Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I know under the order this hour is reserved for Members of the Republican caucus, and although I am an Independent, I don't qualify exactly under the terms of the agreement to speak now. But seeing no Member of the Republican caucus on the floor, I thought I would take the opportunity to continue to speak about the pending item, S. 3414, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, and if any of my colleagues arrive, I will yield to them immediately. Before I yielded to Senator Roberts a short while ago, I made a statement that the two sides, if I can put it that way; that is, the sponsors of the pending legislation, Senators Collins, Feinstein, Rockefeller, and myself, and the sponsors of essentially the alternate approach, SECURE IT, sponsored by Senators McCain, Chambliss, Hutchison, and others--have been meeting. We have particularly been assisted by the bridge builders here--blessed are the peacemakers-- Senators Kyl, Whitehouse, and others, and we have been making progress. I said what was once a chasm separating us is now a narrow ridge that we are close to bridging. Let me explain what I mean by that. The sponsors of S. 3414, the pending legislation, strongly believe that owners of critical cyber infrastructure--and this is a unique aspect of our free society, thank God; 80 to 85 percent of the critical infrastructure in our country is privately owned, including cyber infrastructure. That is the way it ought to be.…”