains unclear whether the Senate will manage to vote on the proposed comprehensive cybersecurity legislation (Cybersecurity Act of 2012) before Congress adjourns at the end of the week for its summer recess. Once all the amendments (over 70) have been dealt with, the Senate could decide to vote on the bill immediately, or wait till after the summer recess. As usual, the Democrats and Republicans have been unable to agree on which amendments will be considered, effectively stalling the bill. And most interesting, is that in typical U.S. political fashion, some of the amendments have nothing to with the topic on hand (cybersecurity): ... Sen. Frank Lautenberg has filed a measure to ban high-capacity ammunition clips as part of a gun-reform proposal. And Sen. Mike Lee filed a bill that would ban abortion in Washington, D.C. after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Sen. Michael Bennet and Tom Coburn filed an amendment to expand the Office for Personnel Management's federal government's data center consolidation initiative. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested an amendment to repeal the Affordable Care Act."

Comments

the bill already failed, what is this article abou

[Anonymous Coward]

??? the bill failed a vote on the senate floor minutes ago

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-cybersecurity-act-fails-to-pass-in-the-senate-20120802,0,1649471.story

Re:bill itself

[TaoPhoenix]

Well, here's the summary links to the bill itself.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.2105:

I'm a little out of my depth but "comprehensive legislation" these days makes me nervous that there aren't sneaky things in there.

Re:the bill already failed

[MagicM]

Looks like you're right. The bill was reintroduced as S.3414 which was voted on and rejected a few hours ago.

Re:Who decides?

[Antipater]

Extra info on the leadership positions. Possible to be corrupt, but difficult.