Ranking Member Underwood Remarks at Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Oversight Hearing

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee's oversight hearing on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA):

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing to conduct oversight of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. I’d also like to welcome Ms. Bridget Bean, the Senior Official Performing the Duties of Director of CISA, to her first hearing before us. 

CISA is not a large organization, but Congress fought over the years to properly fund the critical responsibilities of your agency—growing its funding by 75 percent from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2024. Remarkably, these increases have consistently been with bipartisan support. 

I don’t need to tell you how rare that is these days, and I believe it reflects the scale of the catastrophic cyberthreats facing our country as well as the quality of resources and support that CISA provides. 

But instead of investing in this popular, nimble, and cost-efficient agency that protects nearly every aspect of Americans’ lives, you are proposing an almost 20 percent cut to CISA—491 million dollars—and driving out the workforce through early retirement buyouts and questionable terminations. That’s not cutting fat—that’s a death blow.

This reduction in force is not based on performance, but on things in CISA’s congressionally mandated-mission that the President is offended by—like securing America’s elections from foreign adversaries like Russia. 

These are real threats. I represent Illinois, and during the 2016 elections, Russian hackers penetrated the State Board of Elections voter registration database, stealing the personal data of about 76,000 Illinois voters.

CISA was created to protect the nation's critical infrastructure from physical and cyber threats, which includes election infrastructure.  Therefore, you cannot claim to be “refocusing on core missions like enhancing the security and resilience of critical infrastructure” while also eliminating election security support and staff.   

Unfortunately, CISA is not the only area suffering as this administration weakens our nation’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Cabinet secretaries are putting American lives at risk by avoiding secure communications. The FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force has been disbanded. The head of U.S. Cyber Command has been fired with no replacement.

This is all happening at a time when national security and cybersecurity experts have urged greater investments in cyber defense and offense, particularly as cybercrime proliferates and China and Russia have sought to interfere with our economy, our elections, our health care systems, and our security. 

Our adversaries are upping their game every day, growing significantly while this budget would take us backwards. 

These aren’t hypothetical threats. China is ramping up attacks on our telecommunications and energy sectors. Schools and hospitals in my district have had to close after ransomware attacks.

So my question is: why? Why is this Administration so determined to degrade the core cyber defenses that keep America safe? 

Is it to privatize CISA functions so that the tech CEOs who sat front row at President Trump’s inauguration can profit off of them and lock small competitors out? 

Is it to let Putin and his cronies around the world who support the President interfere with our elections?

Is it to make government services more difficult and frustrating to access, so Americans will support your efforts to dismantle them?

Is it being driven by some ask from anonymous investors in the President’s crypto scheme?

I don’t know the answer. What I do know is that this committee will continue to fulfill our Article I responsibilities under the Constitution regardless of the chaos and corruption of this Administration. 

We will have questions for you today on your plans to improve the core functions of CISA, fulfill the mission that Congress designated, and expand much-needed capabilities with the reduction in staff and resources you are requesting in this budget. 

Lastly, I’d like to thank the women and men of CISA, working 24/7 to combat threats facing our nation’s networks, critical infrastructure, elections, emergency communications, schools, hospitals, and public gatherings while a new administration creates job uncertainty and the fear of politically-motivated reprisal.

Thank you, Ms. Bean, for being here today and I look forward to your testimony and answers to our questions. 

Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

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