Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read a third time and passed en bloc; the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate; and any related statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 480, H.R. 1560.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table, there be no intervening action or debate, and that any statements related to this measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported substitute amendment be considered, the Carper amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the committee-reported amendment, as amended, be agreed to, and the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any related statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 519, and that the Senate proceed to the resolution.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be printed in the Record as if read.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration en bloc of the following resolutions which were submitted earlier today: S. Res. 536, S. Res. 537, S. Res. 538, S. Res. 539, and S. Res. 540.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to these matters be printed in the Record as if read.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S.J. Res. 49.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the joint resolution be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, there be no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, there will be two rollcall votes tomorrow at 11 a.m. The first will be a cloture vote on the cyber security bill. The second will be on the Coburn amendment to the Burma sanctions legislation. Additional votes are possible tomorrow. Senators will be notified as soon as we know.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, August 2; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that the majority leader be recognized, and that following his remarks, the Senate begin consideration of S. 3326, the AGOA/Burma sanctions bill and the Coburn amendment under the previous order. Mr. President, I think it is important to note because of the time frame in the morning which Senator McConnell and I just briefly announced, he and I will give no opening statements tomorrow. Following the debate on the Coburn amendment, the time until 11 a.m. will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees prior to the cloture vote on S. 3414, the cyber security bill; further, that notwithstanding the outcome of the cloture vote, the Senate then proceed to vote on the Coburn amendment to S. 3326, and the remaining provisions of the previous order be executed; and finally I ask consent that the filing deadline for second-degree amendments to S. 3414 be at 10 a.m. on Thursday morning.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID. Mr. President, to say I am disappointed is a tremendous understatement. This body is debating a measure that would prevent what national security experts on a bipartisan basis have called a serious threat to our Nation since the dawn of the nuclear age. Senator McCain called this danger an existential threat to our Nation. Democrats were prepared to work on a bipartisan basis to pass this legislation. I, personally, have convened many meetings, going back 2 years ago, to have a piece of legislation that we could pass through this body. In that 2 years' time, things have gotten worse, not better, as far as threats to our country. We have been prepared to address concerns raised by the private sector, and I think it is only fair to say that for the leaders of the committees involved in this issue, there has been real cooperation, from both Democrats and Republicans. I have said on the Senate floor many times that the work of Senator Lieberman and Senator Collins has been exemplary. The major part of this bill is within their jurisdiction dealing with homeland security. I have always envisioned they have been prepared to engage in a robust debate and to consider amendments designed to perfect the bill. I know that is how I feel. Above all, I thought we had all been prepared to put national security above partisan politics to address this urgent matter. I was surprised this morning to hear Senator McConnell say he would like a vote on repealing ObamaCare on this bill. That is really not appropriate. Some Republican Senators have said this matter is going to be filibustered unless they have the right to vote on an amendment to repeal health care reform. Obviously, that is it. The Republican leader said that, but then I thought that might fade away. Every Tuesday after our caucuses--the Republicans have one and the Democrats have one--Senator McConnell and I meet at the Ohio clock, as it is called, and both of us make a statement and answer questions the press gives us. It is not a jump ball, as in whoever gets there first gets to make the first presentation. We wait, and if one of us is not ready, the other goes first. Sometimes he goes first; sometimes I go first. But the important point in the one today is that--and I am paraphrasing but the point is certainly valid--the Republican leader said out here, with the entire press corps and his leadership team with him, that cyber security-- remember, I am paraphrasing--is something we should do, but it will take several weeks to do it. Not this week. Compare that to the words of GEN Keith Alexander, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, who wrote Senator McConnell and I today. And here is what he said. This is a quote: The cyber threat facing this Nation is real and demands immediate action. The time to act is now. We simply cannot afford further delay. I have tried to figure out a way of describing how I feel about this. I said ``disappointed,'' and that is certainly true; ``flummoxed,'' that is certainly true. I cannot understand why we are in this position. I am so disappointed that Leader McConnell and his colleagues--some of his colleagues--would prevent us from acting on this urgent threat. I am particularly astounded they would rather launch yet another attack, for example, on women's health than work to ensure the security of our Nation. I have no choice but to file cloture on this matter. I would hope we could get cloture, but I am a realist, as I have learned after having tried to work through 85 different filibusters in this congressional session. I remain hopeful that they will come to their senses and realize the urgent need for action on this matter. There was a really inspirational presentation made in our caucus today by Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. Again, I am paraphrasing, but I am pretty direct in remembering what she said. I was not present when Senator McConnell made his statement. Senator Mikulski said: I have served on the Intelligence Committee for 10 years. And she said: This legislation creates a rendezvous with destiny for our country. We have to do something, and we have to do it soon. I have stated to Senator Lieberman, to Senator Collins--anyone who will listen--this is not a partisan piece of legislation. It should not be. I am happy to work on an agreement to consider relevant amendments, but this matter has been pending since last Thursday. Today is Tuesday, and basically the slow walk that I am so used to around here has taken place. I hope we can find a final path forward. Senators from both sides of the aisle have come to me personally and said they have invested time-- lots of time--in this matter, and they are trying to forge a consensus. I take them at their word, but they all seem powerless to buck the filibuster trend we have. So I hope when the dust settles we can set aside crass politics and work together for the good of our Nation and can achieve a strong, effective, bipartisan cyber security bill. Mr. President, Tom Donohue, head of the Chamber of Commerce, is my friend. He really is. But I am terribly disappointed in the Chamber of Commerce. We started out with having a requirement that businesses in the private sector would be required to do certain things. Senators Lieberman and Collins backed off from that, and now it is kind of a voluntary deal. It is much weaker than I think it should be. Why in the world would they oppose that--``they'' meaning the Chamber of Commerce, which has sucked in most all of the Republicans on this. That is really unfortunate. Amendment No. 2731 So, Mr. President, on behalf of Senators Lieberman, Collins, and others, I call up amendment No. 2731, which is at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Franken, I call up amendment No. 2732, which is also at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have an amendment to the language proposed to be stricken.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived with respect to the cloture motion that has just been filed.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we are already on S. 3414, which is the cyber security bill. The time until 2:15 p.m., is for debate only, and the time until 12:30 p.m. will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. The majority will control the first hour and the Republicans the second hour. The Senate will recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly caucus meetings. I will alert everyone to this: I hope those people, led by Senator Lieberman and Senator Collins, will work to come up with a finite list of amendments so we can move on the cyber security bill. I spoke to the Republican leader yesterday and have been very patient and tried to get a list of amendments we can agree on. I hope that can be done soon. It is very important that we make a determination of whether we are going to be able to get a bill. There is not a lot of time left to tread water, so to speak. This is an important piece of legislation. All one needs to do is look at what is going on in India today. There are no cyber problems there that I am aware of, but one-half of the country of India is without electricity today. Transportation has been shut down, financial networks in India, which are significant, are down, and it is a chaotic place. There are 600 million people in India who are without electricity. As we have been told time and time again, the most important issue we have facing this country today for security is cyber. We have been told that by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by the head of the CIA. We have been told that by Democrats and Republicans. It is an issue that is important, and we have been told it is something we can prevent. If we don't do this bill, it is not a question of if there will be a cyber attack that will be devastating to our country, it is only a question of when. It can be stopped. I hope the chamber of commerce will get some sense. There was a big meeting in the Chamber yesterday. They were moving forward on all that was bad about the bill. The problem is they were dealing with the wrong bill. So I hope we can get something done. It is extremely important that we do. There will be a Senators-only briefing today at 5 p.m. in the Visitor Center today in SVC-217.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I am told there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I object to any further proceedings with regard to these bills at this time.