The Senate Appropriations Committee approved an appropriations bill Thursday that includes a requested $24 million in increased funding for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), mostly used to address information technology (IT) vulnerabilities.
The fiscal year 2016 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill was approved by a 16-14 vote. In the bill, OPM is allocated roughly $265 million, an increase of $24 million over the FY 15 enacted level. Although this is nearly $8 million short of the OPM February budget request, it fully funds the president’s requested increase for IT improvements, according to a committee statement.
The bill also requires OPM to work with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other agencies with data security expertise to prevent future data breaches.
The committee approved an amendment proposed by Ranking Member Sen. Barbara Mikulski (Md.) that would provide complimentary identity protection coverage for up to 10 years with up to $5 million in identify theft insurance for those affected by the OPM hacks. The amendment passed by a voice vote.
Mikulski’s amendment was based on The Reducing the Effects of the Cyberattack on OPM Victims Emergency Response (RECOVER) Act of 2015 (S.1746), which she introduced with other senators from nearby states with a large share of federal employees, Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.).
However, the committee rejected Mikulski’s other amendment, an OPM request for an additional $37 million.
The funding was meant “to accelerate the completion of its IT modernization to thwart cyber attacks (or) in other words: to get its cyber shield up,” Mikulski said. “This additional funding would allow OPM to do needed upgrades to cybersecurity and network systems one year ahead of schedule.”
Mikulski designated the amendment funds as an emergency. “I say that this is an emergency because we’ve got to get our act together on this situation,” she said. “The definition of an emergency under the budget bill is that it be urgent and that it be timely and that it be temporary.”
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark) opposed the amendment because he said it had warnings and management failed. “The more we learn about what happens at OPM, the more we learn that it’s not just the old systems that were breached, but the new systems also. More money isn’t going to solve the management problem either.”
Boozman highlighted he wants to hold another hearing to better understand what OPM is doing to better secure its networks. “I don’t know what they are doing in the future and I don’t know what they want to spend this money for.”
The second Mikulski amendment was voted down by a voice vote.