Passed by House: Latta's ROUTERS Act

The U.S. House of Representatives today unanimously passed Congressman Bob Latta's (OH-05) Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security (ROUTERS) Act which will safeguard Americans' communications networks from foreign-adversary controlled technology, including routers, modems, or devices that combine both.

Latta worked with Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on the ROUTERS Act who introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate. Latta and Blackburn also penned an op-ed in The Washington Times detailing the importance of Congress advancing their ROUTERS Act.

"As communist China seeks to undermine our people, workforce, and nation, House Republicans are working to curtail their malign influence," Latta said. "I'm encouraged my ROUTERS Act was unanimously approved by the U.S. House today because it will protect Americans from cyber threats posed by foreign-adversary controlled technology. I'd like to thank Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Rodgers for her leadership in helping to move this bill through our committee, and I'm proud to work with Senator Blackburn who is leading the companion bill in the Senate. We now urge Senate leadership to take up our solution to protect Americans and send it to the President's desk to be signed into law."

"Secure communications networks are crucial for protecting America's economic competitiveness and national security," Energy & Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said. "I thank Rep. Latta for his bipartisan legislation that will help us better understand potential vulnerabilities in our routers and modems, making our networks more resilient against potential attacks by our adversaries."

"Tens of millions of families and small businesses across the country use wireless routers as their primary access point to the Internet," Blackburn said. "Many of these routers are susceptible to infiltration by foreign actors, including China, jeopardizing our national security and exposing our country to serious danger. I am pleased to see that this bill passed the House, and I urge Leader Schumer to quickly take up this bill."

Background on the ROUTERS Act:

The ROUTERS Act would require the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the Department of Commerce to conduct a study of the national security risks posed by routers, modems, or devices that combine both, that are designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of the People's Republic of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela.