[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16683]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      CYBERSECURITY INFORMATION SHARING BILL AND FISCAL AGREEMENT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday the Senate voted overwhelming 
to pass another piece of important legislation for our country. By a 
vote of 74 to 21, the Senate said yes to protecting the private 
information of every American. The significant bill we passed would do 
so through the sharing of threat information from cyber attacks.
  It couldn't have passed without the hard work of Senators from both 
sides of the aisle. I particularly thank Senator McCain, Senator Ron 
Johnson, and Senator Tom Carper, who worked hard to move this bill 
forward. I appreciate in particular the outstanding work of our 
chairman, Senator Burr from North Carolina, and our vice chair, Senator 
Feinstein from California. They worked together seamlessly to move this 
challenging bill forward.
  It is worth noting something the vice chair recently said. She said: 
``One of the things I've learned from two prior bills of this type is 
that if you really want to get a bill done, it's got to be bipartisan--
particularly a bill that's technical and difficult and hard to put 
together.''
  After watching the Senate fail to act on cyber threat information 
sharing for years, the new Senate majority resolved to move forward 
instead. As our Democratic colleague from California put it, ``We stood 
shoulder to shoulder and the right things happened.''
  Yesterday's bipartisan vote was an important step forward for our 
country. It represents the new Senate's latest notable accomplishment 
on behalf of the American people. We remain determined to keep pushing 
ahead as Congress continues its work to send a strong cyber security 
bill to the President's desk.
  On another matter, the House will soon consider the fiscal agreement. 
After the House acts, the Senate will take up the measure. Republicans 
approached the recent fiscal negotiations with several goals: No. 1, 
reject the tax increases proposed by Democrats; No. 2, secure long-term 
savings via structural entitlement reforms; and No. 3, protect our 
troops and strengthen national security. The agreement pending before 
the House meets those goals. It is not perfect--far from it--but here 
is what we know: It is offset with other cuts and savings. It would 
enact the most significant reform to Social Security since 1983, 
resulting in $168 billion in long-term savings. It would repeal more of 
ObamaCare. It would provide greater certainty to our military planners 
to help ensure readiness and preparedness for our troops.
  At a time of diverse and challenging global threats, when we see ISIL 
consolidating gains in Iraq and Syria and Russian aircraft flying over 
Syria as the forces of Assad march alongside Iranian soldiers and 
Hezbollah militias, the importance of this cannot be overstated.
  Our All-Volunteer Force loyally goes into harm's way, and our 
commanders tell us that additional resources are required to ensure 
their safety and preparedness.
  I urge my colleagues to consider these important issues as they 
continue to examine the agreement. We plan to consider it after the 
House acts.

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