Political Quotes

“I wish to speak on my amendment No. 3197, to increase the protection of our critical infrastructure in the electric sector from a debilitating cyber attack. I am pleased to have Senators Mikulski and Hirono join me as cosponsors. Critical infrastructure refers to entities that are vital to the safety, health, and economic well-being of the American people, such as the major utilities that run the Nation's electric grid, the national air transportation system that moves passengers and cargo safely from one location to another, and the elements of the financial sector that ensure the $14 trillion in payments made every day are securely routed through the banking system. The underlying bill includes several provisions that I support to improve the cyber posture of the U.S. electric grid. These include giving the Secretary of Energy new authority to take actions to protect the grid in the event of an emergency and establishing new programs to reduce vulnerabilities and improve collaboration among the Department of Energy, national labs, and private industry. The underlying bill, however, makes no distinction between the vast majority of local or regional utilities and the very few entities that are so key to the electric grid that they could debilitate the U.S. economy and our way of life if they were attacked.…”