The act was initially passed by Congress in April 2013, but was eventually quashed by the Senate, which refused to vote on it without an extensive reworking. The White House was also never a fan of CISPA, saying at the time that it "fails to provide (critical infrastructure protection) without instituting corresponding privacy, confidentiality and civil liberties safeguards." Privacy groups saw it as justification for intrusive web spying and possibly as a trojan horse for a new version of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), an anti-copyright bill that was widely opposed by Microsoft, Google and others.

CISPA fails to provide critical infrastructure protection without instituting corresponding privacy, confidentiality and civil liberties safeguards.

However, most tech companies looked favorably on CISPA, despite a petition against it signed by over 800,000 people. Ruppersberger is hoping to find bipartisan support on the bill, which may be easier now that the Senate has changed hands. Given the White House's previous stand, however, it seems likely to be vetoed without considerable changes.