Dianne Feinstein

Mrs. FEINSTEIN

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Before you call the roll, I just want to thank the distinguished ranking member. A lot of cooperation went into this bill or it would have taken a lot longer. I thank particularly the staff: Peter Kiefhaber, Virginia James, Scott Dalzell, Rachael Taylor, Chris Watkins; on the Republican side, Lee Fonnesbeck, Rachelle Schroeder, and Rebecca Benn. We thank you very much.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Inhofe amendment No. 2445 be in order.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. This amendment has been cleared on both sides. I ask unanimous consent the amendment be agreed to.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I rise to submit, along with Senators Rockefeller, Gillibrand, Carper, Mikulski, Lieberman, Collins, Reid, Levin, Bennett, Snowe, Landrieu, Hatch, Bayh, and Voinovich, a resolution supporting National Cyber Security Awareness Month, which will be held next month. We in the Congress are trying to make cybersecurity a priority issue, but much work remains to be done. A critical first step is to raise awareness and public understanding of the cyber threat and steps that can be taken to improve cybersecurity. This is true across Government and private industry, but the Government should play a leadership role. Each year for the last 5 years, the National Cyber Security Alliance, the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the Department of Homeland Security, and other organizations working to improve cybersecurity in the U.S. have designated October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Today, I am submitting a resolution to officially designate National Cyber Security Awareness Month again this October. The goal is to educate and empower Internet users to take simple steps to safeguard themselves from the latest online threats and respond to cyber crime and to bring Federal agencies, businesses, educational institutions, and other organizations together to encourage development and implementation of cybersecurity best practices. Cybersecurity is a serious national security and economic security challenge of great complexity, deserving of increased attention from the Congress. As the Senate prepares to consider important cybersecurity legislation to provide new authorities and clarify privacy and legal issues, a few cyber-related observations and concerns can be mentioned now. First, I am troubled by the lack of situational awareness on the opportunities, activities, and identities of cyber thieves or potential attackers on U.S. information networks. This is a serious weakness and a source of frustration for those responsible for oversight and strategic decision-making. Unfortunately, it will not be easy to remedy this because there are disincentives to report cyber intrusions and vulnerabilities in the U.S. Government and private sector. This must change. It must change quickly so that cybersecurity leaders can make well-informed decisions and respond to problems in real time. Next, it is clear that cybersecurity activities must be conducted with strong congressional oversight that will demand thorough Executive branch planning before billions of dollars are authorized and appropriated. In addition, there must be a rigorous analysis of the government's use of legal authorities for national cybersecurity missions that preserve the reasonable privacy expectations of Americans. The government's role must be well-defined as its activities involving the Internet evolve. I appreciate the White House's effort to be transparent and open with Congress on this issue this year, and have high expectations for continued healthy cooperation. We need to have those entities with cybersecurity responsibilities collaborating across the Government. That means homeland security, intelligence, military, foreign policy, law enforcement, and other components involved in cybersecurity must be working together. The President has begun, through his cybersecurity review earlier this year, to provide a clear vision, strategic direction, and effective integration of the wide range of cybersecurity activities. However, more progress in this area is needed. I was pleased when President Obama made a major address on cybersecurity at the end of May, but that strong first step has been followed by a four-month delay in appointing a White House cybersecurity coordinator. Until this position is filled, it will be difficult to have effective leadership and coordination on governmental cybersecurity efforts. The Federal Government's communication strategy concerning cybersecurity must be improved as well. There should be a new plan on the best way to communicate the national cybersecurity policy to the public. Though some elements must be classified, it is important that the American people understand the Government's basic role in helping to secure information networks. The general rules and expectations for Government involvement, and how these may affect privacy, must be clearly explained. In addition, the Government must consider that effective cybersecurity inside the U.S. will require stronger diplomatic efforts and an international agreement on what will and will not be tolerated in cyberspace. An international framework on cyber warfare, much like international conventions on traditional warfare, is needed to govern this rapidly growing field. I also believe there should be a significant emphasis on long-term issues such as cyber research and development, recruiting cyber experts into government, and cyber education and training. In particular, recent studies sponsored by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have concluded that the Intelligence Community must dramatically increase funding for research and development in order for our cyber