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Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Madam President, in just a few hours, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is set to expire. If we don't extend these critical authorities, we will lose one of our most effective defenses against cyber attacks as our adversaries' attacks continue to grow more aggressive and more sophisticated.

This law has protected our economy; it has protected our infrastructure; and it has protected our government for more than a decade. It allows private companies and Federal Agencies to share real- time threat information before attacks spread, before systems are compromised, and before damage becomes irreversible. If this law expires, it will be harder to protect businesses and critical infrastructure against cyber attacks, and cyber criminals and our adversaries will be emboldened to continue to try to breach our defenses.

The original law was passed with a strong bipartisan support, and there is bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate to renew these protections for another 10 years. Even the Trump administration fully agrees and the White House and the Department of Homeland Security support this 10-year extension.

A broad coalition of industry leaders are asking for Congress to act quickly to pass a long-term extension, which provides businesses with the certainty they need to know these protections will be available to them for years to come.

That is why Senator Rounds and I introduced a clean, bipartisan 10- year extension in April, with strong support from stakeholders who are absolutely counting on these protections. It is time to pass this bill today; otherwise, we will lose our networks, our businesses, our economy, and we will leave them exposed, vulnerable, and defenseless. We need to pass this legislation.

1377 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. PETERS. I want to be clear. This is a voluntary program that businesses across the country have been able to count on for 10 years. These same companies are urging us to extend the exact same protections for another 10 years.

These cyber security protections keep our country safe. They have stopped cyber attacks that could have exposed America's private data, compromised businesses and our economy, or even taken over critical infrastructure like our electric grid and our transportation systems.

Countless businesses in every industry across the country depend on these protections. Telling them they could be eliminated again in just 2 months with a short-term CR does not give them the certainty they need to work. This is why they want the 10-year extension.

The Federal Government needs to help them prevent catastrophic attacks. We have broad bipartisan consensus, not for just a couple of months--that doesn't help anybody--but broad bipartisan consensus, including support, again, from the Trump administration, which fully supports this, to extend these authorities for the next 10 years. That will ensure that every industry in America can continue to count on these protections to be available.

If my colleague doesn't support a clean authorization--he is chair of the committee--he should have initiated a bipartisan process. He should have, perhaps, convened hearings like a chairman normally would if they actually care about an issue. The committee should have had a chance to hear from key industry stakeholders. The committee could have heard directly from officials from President Trump's White House and President Trump's Department of Homeland Security. They would tell them, as they have told everyone, that they need to pass a 10-year extension--not a couple of months, a 10-year extension--but that hasn't happened in our committee.

But if my colleague is not interested in meaningful compromise or working across the aisle on legislation in his committee's jurisdiction that is absolutely essential, then I would ask that he at least--at least--stop standing in the way of the rest of the entire U.S. Senate and broad bipartisan support in the House and pass a clean 10-year extension of this proven law.

I cannot predict the ways in which cyber criminals and adversaries will try to take advantage of this situation if we can't extend these authorities. At this moment, let's be very clear, there is only one person--one person--standing in the way. I am certainly willing to work with my colleague on his concerns about free speech. He would not even let our committee have any kind of discussion about any legislation, including his own.

It is time to let the Senate work its will and vote to extend these cyber security protections. It is absolutely essential for this Nation's national security.

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