Cyber Security

Floor Speech

Date: Aug. 5, 2015
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, a cyber attack can feel like a very personal attack on your privacy. A criminal with your medical records, your credit cards, and your Social Security number; a stranger with emails from your boss, texts to your friends, and pictures of your kids--it is personally violating, financially crippling, and it
can be just plain creepy. But with effective cyber security legislation, we can help protect America's privacy.

It seems the White House agrees too. We were glad to see such a strong statement of support yesterday for the strong bipartisan and transparent cyber security bill before the Senate. The President's spokesman said ``the Senate should take up this bill as soon as possible and pass it.'' That is what the President's spokesman said just yesterday about the bill that is currently on the floor. It is easy to see why. This bipartisan legislation would help the public and private sectors protect America's most private and personal information by defeating cyber attacks.

It contains important measures to protect ``individual privacy and civil liberties,'' as the top Democrat on the issue put it. It has been scrutinized and supported overwhelmingly--14 to 1--by both parties in the Intelligence Committee.

Our colleagues said they would be happy to consider the bill in a timely fashion--a couple of days ``at the most'' is what the Democratic leader told us--if allowed to offer some amendments. That seemed reasonable enough to me. That is why I offered a fair proposal yesterday that would have ensured at least 10 relevant amendments to be pending and debated for each party. That is actually more than what Democrats have been asking for. So I think everyone was a little taken aback when they chose to block the proposal anyway.

I am still determined to see if we can find a way forward on this bipartisan bill. Republicans support it, Democrats support it, and President Obama supports it. I am asking colleagues to join me to open debate on it today. With a little cooperation, we can pass a strong bipartisan cyber security bill this week.

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