Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1160, I call up the bill (H.R. 8034) making emergency supplemental appropriations to respond to the situation in Israel and for related expenses for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer H.R. 8034, the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024.

This bill provides $26.38 billion to fortify America's support of Israeli allies and defend our troops in the region.

It is part of a larger package of three security supplemental appropriations acts before us for Israel, Ukraine, and the Indo- Pacific. All three are essential to deter our adversaries.

There are moments when our actions are optional, a convenience but not a necessity, a choice. This is not one of those moments.

The world is in chaos. Americans have been killed, and our allies and partners are dying on the front lines every day.

Ukraine is entering its third year of a war to repel Russia's invasion while forced to conserve their munitions and choose which areas to defend. Israel is avenging its innocent civilians who were murdered, raped, brutalized, and taken hostage by Hamas while defending its country from a barrage of Iranian missiles. Indo-Pacific nations face China daily with strength and resolve, knowing they are likely next.

The United States is not on the sidelines in these conflicts. Our servicemembers are under daily attack in the Red Sea, standing watch along NATO's eastern flank and being routinely challenged in the Indo- Pacific. Mr. Speaker, five American flag-draped coffins have returned home in the past 6 months.

When we go to war, we go to war with what we have. There is no time to forge new alliances, no ability to reconstruct abandoned production lines, and no hidden reserve of fully trained and ready troops.

This is the situation our allies and partners in Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and other Indo-Pacific nations face today. It is a situation we ourselves may face sooner than we think.

Xi, Putin, Khamenei, and terrorist leaders will not back down unless met with a strong and resolute America, standing shoulder to shoulder with our constellation of allies and partners. These bills provide the funding necessary to defeat and deter our enemies.

While the bills carry the names of other countries, there is one Nation that I care about above all others. That is ours. These conflicts have exposed the fragility of our defense industrial base and the dire need to invest in factories, shipyards, and assembly lines that manufacture the instruments of our national defense.

In recognition of this fact, over $59 billion across these bills go into our defense industrial base, including $3.3 billion to supercharge our submarine industrial base; $29.5 billion to replenish our stocks of U.S. defense systems and services provided to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan; and $1.13 billion to expand procurement and development of artillery and critical munitions.

Each conflict has its unique needs addressed in these bills, including: $5.2 billion to replenish Israel's Iron Dome and David's Sling and procure Iron Beam missile defense systems; $542 million for unfunded priorities expressly requested by the USINDOPACOM commander; and $13.8 billion directly to procure U.S. capabilities for Ukraine.

Our servicemen and servicewomen across the globe are being tasked to operate at a wartime tempo to track, respond, and engage emerging threats. These bills provide the resources necessary to support their operations with $11.3 billion for current U.S. operations in Europe and $2.4 billion for our forces in the Middle East who are under daily attack.

Mr. Speaker, we have been complacent far too long as our allies and partners and our own servicemembers have been under attack. This Congress has a solemn obligation to our military to provide them with the resources they need to deter and win our Nation's wars.

Douglas MacArthur once said: ``The history of the failure of war can almost be summed up in two words: too late.''

When conflict occurs, we will fight with what we have and who is with us.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on these bills to ensure our military readiness and reinvigorate the American defense industry.

I encourage them to vote ``yes'' to reinforce our Israeli, Ukrainian, Taiwanese, and Indo-Pacific allies and partners.

I encourage them to vote ``yes'' so that future generations may write of what we did here today: They weren't too late.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lawler).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Kean).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, this is a day we are going to act. I urge all my colleagues to support these critical national security bills. They provide the resources necessary to bolster our military, reassure our allies and partners, and commit to stand against tyranny.

The world is waiting, watching, and wanting America to lead. This is our moment.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7520, the Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act. I thank Chair Rodgers for all her help in bringing this bill to the floor today.

National security experts are sounding the alarm, warning that the government of Beijing in China and other foreign adversaries are amassing troves of sensitive data about individual Americans. That information can be used to launch sophisticated influence campaigns, conduct espionage, undermine Americans' privacy expectations, and otherwise impair American interests.

Just last week, this Chamber took decisive, bipartisan action to mitigate the national security and privacy threat that was posed by foreign-owned or -controlled social media applications collecting Americans' information by passing H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

Today, we take further action to close the pipeline of Americans' sensitive information flowing to our foreign adversaries. This bill prohibits the data brokers from selling Americans' sensitive personal information to China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and to entities controlled by those countries.

Data brokers collect and sell billions of data elements on nearly every consumer in the United States, including information about children and active members of the U.S. military.

With this sensitive information, data brokers and their customers can make invasive inferences about an individual, including inferences about a person's travel patterns, health, political beliefs, personal interests, and financial well-being. Right now, there are no restrictions on who they can sell this information to.

