[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 171 (Thursday, October 16, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S7153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2983

  Ms. SLOTKIN. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about something that 
threatens nearly every American: cyber attacks.
  I call on my colleagues to pass the Protecting America from Cyber 
Threats Act--a no-brainer step to defend our citizens from cyber 
threats.
  This is a very wonky law, but it has a very, very simple objective: 
to encourage companies, private sector companies, to report hacks to 
the government so that together we can prevent it from happening again. 
This bill extends protections defined back in 2015 that encouraged 
companies to report cyber attacks to the Federal Government. It 
minimizes the risks companies once faced in reporting these hacks, and 
in doing so, it makes us all safer.
  Extending these protections has never been more important. Today, 
cyber attacks are top of mind for Americans across the country and 
certainly across the political spectrum.
  Two months ago, I traveled to Benton Harbor, MI, and Troy, MI--two 
communities--to talk about national security threats and what is 
keeping Michiganders up at night. Nearly every single person, 
regardless of profession or party, had a story about cyber crime: 
identity theft, robocalls, and scams robbing people of their life 
savings; hacks on hospitals for patient data; and shutdown access to 
electronic records.
  As a former CIA officer and Pentagon official, I have responded to 
countless threats to American security, but never before have we seen 
American citizens so exposed to security threats here at home. In the 
age of cyber warfare, everyday Americans are quite literally on the 
frontlines. And Americans know the stakes. That is why they are scared. 
One Michigander said to me: Warfare is still on the ground--still 
things like rockets--but it has also changed; cyber warfare can be just 
as brutal.
  But more than scared, Michiganders are frustrated. They don't believe 
that their government is taking the threat of cyber crime seriously, 
and if we don't renew this law, we will prove them right.
  On October 1, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 
expired--this last October 1. That means that companies are no longer 
incentivized to report hacks to the Federal Government.
  When a company self-reports a cyber attack, there is no longer a law 
to prevent the Justice Department from using that admission against 
them, and companies once again are incentivized to hide hacks from the 
government, which makes us all less safe.
  Companies have to see the government as an ally, not as a threat, and 
our safety depends on it because, unlike other threats like tanks and 
nukes and subs, the weapons used in cyber crimes are not created, 
owned, and controlled by a government; they are from the private 
sector. So we have to work together to prevent these attacks.
  This law has already been consequential. The Department of Homeland 
Security used it to respond to China's relentless Salt Typhoon 
campaign, which targeted every single American's unencrypted phone 
calls and text messages.
  As long as the law remains expired, America is less safe. As long as 
we refuse to renew it, we are moving backwards in keeping the country 
secure.
  Today, very simply, I am calling on my colleagues to renew these 
protections for another 10 years--they are renewed for 10 years at a 
time--so we can restore our cyber security defenses and better protect 
our Nation. There is no good reason not to renew it. Businesses support 
it. The Trump administration supports it. My colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle support it.
  I know there is a proposal out there to extend the law--instead of 10 
years--for just 5 weeks, in the House's version of the temporary 
funding bill, but it is such a pivotal time for something that is 
actually a bipartisan consensus idea, half measures shouldn't do. We 
have known that this was going to expire for 10 years. Americans 
deserve to have us not kick the can down the road for another 5 weeks. 
There is too much at stake, particularly given the losses among the 
American public.
  Some things are bigger than party politics, and national security 
should always be one of them. This law is essential to keeping the 
country safe, to keeping Americans safe, so I urge my colleagues to 
renew it.
  Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 182, S. 
2983; that the Peters substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be 
considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, 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.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up 
to 5 minutes prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.