defenses to be effective in the future. The online world is moving quickly, with cutting-edge technology expertise spread across the globe, and the U.S. cannot presume a clear- cut technology advantage as it has in other areas of national security. I recommend a balanced portfolio approach that includes a nationally coordinated program of long-term, high-risk research aimed at revolutionary breakthroughs, sustained even when faced with near-term budget pressures. I strongly support a rebalancing of the Federal Government's Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative budget to address these concerns. Finally, as a step beyond the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative's focus on securing Federal Government information networks, I am highly concerned about protecting the U.S. critical infrastructure. For example, the country's electric power grid, communications systems, and financial infrastructure are all critical to our way of life yet unacceptably vulnerable to cyber attack. The Government and the private sector must work together to share more effectively cyber threat and vulnerability information, and the administration and the Congress must work together to determine the best mix of mandates, incentives, and other tools to improve critical infrastructure security. Fortunately, there is an increasing level of interest and debate on cybersecurity issues in Congress and around the country. The Senate Intelligence Committee, which I have the privilege of chairing, has invested significant time assessing the cyber threat to our country and potential Government responses through the following initiatives: scores of personal meetings and staff briefings with government, private sector, academic, and nonprofit thought-leaders; six cyber hearings in the last 2 years; four 6-month studies by the Committee's Technical Advisory Group; a new, balanced oversight system for federal government cybersecurity programs, as proposed in the fiscal year 2010 intelligence authorization bill; and regular outreach to other congressional committees. I want to thank my distinguished colleagues, Senators Rockefeller, Gillibrand, Carper, Mikulski, Lieberman, Collins, Reid, Levin, Bennett, Snowe, Landrieu, Hatch, Voinovich, and Bayh, for cosponsoring this resolution and for their leadership on this issue. I look forward to working with them and other members of Congress to improve our cybersecurity in the future.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 24, 2009, at 10 a.m.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 24, 2009, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Emergency Economic Stabilization Act: One year later.''

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 24, 2009, at 9:30 a.m., in room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on September 24 2009, at 10 a.m., in SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct an executive business meeting.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 24, 2009, at 2:30 p.m.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 24, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled, ``Getting to Better Government: Focusing on Performance''.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs's Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 24, 2009, at 2:30 p.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``A Review of U.S. Diplomatic Readiness: Addressing the Staffing and Foreign Language Challenges Facing the Foreign Service.''

Mrs. FEINSTEIN

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, the floor is now open for amendments to the Interior bill. I hope Senators will come to the floor if they have an amendment. The filing deadline is 1 o'clock this afternoon. I yield the floor.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, one of my delights has been to work with the distinguished ranking member. I think anyone who was listening to this does see his erudition and knowledge on this particular subject. So I would like to thank him and commend him for his remarks. Senator Alexander is correct. If we are going to address global warming, all of the options have to be on the table and we have to rethink and relook at nuclear power as being a viable alternative as a clean fuel. What has surprised me today is that so many people do not believe we face an emergency. So I have spent quite a bit of time trying to go back and look at global warming, look at books written by scientists, talk with people who have knowledge, who have expertise. And I have come to the conclusion that, unfortunately, it is real, that it is happening, and that it is substantially impacting our Earth. So since there is no one on the floor of the Senate wishing to offer an amendment--and I would be very happy to cease and desist should there be someone on the floor wishing to offer an amendment--I would like to say a few words about what I see happening kind of as, not a contretemps to what the Senator said but as a supporter of what he has said. I think the science, as I said, is overwhelming. Our climate is changing. The Earth's climate has, in fact, warmed by 1.1 to 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit since the industrial revolution. People look at this and say: Oh, that is not very much. In fact, it is very much, and it changes the dynamic. It impacts species. It kills some. It diminishes the carbon sink of the ocean. It does a number of things. But let me read to you something that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned in 2007. Warming of the climate system is unequivocal. Observational evidence from all continents and most oceans show that many natural systems are being affected by regional climate change. So I just pulled a few charts, and I would like to put them up and show them to you, which is the evidence of the