Senate votes down Cybersecurity Act a second time

Cybersecurity legislation failed in Senate for a second time despite calls from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other national security officials for Congress to pass a bill. A procedural motion to move forward on the Cybersecurity Act, introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), was rejected in a 51-47 vote.

The vote marks a bitter end for the cybersecurity bill and kicks any legislative action on the matter on to next year. This is the closest the Senate has gotten to passing major cybersecurity legislation in recent years, and members from both parties had negotiated for months to try to reach a compromise on the bill. Prior to the vote, Sen Lieberman warned that the president would be compelled to issue the executive order if the Senate voted against moving the bill forward. But he noted that the cyber order would not accomplish everything that legislation could, including liability protection that would safeguard companies from legal action if they're hit by a cyberattack.

"The bill that was and is most important to the intelligence community was just killed, and that's cybersecurity," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said following the vote. "Whatever we do for this bill, it's not enough for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. So everyone should understand cybersecurity is dead for this Congress. What an unfortunate thing, but that's the way it is."

Before the vote, Republicans senators argued that Reid was playing politics by trying to jam the sweeping cybersecurity bill through the Senate without holding an open amendment process. They also argued that industry still held legitimate concerns with the measure and it would not adequately address the rising cyberthreat.