Most Americans are unaware that data brokers complete detailed dossiers about their interests, beliefs, actions, and movements. Even when they are aware that these dossiers of sensitive information are being compiled, Americans are powerless to stop this invasion of privacy. While the best response to the privacy risk posed by data brokers is a comprehensive national data privacy law, I firmly believe we must do what we can now to prevent data brokers from selling Americans' personal data to our foreign adversaries.

The breadth and scope of sensitive personal information aggregated by data brokers makes the sale of that data to our foreign adversaries a unique threat to national security and individual privacy. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has concluded that commercially available data provides foreign adversaries with a valuable stream of intelligence, rivaling the effectiveness of sophisticated surveillance techniques. Researchers from Duke University successfully purchased sensitive information about Active-Duty members of the military, their families, and veterans from data brokers.

Their research has concluded that foreign and malicious actors could use data from data brokers to undermine America's national security.

This legislation complements the work done by this body last week to curb the threat posed by apps owned or controlled by foreign adversaries by closing a loophole that would allow those entities to simply buy sensitive information on Americans from data brokers. Unless we pass H.R. 7520, data brokers will still be permitted to aggregate information with vast amounts of Americans' sensitive data and sell it to the highest bidder, including foreign adversaries.

Again, I thank our chair, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, for her partnership on the Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, which unanimously passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee by a 50-0 vote.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky), who is the ranking member of our Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Krishnamoorthi), who is the ranking member of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and was the Democratic sponsor of the other bill that we passed last week.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Madam Speaker, this bill, in my opinion, is an excellent example of how our committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, works together on a bipartisan basis.

We, frankly, heard from the various Federal agencies, whether it was the Justice Department, national security, or FBI, that it was necessary to address the issue of data that was being

basically passed on to our adversaries, particularly Beijing, and we crafted two bills. One has been referred to as the TikTok bill which we passed last week, and the other is the data brokers bill that will pass today.

It is no surprise that in our committee in a roll call vote we had 50 members, Democrats and Republicans, vote for this. None voted against it.

I am certainly suggesting that this is something that is very important. Both bills need to pass. One already did. I also think it is an excellent example of how this Congress, this House, and our committee, in particular, can work together on something that relates to national security and privacy.

As Ms. Schakowsky has said, and I know Chair Rodgers has said, we need a national data privacy bill. This is the beginning, I believe, of that process. It is also one of the most important aspects of it because it does affect our national security.

Madam Speaker, I am proud I can say that we worked together on this. I will certainly urge that the House do the same: vote this bill unanimously and send it over to the Senate for further action.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, which will provide Israel with desperately needed aid to respond to the horrific October 7 attacks and protect itself from Iran and its proxies.

What happened in Israel on October 7 was horrifying. On a recent trip to Israel, I saw firsthand the remnants of the violence that innocent people were subjected to, including the site of the Supernova Sukkot Gathering music festival that Hamas attacked, Kibbutz Be'eri and the homes where so many were massacred, and Hostage Square where I met with families of those taken hostage by Hamas.

The United States has not forgotten October 7. Today, we are providing the aid Israel has needed since the day Hamas terrorists killed innocent Israeli civilians in the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Just last weekend, Israel was openly and directly attacked by Iran. I applaud the role of the United States in providing Israel with support in its defense against that attack.

While we must ensure Israel can stand strong in the face of adversaries like Iran that seek its annihilation, we must also ensure that every step possible is taken to protect innocent life in Gaza and elsewhere.

On my trip, we also went to Khirbet Zanutah, a Palestinian village in the West Bank where settlers destroyed homes and a school. On the trip, we were also briefed from Gaza by humanitarian organizations, including UNRWA, which have lost hundreds of staff to the violence.

To that end, I have called for an immediate cease-fire of at least 6 weeks to facilitate the safe delivery of aid to civilians in Gaza. We must protect aid workers. We must open additional crossings to bring in at least 500 trucks a day and ensure that food is never used as a weapon of war.

Innocent families are in danger, children are starving, and civilian casualties are mounting, not just in Gaza but in conflict zones all around the world. The more than $9 billion in humanitarian support in this bill would make sure that we are not leaving Gazans, the Ukrainians, the Sudanese, the Haitians, or the Rohingya behind.

We must pass this bill and ensure Israel has the resources it needs to defend itself and that much-needed humanitarian aid can flow to millions of vulnerable people around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I urge your support, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lois Frankel), who is a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan), who is a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Manning).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

This bill provides urgently needed humanitarian aid for millions of civilians who have been caught in the crossfire across many theaters, whether it is Ukraine against Russian aggression; Israel in its war against Iran and its proxies like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis; or our Indo-Pacific partners against an adversarial China.

Innocent families are in danger today. Children are starving, and civilian casualties are mounting in conflict zones all around the world. The humanitarian support in this bill would make sure that we are not leaving these people behind.

