Two critical federal cybersecurity efforts are set to expire Wednesday morning, as congressional leaders have been unable to secure a deal to keep the government open.

The ongoing impasse has made it virtually certain that the programs — which enjoy the support of Capitol Hill, the Trump administration and the private sector — will sunset, at least temporarily, until policymakers can reach an agreement.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, also known as CISA 2015, will lapse at midnight without an extension. The law provides legal safeguards for industry to share threat data with other organizations and the federal government.

The State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program will also go dark. The initiative, which provided $1 billion in funding to states and localities, was created during the pandemic to help fend off malicious actors who targeted critical infrastructure.

The House Homeland Security Committee advanced bills to renew both efforts earlier this month, but with no action in the Senate, short-term extensions were hitched to stopgap government funding measure that also has stalled in that chamber.

With just hours before the dual deadlines, finger-pointing for failing to extend the programs is in full swing.

Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, chastised panel chair Rand Paul (R-KY) during a Tuesday hearing for not taking up the reauthorization and another measure on drones.

“These actions risk making our nation less safe,” he said. “This committee should not simply walk away from its responsibility to actually be a leader in critical homeland security matters.”

“You got to love fake outrage,” Paul, who canceled a previously scheduled markup of his version of a CISA renewal bill, responded. 

He noted Peters “had a chance to vote for the [continuing resolution] which extended these authorities, but he voted no. So you know, fake outrage is great, but it's fake.”

Paul said renewal had not been brought up because the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency “has been associated with some of the worst and most egregious abuse of the First Amendment” — an apparent reference to years-old allegations that the organization has been biased against conservatives’ speech online. 

Peters said Paul was “conflating” the Homeland Security Department’s cyber wing with the decade-old statute and suggested the Kentucky Republican could back renewal when he makes a "unanimous consent" request Wednesday. 

The process is typically used for more mundane matters and bills are routinely called up and thwarted by objections from other senators.

Things are no less heated in the House.

“The House has done its job. It is unfortunate that Senate Democrats are now pushing for a government shutdown at the expense of the American people and to the detriment of our nation’s cybersecurity defenses,” House Homeland Security Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) said in a statement.

If both programs go down, “we would lose the capabilities of two critical tools that help mitigate evolving cyber threats by sophisticated adversaries,” he added. “In both the short- and long-term, I am committed to finding the best path forward alongside my colleagues in the House and Senate to reauthorize and enhance these essential authorities.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the House panel’s top Democrat, blamed the GOP.

“Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House — they could have gotten CISA 2015 and [state grants] reauthorizations passed if they cared more about protecting Americans from cyber attacks from China than lining the pockets of billionaires,” he said in a statement.

“Actions speak loudly, and Republicans have made their priorities clear.”

Nitin Natarajan, who served as the No. 2 at CISA during the Biden administration, told Recorded Future News that cybersecurity “has been and should continue to be a bipartisan issue.”

The 2015 CISA and grants programs are “critical elements of building cyber resilience among our state, local, and private sector partners, especially small and medium sized jurisdictions and businesses who are seeing an increased volume and complexity of cyber attacks from nation-states and cybercriminals,” according to Natarajan, who now owns his own cybersecurity firm.

“Without them, we'll see less threat information sharing and a reduction in cyber defenses which could impact the day to day lives of Americans across the nation,” he said.