Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank my senior Senator from our great State of Iowa for his wonderful contributions to our agriculture sector. This is an extremely important topic that we are bringing to the floor today, the threat of agriculture ransomware. From grocery stores in Iowa to New York and every State in between, it is no secret that the price of groceries has drastically increased over the course of the past year. Combining that with the ongoing supply chain disaster, it is even more apparent that the last thing we need is a cyber security attack that would shut down any of our agriculture production. Like many Iowans, I am increasingly concerned about the growing ransomware attacks on our Nation's ag economy. In a 2019 report, researchers from the University of Minnesota outlined the seriousness of the risk of cyber attacks to the American food and agriculture system. The report indicated that American agriculture is extremely vulnerable due to outdated security, poor coordination among businesses, and lack of emphasis on cyber security within the industry. In June, the world's largest meat processing company, JBS, was attacked by a Russian-based operation. Nine U.S.-based meat packing plants temporarily shut down as a result of that attack, including the JBS pork processing plants in Marshalltown and Ottumwa, IA.…”