U.S. Chamber Backs Four Grid Security Bills Before House Floor Votes

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pressing House members to pass four grid security bills scheduled for floor consideration under suspension early this week.

In a letter addressed to the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Neil Bradley, Executive Vice President, Chief Policy Officer, and Head of Strategic Advocacy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged a "yes" vote on H.R. 7257, H.R. 7258, H.R. 7266, and H.R. 7305 "to enhance the cyber and physical security of America's critical energy infrastructure."

The Chamber supports the bipartisan focus on protecting America's energy infrastructure amid what it describes as "an increasingly complex physical and cyber threat environment." The letter frames the stakes directly: the nation's energy infrastructure is critical to supporting the economy and national security.

That relationship, the Chamber argues, makes it increasingly important that all appropriate legislative and regulatory tools be deployed to facilitate coordination between government and the stakeholders who own and operate critical electricity infrastructure. "A strong partnership is necessary to protect the energy sector from an evolving threat landscape," the letter states.

The four bills

H.R. 7257, the Securing Community Upgrades for a Resilient Grid (SECURE Grid) Act, would amend State Energy Security Plans required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The bill would require consideration of threats to local distribution systems, not only bulk-power systems, while also evaluating supply chain and weather-related threats and vulnerabilities to electric power systems.

H.R. 7258, the Energy Emergency Leadership Act, would elevate energy emergency and energy security among the functions that the Secretary of Energy shall designate to an Assistant Secretary. The Chamber notes this proposal is substantially similar to legislation that previously passed the House in each of the last three Congresses — a signal of repeated congressional interest that has yet to become law.

H.R. 7266, the Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity Act, would reauthorize a grant and technical assistance program that originated under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The program supports technical and financial assistance to energy sector stakeholders who may lack the resources to protect and harden their systems against cyber threats. It also increases these entities' participation in cybersecurity threat information sharing programs.

H.R. 7305, the Energy Threat Analysis Center Act of 2026, would reauthorize the establishment of the Energy Threat Analysis Center at the Department of Energy under the IIJA. The reauthorization further clarifies the public/private sector collaboration and information sharing the Chamber calls critical to strengthening the collective defense of America's energy infrastructure.

Why it matters

The Chamber's endorsement carries weight. The organization is one of the largest business lobbying groups in Washington, and its decision to endorse a set of grid security measures ahead of floor votes signals alignment between major industry stakeholders and bipartisan legislators on infrastructure protection.

The letter acknowledges that protection of critical energy infrastructure requires constant vigilance. Even so, the Chamber argues the bills under consideration provide important tools to enhance the capabilities of both public and private sectors to secure reliable and resilient domestic electricity supplies.

The bundle covers both ends of the grid security problem. One set of measures — H.R. 7257 — addresses physical and weather-related vulnerabilities at the state planning level. The other three bills focus on institutional capacity: elevating emergency leadership inside the Department of Energy, funding cybersecurity for smaller utilities, and formalizing threat analysis and information sharing between government and industry.

All four bills are scheduled for floor consideration under suspension early this week, a procedure typically reserved for measures expected to pass with broad bipartisan support. If the House approves them, attention will shift to the Senate, where the fate of the House-passed predecessors of H.R. 7258 suggests final enactment is not guaranteed.