It is, again, so critically important that the United States demonstrate its support for its allies, and its leadership when it comes to humanitarian assistance, wherever it is needed.

We come here to govern. We come here to take our responsibilities seriously, and I believe that the majority of people here do take responsibilities seriously.

Today, we have the ability to help to make a difference. In this piece of legislation, in addition to our support for our ally, Israel, we have the moral responsibility to provide humanitarian assistance. The United States cannot stand by and watch people starve to death and be caught in crossfires without our standing up and saying: ``No.''

I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill. As I said at another meeting this week, the moment has met us. We need to meet that moment

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, Israel suffered a tragic loss on October 7, 2023. The people of Israel are in mourning. The lives of innocent civilian Israeli men, women, and especially children matter. They must be protected. This includes the hostages, all of whom must be immediately returned in tandem with a lasting ceasefire as the genesis of a two-state solution.

After the horrific human rights violations committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, the Netanyahu administration had just cause catalyzing a de jure right to pursue justice as it did by declaring war on Hamas, not hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian Palestinian men, women, and especially children.

To the contrary, and shamefully, Prime Minister Netanyahu has engaged in an unjust, revengeful, might-makes-right offense, creating more enemies than have been killed. He has engaged in lethal atrocities wherein the ends of destroying Hamas justifies:

Killing thousands of innocent civilian Palestinian children;

Collectively harming thousands upon thousands of innocent civilian Palestinian men, women, and especially children;

Failing to properly aid hundreds of thousands of food-deprived Palestinians; and

Committing domicide by destroying approximately 62 percent of Palestinian homes in Gaza, as well as damaging at least 84 percent of Gaza's health facilities, together with over 275 schools.

It has become intuitively and painfully obvious to me that Prime Minister Netanyahu's definition of ``the right to defend'' embraces an invidious ends-justifies-the-means strategy. This imprudent and unjust strategy of domicide, collective harm, and failure to feed the hungry, in tandem with the killing of thousands of innocent Palestinian children, cannot in good conscience receive a blind eye.

No one, no political entity, no country can commit such atrocious injustices in the name of justice and expect the blessings of people of good will. Injustice in the name of justice is still an injustice. Israel's de jure right (in the hands of Prime Minister Netanyahu) to defend itself in the name of justice has metamorphosed into unconscionable de facto human rights violations that offend the conscience and grievously tarnishes Israel's global image. In truth, Prime Minister Netanyahu's might-makes-right, by any means necessary-- war--is making Israel an existential threat to Palestinians living in Gaza.

I cannot in good conscience oppose the above-cited atrocious transgressions and contemporaneously provide the munitions which can beget more of these God-awful inhumanities. Sadly, but righteously, I cannot vote to send the pending billions of supplemental funds to the opprobrious administration of Prime Minister Netanyahu. To do so would allow those funds, or free up other funds in their treasury, to purchase the lethality to kill more innocent civilian Palestinian men, women, and especially children, which I oppose.

Palestinians (like Israelis) are in mourning, and the lives of innocent civilian Palestinian men, women, and especially children matter. They too must be protected.

For the reasons enumerated above, I will vote no on The Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7520) to prohibit data brokers from transferring sensitive data of United States individuals to foreign adversaries, and for other purposes, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on the bill.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of H.R. 7520, the Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024.

Data brokers are harvesting people's sensitive data and selling or sharing it without people's knowledge or consent. To make matters worse, they often do this without any safeguards against this sensitive information going to foreign adversaries who could easily exploit it for nefarious purposes.

This sensitive information includes everything from a person's physical and mental health to their geolocation data. Oftentimes, it is sold to the highest bidder, including to foreign adversaries like China and the companies they control.

H.R. 7520 will limit how data brokers are able to share Americans' personally identifiable and sensitive information abroad.

I commend my Energy and Commerce Committee colleague Ranking Member Pallone for his leadership on this legislation. It is an important complement to our ongoing efforts to establish a comprehensive data privacy standard, one that cracks down on abuses of Americans' personal information by narrowing the information that is collected in the first place and putting people back in control of their personal information.

Today is an opportunity to send a very clear message that the U.S. will not tolerate the continued targeting, surveilling, and exploitation of Americans' data.

This bill advanced out of our committee with a unanimous, bipartisan 50-0 vote. I look forward to it passing the House this week, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), who is the chairman of the subcommittee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg).

Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill that would prohibit data brokers from profiting off the sale or the transfer of sensitive data of U.S. individuals and specifically that of U.S. military servicemembers to a foreign adversary country or any entity that is controlled by such country.

The term ``controlled by a foreign adversary'' parallels the definition of H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, that we passed last week out of the House 352-65.

I believe that this is very important legislation also to complement that effort and our continued work to enact legislation that would bring a national privacy and data security law into place.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.