change in our climate. This is the Greenland Ice Sheet. The year is 1979. Since 1979, 30 percent of the ice sheet has melted. Here is Greenland in 1979, both the rust color as well as the interior. Here it is in 2007. The source is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. So this is an actual rendering. It is pretty clear how much has melted. Here is the Arctic at the end of the 2007 ice melt. The sea ice cover was 23 percent smaller than it was in 2005 and 39 percent below the long-term average from 1979 to the year 2000. So here is the whole Arctic ice sheet. We now know the Northwest Passage is open and is open for the first time in history all during the year. You can see in 2005 the Arctic went all of the way out. 2007, here it is. The source of this is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These are a couple of satellite photos from intelligence. We have large satellites in the air. They have photographed, as part of a project, some of the melt. This happens to be the Beaufort Sea, both in August of 2001 and 2007. This site near the edge of the ice pack in summer as shown here has ponds of melted water forming on the surface. These dark pools absorb more of the summertime solar radiation than does the surrounding ice, enhancing melting. So observations of sea ice conditions reveal considerable year-to- year variability. But these images display the variability with regard to the amount of melting and are an example of the long-term sequential record needed to support and understand this dynamic system. So pond coverage, monitored over time, contributes to the estimate. But this is the Beaufort Sea in 2001, and here it is in 2007. The dark is all open water. I think it is pretty clear. This other satellite photo is of Barrow, AK. Here we see the Chukchi Sea in 2006, and it is pretty clear. Here it is in July of 2007, as photographed by a U.S. satellite. What they say is sea ice forms along the coast in the winter and generally melts or is breaking away by mid- July. Observation of sea ice reveals considerable year-to-year variability. This is similar to the other one, but I think this really shows the difference in satellite photographs, and there is a project to continue from the atmosphere to prove the change in the ice map and the breakup of ice masses. So we know Greenland is melting at an extraordinary pace. This week NOAA's National Climatic Data Center announced that the world's ocean surface temperature this summer was the warmest ever recorded. These records date back to 1880. In the Arctic, researchers have found that the widely documented summer shrinking which I have just showed you again resulted in the first ever opening of the Northwest Passage. In 2007, the winter thickness of that sea ice diminished by a record 19 percent in one winter, and scientists fear if the glaciers of Antarctica and Greenland melt at the same time, sea levels could rise by 20 feet. People say: Oh, that cannot possibly happen. I tell my constituents when they come: If you live near a beach in California, imagine what happens if the worldwide sea levels move up by 20 feet? In fact, some of this movement is already being felt in some of the Southern Pacific Islands, with people even making arrangements to move from those islands. In California we have seen a dramatic increase in catastrophic wildfires. I have spoken about that on the Senate floor. I have spoken about it to my ranking member. We have spoken about it in committee. We believe this bill meets the challenge because for the first time it funds the fire suppression needs of the Forest Service. But in the last 5 years, wildfires have burned more than 10,000 homes in California alone. Scientists now are predicting a 70- to 90-percent diminution of the Sierra snow pack. This is important because the Sierra Nevada Mountains provide the water for most of California. As a matter of fact, it provides the water for two-thirds of the State. That water could be lost due to climate change. At the same time annual rainfalls are decreasing, and the State's forests are burning up like never before. Here is the point: Can this warming be stopped? I have read a lot about it. I have talked to many people. I have talked to scientists I respect very much. What they tell me is it cannot be diminished, but it might be able to be controlled. The reason for this is that carbon released into the atmosphere does not dissipate. It has remained in the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution. So as carbon begins to pile up in the atmosphere, it creates the warming, and it also creates the potential catastrophe. So what do we do? We need to begin by reducing emissions of carbon, and that is pretty clear now. I have seen no serious science that diminishes this at this point in time. Instead, what they tell me is that we need to reduce emissions by 65 to 80 percent below 1990 levels, and all by the middle of this century. That translates to a goal of 450 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So I think, as Senator Alexander alluded to, there is no single policy we can implement to curb our Nation's emissions, no silver bullet. Rather, we need all the tools available, and this includes laws designed to protect the public from dangerous air pollution like the Clean Air Act. Global warming is real. It is happening today. It is being charted by our satellites. It is being charted by our scientists. It is being charted by those of us in this body, and I think the real key is if we are ready to admit that fact and take the action to make the necessary conversion. The Senator from Tennessee just spoke, I think eloquently, about the merits of nuclear power. I am one who believed originally that the human element and the waste element was such that it was not a viable alternative source. I no longer believe that. I