Lieberman: Senate to consider cybersecurity bill by 'end of next week'

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said the Senate is going to begin consideration of his cybersecurity bill "by the end of next week."

Lieberman said the bill will be similar to the version introduced in February but there "will be some changes" made to the information sharing and critical infrastructure sections. He is working with bill co-sponsors Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on a draft with those changes.

"[Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid has been really definitive and I appreciate that. We're going to go to the cybersecurity bill by the end of next week," said Lieberman. "We're working to put together a draft for him. We're trying to get as much agreement as we can on the two more controversial parts, information sharing and what I call standards, or performance requirements."

Lieberman said he's "inclined" to include some of the elements of a compromise framework that Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have been working on for the critical infrastructure provisions in the bill, but no final decisions have been made. 

"It's a big decision for us," Lieberman said. "They're still talking. I don't think they're going to reach an agreement with a lot of the people who are most concerned about the critical infrastructure part before the bill comes to the floor."

Lieberman believes including some components from the Whitehouse and Kyl compromise framework will help his bill get the votes needed to reach the magic number of 60.

"It's different than what we had. It's not as good as what we had, but it might be good enough to get us 60 votes to pass," Lieberman said of the framework. "It's something real, I think. In other words, it'll really have an effect in improving our security."

This story was updated at 7:20 p.m.