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Floor Speech
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Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, earlier this week, I stood here and issued a very clear warning: Vital cyber security protections that have safeguarded our economy, our infrastructure, and our government for over a decade have now expired. For the past 10 years, these safeguards defended against increasingly aggressive and sophisticated cyber security attacks. Without them, there is no question our Nation is at greater risk of a major cyber security breach than ever before.
We didn't have to reach this point. Back in April, Senator Rounds and I introduced a clean, bipartisan 10-year extension of these critical-- absolutely critical--security authorities. The Trump administration fully supports this effort. They fully support a 10-year extension. Businesses and stakeholders across industries who count on this law want to see a clean 10-year extension.
Over the past few months, we have heard from more than 100 of them urging us to pass legislation that will give them the long-term certainty of these protections. That is a key point, long-term certainty for these protections, so that they defend their systems and protect their customers.
Every single day we delay reauthorizing this law, we leave our hospitals, our power grids, our financial systems, and more increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks. We must pass this legislation without delay to restore these vital defenses and protect our Nation. I urge my colleagues to immediately address this serious national security risk and pass this clean, long-term extension today.
1337 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. Let's be really clear, this has absolutely nothing to do with annual appropriations whatsoever. It doesn't have to do with the shutdown. This is a law that expired at the end of the fiscal year to protect our cyber security across the country. It is about restoring a law that has been in place for 10 years. It is not about the appropriations process.
This is simply about national security. So to use that as an excuse and to put our country at risk is simply unconscionable, given the broad bipartisan, bicameral support you have in the Senate and in the House and including the strong support from the Trump administration. This is simply irresponsible, and I think you will find it is basically one person standing in the way of providing critical protection for cyber security for the entire country. That is not the way this process is supposed to work.
I would hope folks would come to their senses, and we can provide this essential protection before it is too late.
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