Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, our government was recently struck by a devastating cyber attack that has been described as one of the worst breaches in U.S. history. It was a major blow to the privacy of millions of Americans. We know the private sector is vulnerable to attack as well. The House has already passed two White House-backed cyber security bills to help address the issue. Similar legislation is now before the Senate. It is strong, bipartisan, and transparent. It has been vetted and overwhelmingly endorsed 14 to 1 by both parties in committee.

It would help both the public and private sectors to defeat cyber attacks. The top Senate Democrat on this issue reminds us it would protect individual privacy and civil liberties too. Now is the time to allow the Senate to debate and then pass this bipartisan bill.

In just a moment, I will offer a fair consent request to allow the Senate to do just that. The Democratic leader previously said that both he and the senior Senator from Oregon believe the Senate should be able to finish the bill ``in a couple of days ..... at the most.'' And just today he said the Democrats remain willing to proceed to this bipartisan bill if allowed to offer some relevant amendments. The senior Senator from New York has also said that Democrats want to get to the bill and that they want to get a few amendments too.

Our friends across the aisle will be glad to know that the UC I am about to offer would allow 10 relevant amendments per side to be offered and made pending. That is a good and fair start that exceeds the request from our friends across the aisle.

Now that we have a path forward that gives both sides what they said they need, I would invite our colleagues to join us now in moving forward on this bill. I invite our colleagues to allow the Senate to cooperate in a spirit of good faith to pass a bill this week so we can help protect the American people from more devastating cyber attacks.

I notified the Democratic leader that I would propound the following consent request: I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motion on the motion to proceed to calendar No. 28, S. 754, be withdrawn and that the Senate immediately proceed to its consideration. I further ask that Senator Burr then be recognized to offer the Burr-Feinstein substitute amendment and that it be in order during today's session of the Senate for the bill managers, or their designees, to offer up to 10 first-degree amendments relevant to the substitute per side.

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, let me say, I think there may well be a way forward here. What I thought I heard the Democratic leader say is that they are interested in passing a bill. That is important. He said when it was offered on the defense authorization bill that it was a 2-day bill, and we could agree to a limited number of amendments.

I think we both agree this is an important subject. I can't imagine that either the Democrats or the Republicans want to leave here for a month and not pass the cyber security bill. I think there is enough interest on both sides to try to continue to discuss the matter and see if there is a way forward. That would be in the best interest of the country if we could come together and do this. This bill came out of the intelligence committee 14 to 1.

Chairman Burr and Vice Chair Feinstein have been asking for floor time. They are anxious to move this bill
across the floor. I am hoping the Democratic leader and I can continue to discuss the matter and that we can find a way forward.

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as my good friend the Democratic leader used to remind me, the majority leader always gets the last word.

This is not a new issue. It was around during the previous Congress. Other committees acted--other committee chairmen like what Chairman Burr and Vice Chair Feinstein have done. Hopefully, we can minimize sort of manufacturing problems here that keep us from going forward when it appears to me that both sides really would like to get an outcome and believe it would be best for the country to get an outcome before we go into the recess. We will continue to discuss the matter and hope that we can find a way forward.

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