The act, referred to as CISA, works to bolster information sharing across business sectors and the federal government through "legal safeguards and liability protections," according to Politico.
While reauthorization enjoys bipartisan support, Paul has been critical of a particular element within the program he worries has been abused. CISA's role in combating disinformation has drawn scrutiny from opponents who believe its efforts to tag cybersecurity threats and bad foreign actors gets too close to content moderation.
"Everybody's been talking. They want CISA reauthorized. all right, we'll do it. But we're going to put in there anti-censorship language," Paul said last week in committee. "We need to make this part of the law. It already is the law. It's called the First Amendment. But we need to specifically prohibit CISA from getting involved in political speech."
Regarding speech, Paul said CISA had been instrumental in efforts to clamp down on what he described as information and opinions that ran counter to the government's "narrative" surrounding COVID-19 during the pandemic.
For now, Paul is sounding more receptive to renewing the program, but only with the new provision specifically addressing his concerns regarding political speech — a change warned could be reversed by future administrations.