House appropriators question justification for proposed CISA budget cuts

As the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under President Donald Trump has requested a nearly $500 million cut to its budget for the coming fiscal year, House appropriators questioned why such reductions make sense amid escalating tensions with cyber adversaries.

In her first hearing on Thursday, CISA’s acting Director Bridget Bean was asked to justify those decreases by House Appropriations Committee leaders.

CISA’s $3 billion budget would see a $491 million cut from fiscal 2025 as the administration aims to reshape it amid accusations that its efforts to counter false information on social media censored conservative viewpoints. Past disinformation efforts have totaled less than 1% of CISA’s budget, a former official told Congress in January. 

Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., the ranking member on the panel’s Homeland Security subcommittee, questioned the ways the cyber agency is being changed in line with Department of Government Efficiency goals to shed federal spending waste. DOGE-fueled efforts have already resulted in contract cancellations, advisory board dismissals and some staff being put on leave.

“That’s not cutting fat. That’s a death blow,” she said, adding that Trump is “offended by” CISA’s congressionally-mandated mission to secure elections from foreign powers. 

Around $10 million in funding has been halted for the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, both widely viewed as instrumental in supporting state and local election security efforts.

“Therefore, you cannot claim to be refocusing on core missions like enhancing the security and resilience of critical infrastructure while also eliminating election security support and staff,” said Underwood. “Why? Why is this administration so determined to degrade the core cyberdefenses that keep America safe?"

Chairman Mark Amodei, R-Nev., said he wanted to better understand how that nearly half a billion dollar cut affects the “context of your mission.”

“I know you’re being reorganized and all that sort of other stuff, but at the end of the day, if there’s a big meltdown, and somebody’s gonna go, ‘Well how come you folks approved cutting a bunch of stuff?’ I at least want to be in a position [to say,] ‘We asked the questions, we looked at the data, we thought we had done the right thing,’” he said.

“The question is this: Why shouldn’t I be worried about where we’re sitting in terms of all the issues you’ve talked about as a result of those cuts?” he added. “And if the only thing that’s gonna come back is a general ‘we’re reorganizing, we’re refocusing’ — please pass up the chain ma’am that that dog won’t hunt.”

According to an Office of Management and Budget letter issued last week, the CISA budget request “refocuses CISA on its core mission — federal network defense and enhancing the security and resilience of critical infrastructure — while eliminating weaponization and waste.”

It also seeks to eliminate programs focused on deterring false information online, as well as external engagement offices. OMB does not mention specific programs or offices targeted for elimination. 

“These programs and offices were used as a hub in the Censorship Industrial Complex to violate the First Amendment, target Americans for protected speech, and target the president,” it said.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and leading into the 2020 election, CISA had regular contact with social media platforms to inform them of mis- or disinformation-laced content, crafted or amplified by foreign adversaries and home-grown entities.

But the agency began chilling communications following a July 2023 Missouri-originated lawsuit alleging that the Biden administration’s efforts to flag disinformation violated First Amendment rights and suppressed politically conservative voices. 

Many of the posts that were flagged centered around COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, as well as Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud. The case was kicked up to the Supreme Court, which ultimately sided with the Biden administration on the matter last year.

“CISA will continue to focus on strengthening our nation’s cyber and physical defenses,” Bean said in her prepared opening statement, adding that, every day, CISA works with government partners to identify and notify victims of cyber intrusions and safeguard critical infrastructure.