langevin's camp on that issue. but the problem is that the personalities there had a little different strategies on how to address it and i'm trying to maintain protocol here, mr. chairman. they couldn't get together on that and that's why that we felt like the issue should be separated, not because that one is more important than the other, per se, but because i just think it's going to be especially difficult. that's complicated this year, as you know, the white house just a few weeks ago, probably what you were talking about with mr. langevin, released a legislative proposal for nationwide cross-cybersecurity efforts and they are working to meet a goal for those needs. and my concern is that if we tie them together, we may weaken both of them because there's very little disagreement on the emp aspects of it. the senators were very supportive of being able to protect the grid itself. we just had some very seriously different approaches of the security element of it. >> mr. langevin, do you have a comment? >> mr.

langevin? >> i would just say that last year we were a bit frustrated by the senate still contemplating which path forward they were going to take. i was fortunate to get an amendment included in the house armed services defense authorization bill last year that would have established a white house office on cyber security with a director's position that would have been senate confirmed and would have included updates to the fisma law. that did not get through the conference committee last year. the senate was still struggling to determine which direction they were going to take, whether it was rockefeller/o rockefeller/or --/lieberman. i believe the senate is moving in the direction of resolving those issues and i'm hopeful that now that the white house has come out with its guidance on their views on cyber security going forward that that will clear some of the hurdles in the senate and they'll be able to come together and reach broader agreement, which hopefully will allow the grid act, whic

langevin? >> i would just say that last year we were a bit frustrated by the senate still contemplating which path forward they were going to take. i was fortunate to get an amendment included in the house armed services fense authorization bill last year that would have established a white house office on cyber security with a director's position that would have been senate confirmed and would have included updates to the fisma law. that did not get through the conference committee last year. the senate was still struggling to determine which direction they were going to take, whether it was rockefeller/o rockefeller/or --/lieberman. i believe the senate is moving in the direction of resolving those issues and i'm hopeful that now that the white house has come out with its guidance on their views on cyber security going forward that that will clear some of the hurdles in the senate and they'll be able to come together and reach broader agreement, which hopefully will allow the grid act, which

langevin. the chair: the gentleman from rhode island, the author of the amendment, must remain on his feet during the yielding of time. the gentleman is recognized. mr. langevin: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i want to echo his sentiments. i rise in support of my joint amendment with congressman cicilline to restore $337 million to the urban areas security initiatives grant program which would fund the program at the f.y. 2010 level. the funds support response efforts across southern new england. a level 1 trauma center and the port of providence are also critical assets. these are in jeopardy due to cuts to the urban area security initiatives in this bill. they were designed to make sure that densely populated areas were adequately funded and protected. because of the cuts in this program, this is an example of what i believe are an irresponsible and arbitrary approach to budget cutting that jeopardizes safety throughout the region in case of an attack or natural disaster. i applaud my c

langevin also talk about the need to expand. i noticed the white house in their cybersecurity proposal is exactly that. it's focused only on cybersecurity. and that was a suggestion that made -- mr. franks made did. let's do cybersecurity on one bill and let's address the other issues in a separate bill. do you have any thoughts as far as strategy or is that something the committee should attempt to do or not? ms. hoffman? >> as was mentioned earlier, is that cybersecurity is a difficult and complex issue. and emp and other issues are -- are different in nature, although the impact to the country can be devastating, either one. so in order to tackle things one at a time, the administration is looking just comprehensively at the cyberlegislation individually. >> okay. mr. stockton, do you have a comment? >> yes, sir. i think that the cyberlegislation proposed by the administration is a critical step towards protection of infrastructure as a whole. greatly benefited the energy sector as well. clearly, there are threats that we've

co-chairman of the congressional career and technical education caucus with my friend and colleague, jim langevin of rhode island. the career and technical education caucus is a group of members seeking to broaden awareness here on capitol hill on the importance of career and technical education. i take the floor today to offer yet another example of the critical role that career and technical education plays in helping individuals remain competitive in a constantly changing work force environment. on june 7, 2011, history was made at the central pennsylvania institute of science and technology. two young ladies, anna kreshak and trisha wright combrad waited from their automobile program at the highest possible level. these nontraditional students in the technology program earned their diploma along with state, national and world certifications in their field of study. the most amazing part about their accomplishments with a their path to success. anna had only one year in the automotive technology program. she quickly earned the respect of her instructor, met the qualification of c.b.i.'s school