Laurel Lee advances energy leadership bill as internet safety legislation generates heated debate

An energy bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee is headed to the House floor. Meanwhile, an internet safety bill was delayed as Representatives seek more bipartisan support.

The Energy Emergency Leadership Act (HR 7258) would increase the Energy Department’s energy emergency and cybersecurity responsibilities and put responsibility for that work under an Assistant Secretary position subject to Senate confirmation. The bill advanced Thursday through the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

Lee, a Thonotosassa Republican, said the bill held particular resonance in Florida, a state often impacted by major weather events.

“For those of us from Florida, the need for strong energy emergency leadership is not theoretical,” she said. “It’s something we see firsthand after major hurricanes like Ian and Irma. Millions of Americans can lose power overnight. Rapid coordination between federal government utilities and state emergency officials becomes essential to restoring electricity and protecting public safety.”

Lee worked on the bipartisan bill with U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Michigan Democrat who also served on the Energy & Commerce Committee. The bill sailed through the Committee with little debate.

In Committee, Lee said the legislation addressed evolving threats to U.S. infrastructure, including an increasing number of cyberattacks and sabotage efforts.

Having a dedicated position in the Energy Department focused on disruptions to energy should increase response, whatever the cause of an outage, Lee said.

“By elevating this role, the Energy Emergency Leadership Act will ensure the Department has the focused and accountable leadership to better protect the public from fuel and electricity supply disruptions, against all hazards, whether natural or man-made, including emerging threats from our foreign adversaries to the electric grid,” she said.

“This bill will ensure the Department carries out its responsibilities by improving coordination, ensuring more effective interagency collaborations and increasing accountability to Congress. At the end of the day, this is a practical and bipartisan solution. It doesn’t create new bureaucracy. It simply ensures that when an energy emergency happens, there is clear leadership responsible for coordinating the federal response and protecting the reliability of our energy system.”

At the same Committee, another bill championed by Lee was put on hold, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Act (HR 6291). That seeks to protect minors using social media platforms.

Lee said the delay would give an opportunity to address concerns from both sides of the aisle and from many parents in the audience, some carrying photos of children who died by suicide after online communications.

“We are going to continue working in a bipartisan fashion with the members of the Committee to see if we can come up with an agreed bill,” she said.

Notably, the Senate unanimously passed a version of the bill Thursday morning, though with a few substantive differences.

Language from another Lee-sponsored bill, the Promoting a Safer Internet for Minors Act, was also included in the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act (HR 7757), which passed out of the House Committee on a partisan vote 28-24 vote.