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Congressional aides said on Tuesday they expected lawmakers
would take up the bill during Wednesday's House session and that
it would pass with support from both Republicans and Democrats.
The House Intelligence Committee approved the bill unanimously
last month. Similar legislation has stalled in the past, but the
issue has taken on more urgency following high-profile cyber
attacks on major corporations, including Sony.
A companion bill is making its way through the U.S. Senate,
where it is expected to pass easily. The Senate Intelligence
Committee passed its version of the legislation 14-1 in March
and aides said it was likely to come up for a vote in the full
Senate in the coming weeks.
The White House said on Tuesday it has some concerns about the
bill, but supports its passage and believes it can be fixed as
the legislation is finalized in Congress.
Some privacy advocates strongly oppose the legislation, saying
it would do too little to prevent more data collection by the
National Security Agency and other U.S. intelligence agencies.
Such surveillance has come under scrutiny since 2013 disclosures
by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Corporations have been clamoring for Congress to extend legal
liability protections to them so they can more easily share data
with the government to help prevent and respond to cyber
attacks.
Several major companies, including Microsoft Corp, Lockheed
Martin and Morgan Stanley, had pushed for a threat-sharing bill.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by David
Gregorio)
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