think it is a viable alternative source, if we can fix the permit process that enables state-of-the-art nuclear technology to be built in a relatively short period of time. The yield from a nuclear plant, as we know, of clean energy is very large indeed. So that is a positive thing. We are debating now the placement of solar facilities: where they should go, how big they should be, and this is cutting edge for us. We have talked about it. I have indicated my concern about projects that are too big, like 20 square miles in pristine areas of the California desert that we have been trying to protect with public funds over time. We have learned that the largest solar facilities are perhaps 250 megawatts. So if you have them way up to 800, 1,000, this is without precedent. So we need to discuss if this is wise. If so, where should they be? What is the upside? What is the downside? Do they require new transmission corridors or are our existing transmission corridors adequate? So I think these are the kinds of discussions that are most fruitful, how we deal with the present circumstances. I hope that more Members of this body recognize it is only a question of time. I remember the days when there was never a funnel cloud off the coast of California. Now people report that they see funnel clouds off the coast of California. Of course, one of the results of global warming is volatility increases of weather patterns. Raindrops are bigger, more volatile. Hurricanes, tornadoes are more volatile. We have to begin to deal with that. There are people who believe the Earth is immutable, that the Earth will not change. Again, as I go back and read the literature and go back 255 million years, what is posited is that there was effectively one land mass on Earth and, geologically, that can be shown today. Yet various events have broken up the land masses. Volcanic activity that produces some of the greatest mountain ranges in the world also is believed to be responsible for the separation of the continents millions of years ago. I don't know, but this is much of what we see as we read some of the scientific material. I do not believe the Earth is immutable. That is what has been so interesting about foraging into Mars to try to see if Mars ever, in fact, had water on it. Time is infinite. Therefore, one never knows when the planet Earth was born, what it was like when it was born, how it has changed over the millennia. One thing we know in the instant of this millennia we share, we have a problem, and we have to solve it. I thank the Senator from Tennessee for bringing to the debate what is a valuable alternative source of energy that should be continued, just as wind, just as solar, just as biofuels, and just as moving away from the internal combustion engine into hydrogen, electricity, those things which can guarantee our future. The one thing that is frightening about all this is we will not do it fast enough and we will not do it in a way that is able to stop the climate change which is now taking place, halt it. We can't reverse it but halt it. The time has come for the United States to take a leadership role. We have a big conference at the end of the year, which we have briefly discussed, where nations will come together and where they will look at the United States and say: You are the wealthiest country on Earth. You have 5 percent of the population, but you use 25 percent of the energy. Therefore, you have an obligation to lead. Certainly, the Chinese will believe this, although, as the Senator has pointed out, the Chinese have rapidly overtaken the United States in their release of global warming gases. But certainly India looks to us as well. So China, India, the big developing countries that so impact the release of global warming gases, it is very important that our President stand tall, that the United States stands tall and that we are willing to offer real leadership to the world. Whether this happens remains a cipher, but I very much hope and pray it does. I thank the Senator from Tennessee for his remarks. I am happy to make this small addition.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Once again, Mr. President, I thank my colleague, the ranking member, the distinguished Senator from Tennessee, for his comments. I agree with him. The floor is open. We are going back and forth using the time, but I don't want Members to believe that if they come to the floor to offer an amendment, we will not promptly hear their amendment. The floor is open. So, please, if you have an amendment, come to the floor. The filing deadline is in 36 minutes. Hopefully, we will know what we are facing in about 36 minutes. We would like to move this bill and move on to Defense appropriations. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. That is correct, through the Chair. There is a disagreement with the Senator from Louisiana and there is a hold on anything coming before this body.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. The Senator can certainly talk about his amendments.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. That is correct.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time until 4:15 p.m. be for debate with respect to the Vitter motion to recommit and McCaskill amendment No. 2514, with the time divided as follows: 5 minutes each, Senators Feinstein, Alexander, Vitter, and McCaskill or their designees, with no amendments in order to the motion or the amendment prior to the vote in relation thereto; that prior to the second vote there be 2 minutes of debate, equally divided and controlled; that once this consent is granted, the majority manager be recognized to call up the McCaskill amendment; further, that the votes occur in the order listed.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 2514.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.