Political Quotes

“The majority leader came to the floor yesterday, as I have said, echoing these sentiments in his floor speech, when he said: When virtually every intelligence expert says we need to secure the systems that make the lights come on, inaction is not an option. I could not agree more with Senator Reid. The fact is, the House of Representatives, the so-called other body of Congress, has passed a cybersecurity bill--a package that I think takes some significant initial good steps. I thank the House for that. But I believe the bipartisan Senate Cybersecurity Act of 2012, S. 2105, which is sponsored by Senators Collins, Feinstein, Rockefeller, and me, takes the additional necessary steps to secure our cyber systems and, therefore, is preferable. It is preferable, in large part, because it addresses the need to secure our Nation's critical cyber infrastructure; that is, the computers that control the systems that, if commandeered, attacked or intruded upon, could allow an attacker to open and close key valves and switches in pipelines for gas and oil and refineries and factories and water and sewer systems and electric plants and banks and along transportation nodes without detection by their operators. We need to pass this bill or something very much like it so we can go to conference with the House and iron out whatever differences we have this year so we can get legislation to the President's desk. He has endorsed, I am grateful to say, S.…”