The White House highlighted the cyber element of President Joe Biden’s already proposed American Jobs Plan in a statement on Tuesday, including $20 billion for localities to secure energy systems and $2 billion in incentives for high-risk energy grids.
In the aftermath of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attacks earlier this month, the Biden administration announced how it plans to fund efforts to combat a series of massive cyberattacks on Tuesday.
On the premise that grant recipients will be required to source from “trusted vendors,” Biden’s proposed $100 billion broadband investment plan is also being touted as cybersecurity expenditures.
With Senate Republicans due to unveil their newest counterproposal later Tuesday, the amount of funding is likely to become a crucial issue as Biden seeks bipartisan backing for his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan.
Their original countermeasure sought for only a fraction of Biden’s proposed expenditures, requesting $568 billion for traditional infrastructure and Internet access.
Presenting Biden’s plan as at least partially focused toward increasing cybersecurity – a rare area of bipartisan collaboration – could be aimed at bridging the gap between the proposals, especially in the wake of the attack on Colonial Pipeline Co, which shut down a vital fuel conduit and sparked panic purchasing in certain parts of the East Coast.
The Colonial hack came after two previous high-profile hacks that targeted Microsoft Corp.’s Exchange email software and SolarWinds Corp.’s software.