Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise to express my strong support for the bill before the Senate, S. 754, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, and I want to thank the bill's managers for their leadership in drafting this bill and putting a lot of hard work into the bill.

Cyber security challenges that threaten us are very real challenges. We receive almost daily reminders of the importance of effective cyber security to protect our private data and the safety and security of the entire Nation from cyber attacks. These attacks have compromised the personal information of so many Americans as well as sensitive national security information. That national security issue might even be the biggest of the ones we hope to deal with.

The legislation before us will encourage the government and the private sector to work together to address these cyber security challenges. This bill helps create a strong legal framework for information sharing that will help us respond to these threats. The bill authorizes private companies to voluntarily share cyber threat information with each other and with the government. In turn, the bill permits the government to share this type of information with private entities.

The bill reduces the uncertainty and, most importantly, the legal barriers that either limit or prohibit the sharing of cyber threat information today. At the same time, the bill includes very significant privacy protections to strike a balance between maintaining security and protecting our civil liberties. For example, it restricts the government from acquiring or using cyber threat information except for limited cyber security purposes.

So, as I did at the beginning, I want to salute the leadership of the chair and vice chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Burr and Senator Feinstein, for their efforts on this bill. I know from the last couple of Congresses that this type of legislation isn't easy to put together. In the 112th Congress, I cosponsored cyber security legislation along with several of my colleagues. This involved working across several committees of jurisdiction. Last Congress, as then-ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, I continued to work with the Select Committee on Intelligence and others on an earlier version of this bill. Unfortunately, Democratic leadership never gave the Senate an opportunity to debate and to vote on that bill in the last Congress.

Senators Burr and Feinstein were undaunted, however, and this Congress they diligently worked and continued to seek input from relevant committees of jurisdiction, including the Judiciary Committee that I chair. They incorporated the views of a broad range of Senators and worked to address the concerns of stakeholders outside of the Congress. This has produced their managers' amendment.

This is a bill that enjoys broad bipartisan support. As with most pieces of legislation that come before the Senate, it is not a perfect piece of legislation from any individual Senator's point of view, but in finding common ground, it has turned out to be a good bill that addresses a very real problem.

It is time for us to do our job and to vote. This is how the Senate is supposed to work. Now is the time for action because the question isn't whether there will be another cyber attack, the question is when that attack will happen.

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