Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement after the House of Representatives passed a series of bills she sponsored to protect Americans from the threat of a cyber-attack.

Cybersecurity legislation was considered on the House floor this week that contained language from the bipartisan bill, H.R. 3107, the “Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act,” that Congresswoman Clarke introduced earlier this year to address fundamental cyber workforce challenges at the Department of Homeland Security, the primary federal civilian agency for cybersecurity.

S. 1691, the Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act of 2014, authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to hire experts in cybersecurity and requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to assess its cyber workforce to provide Congress and the Office of Personnel Management with information about what the agency needs to protect both the dot-gov and dot-com arenas.

Concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 2592, the Cybersecurity Workforce Assessment Act, requires the Department of Homeland Security to develop and issue a comprehensive workforce strategy to fulfill the agency’s cybersecurity responsibilities.

“Both terrorist organizations and nations hostile to the United States have attempted to infiltrate our government agencies and private companies – as occurred recently with Sony Pictures Entertainment,” said Congresswoman Clarke, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. “To protect Americans from the threat of an attack, we must have the best trained experts in cybersecurity at work on our behalf with the best available resources. This series of cybersecurity bills will protect our electrical grid, our military installations, and our personal information.”

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.