the Maduro regime's corruption and negligence has devastated Venezuela's economy, starved its people, and brought the Nation to the brink of collapse.

However, this legislation we are discussing today jeopardizes that outcome in several ways by appearing to take military force off the table.

It sends the wrong signal to both our allies and adversaries.

As I said, I have personally spoken with the Vice President and Special Representative Elliott Abrams, and as recent as this afternoon with the Ambassador Carlos Vecchio, who all expressed concern about discussing this bill at this…

Opponents of this legislation are not pushing for military actions.

To be absolutely clear, Nicolas Maduro is a dictator who does not care about the Venezuelan people.

Technology and the internet have fundamentally changed how citizens, the Nation, the military, and our adversaries in the world operate.

I think that has to be a high priority, and certainly more support for the Cyber Excepted Service is going to have the support of this subcommittee and the committee as a whole.

bipartisanship isn't dead

I think it is important that we meet them at every challenge.

However, the connections that we rely on also create vulnerabilities and new potential avenues for our adversaries to exploit at our Nation's expense.

And I think we are going to see more and more of this conflict in the gray zone below the threshold of armed conflict.

Cyber, as we understand it in government, will always be something that creates risk to go along with its great promise.

It is important for it to have full support and full resourcing.

Anytime that our enemies or adversaries do something that goes unanswered, I think it just emboldens them further.

We collectively benefit from the opportunities afforded by the technology that we incorporate into our lives.

I thank Senator Van Hollen for joining me in this colloquy and for speaking today on the floor. I see the distinguished ranking member of the Finance Committee here. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.

Arsenic, too, is a naturally occurring substance, but you don't want too much of it.