[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 115 (Tuesday, July 31, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S5691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we are already on S. 3414, which is the 
cyber security bill. The time until 2:15 p.m., is for debate only, and 
the time until 12:30 p.m. will be equally divided between the two 
leaders or their designees. The majority will control the first hour 
and the Republicans the second hour.
  The Senate will recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly 
caucus meetings.
  I will alert everyone to this: I hope those people, led by Senator 
Lieberman and Senator Collins, will work to come up with a finite list 
of amendments so we can move on the cyber security bill.
  I spoke to the Republican leader yesterday and have been very patient 
and tried to get a list of amendments we can agree on. I hope that can 
be done soon. It is very important that we make a determination of 
whether we are going to be able to get a bill. There is not a lot of 
time left to tread water, so to speak.
  This is an important piece of legislation. All one needs to do is 
look at what is going on in India today. There are no cyber problems 
there that I am aware of, but one-half of the country of India is 
without electricity today. Transportation has been shut down, financial 
networks in India, which are significant, are down, and it is a chaotic 
place. There are 600 million people in India who are without 
electricity. As we have been told time and time again, the most 
important issue we have facing this country today for security is 
cyber. We have been told that by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by the 
head of the CIA. We have been told that by Democrats and Republicans. 
It is an issue that is important, and we have been told it is something 
we can prevent.
  If we don't do this bill, it is not a question of if there will be a 
cyber attack that will be devastating to our country, it is only a 
question of when. It can be stopped. I hope the chamber of commerce 
will get some sense.
  There was a big meeting in the Chamber yesterday. They were moving 
forward on all that was bad about the bill. The problem is they were 
dealing with the wrong bill. So I hope we can get something done. It is 
extremely important that we do.
  There will be a Senators-only briefing today at 5 p.m. in the Visitor 
Center today in SVC-217.

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