President Obama vowed Tuesday that both parties would find common ground on passing new laws to prevent cyberattacks.
“I’ve got a State of the Union next week, one of the things we’re going to be talking about is cybersecurity,” he said at the start of a White House meeting with Republican and Democratic congressional leadership. “With the Sony attack that took place, with the Twitter account that was hacked by Islamist jihadist sympathizers yesterday, it just goes to show how much more work we need to do in both the public and private sector to strengthen our cybersecurity.”
The president is looking for areas of compromise with Republicans, hoping to peel off conservative support for a few ideas at the start of the 2015 congressional session.
“I think we agreed that this is an area where we can work hard together, get some legislation done and make sure that we are much more effective in protecting the American people from these kinds of cyberattacks,” Obama said.
The president is proposing a trio of bills, which would increase the sharing of cyber threat information between private companies and the government, require companies to notify customers within 30 days when their personal information is compromised and prohibit the selling of student data to third parties for non-education purposes.
The president also said he could work with Republicans on trade and tax reform.
According to the White House, Vice President Joe Biden and the following lawmakers attended the meeting: House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.; Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.; Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan.; Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y.; Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.; Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.; Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.; Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy.; Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., did not attend the meeting, as he is still recuperating from workout injuries.
