August 1, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 158, Pt. 9 12955 SENATE—Wednesday, August 1, 2012 The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was which is the Veterans Jobs Corps Act, ably based, many experts say, on global called to order by the Honorable sponsored by Senator NELSON of Flor- warming. They have never had such KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, a Senator from ida. heat in India, which has put a tremen- the State of New York. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- dous burden on their fragile power sys- pore. The clerk will report the motion. tem. PRAYER The assistant legislative clerk read This legislation we are trying to fin- The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- as follows: ish has been worked on for years— fered the following prayer: Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 476, S. years—not this Congress but going into Let us pray. 3457, a bill to require the Secretary of Vet- last Congress. I was pleased to hear O God, the light of the world, as You erans Affairs to establish a veterans jobs last week that many of my colleagues illuminate our path, may we walk in corps, and for other purposes. were working on thoughtful amend- the brightness of Your presence. Use Mr. REID. Madam President, the ments to improve and strengthen this our Senators to select the plans that first hour will be equally divided and measure in spite of the untoward pres- most honor You. May they feel concern controlled between the two leaders or sure by the Chamber of Commerce to when our Nation drifts from Your pre- their designees, with the Republicans kill this legislation. Senators on both cepts and labor to restore those values controlling the first half and the ma- sides have worked hard to address that will keep America strong. Lord, jority controlling the final half. every concern raised by the private help them to do their very best each CYBER SECURITY sector about this legislation. Senators day and leave the results to You. Give Yesterday I filed cloture on the cyber LIEBERMAN and COLLINS have been ex- them the wisdom to lift each other’s security bill. As a result, the filing emplary. The bill that is before this burdens by being as encouraging to deadline for first-degree amendments is body now is not nearly as strong as I others as You have been to them. 1 p.m. today. We will let the Senate would like, but that is what com- We pray in Your sacred Name. Amen. know about votes scheduled. We are promise is all about. I accept what f trying to do one on Burma and the Af- they believed they had to do. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE rican trade bill that we have wanted to I expected a healthy debate on this do for a long time, but Republicans important issue. I also expected to The Honorable KIRSTEN E. GILLI- have held it up to this point. But we process many relevant amendments. BRAND led the Pledge of Allegiance, as will see what we can do to move for- Unfortunately, that was not good follows: ward on that. enough for a few of my Republican col- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the Madam President, last week GEN leagues. Instead of substantive amend- United States of America, and to the Repub- Keith Alexander, commander of the ments that deal with our Nation’s lic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. U.S. Cyber Command, was asked to cyber security, they are insisting on rate how prepared America was to face political show votes. Instead of sub- f a cyber terrorist attack on the scale of stantive amendments that deal with APPOINTMENT OF ACTING 1 to 10. Here is what he said: ‘‘From my our Nation’s cyber security, they are PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE perspective I’d say around a 3.’’ looking at all kinds of other things. I The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Keep in mind, 1 is totally unprepared, had thought they were going to be seri- clerk will please read a communication 10 is totally prepared. Three is what he ous about this, but they are not. The to the Senate from the President pro said. One of the country’s top national threat is clear, and protecting the com- tempore (Mr. INOUYE). security experts gave us 3 out of 10, a puter networks that control our elec- The assistant legislative clerk read failing grade by any standard. tric grids, water supplies, and financial the following letter: He went to say that the type of cyber systems should be above political U.S. SENATE, attacks that could black out the wrangling. So I was doubly dis- PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, United States for weeks or months are appointed to watch a bipartisan proc- Washington, DC, August 1, 2012. up seventeenfold in the last 3 years. ess derailed by ideological attacks—for To the Senate: The Nation’s top security experts have example, on a woman’s right to choose Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, said a cyber 9/11 is imminent. They say her health care generally. of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby frailties in our defenses against these As 47 million Americans were set to appoint the Honorable KIRSTEN E. GILLI- attacks are most urgent. They are a gain access to preventive services with BRAND, a Senator from the State of New York, to perform the duties of the Chair. threat to our national security. Noth- no out-of-pocket costs, Republicans in- DANIEL K. INOUYE, ing is more important. sisted once again on a vote to repeal President pro tempore. So it was with disappointment last these benefits. They want to roll back Mrs. GILLIBRAND thereupon as- night that I filed cloture on legislation the clock to the days when insurance sumed the chair as Acting President to reinforce our defenses against these companies could discriminate against pro tempore. malicious attackers. Some are coun- women. Why? Because they were tries, some are organizations, some are women. They had a preexisting dis- f individuals. National security experts ability—their gender. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY have been plain about the urgent need To make matters worse they are will- LEADER to act. They say the question is not ing to kill a bill that will protect our The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- whether to act but whether we will act Nation from cyber terrorism in the pore. The majority leader is recog- in time. process. But this is not a new tactic. nized. One need only look at the headlines You may remember, as we all do—and in papers all over America today—all I was reminded of that yesterday by a f over the world today. As we speak, 600 question that was asked of me by the VETERANS JOBS CORPS ACT OF million people in India are without distinguished assistant leader, Senator 2012—MOTION TO PROCEED electricity. It is not believed there was DURBIN, that reminded the entire Sen- Mr. REID. Madam President, I now any terrorism involved. It is believed it ate that on a surface transportation move to proceed to Calendar No. 476, relates to the unusual weather, prob- bill that put 3 million jobs at risk, ● This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. VerDate Sep 11 2014 10:05 May 26, 2017 Jkt 019102 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR12\S01AU2.000 S01AU2 jstallworth on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BOUND RECORD 12956 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 158, Pt. 9 August 1, 2012 their first amendment was by Senator eral Bureau of Investigation reported working on solutions that we are going BLUNT on women’s access to contracep- it? to have to take if we are going to save tion. Mr. REID. Madam President, in an- the Republic and the economy. Still, I admit I was surprised that swer to my friend, we are living in a I wanted to pass that on to the dis- Senator MCCONNELL would so brazenly modern world. A thermostat—isn’t tinguished majority whip. drag partisan politics into a debate that what the Senator just said? In my State of Georgia, the most re- over a measure crucial to national se- Mr. DURBIN. That is right. cent report on unemployment posted curity. It is today when the health care Mr. REID. Is the connectivity to our unemployment rate at 9 percent. In bill that we passed designates women what China wants to get from the our State we advertise foreclosures will no longer be second-class citizens Chamber of Commerce. Remember, every Friday and leading up to the first in relation to health care. So I cannot that is only one way they get this in- Tuesday. We set a record in the month imagine a more untimely attack on formation. But the numerous instru- of July on the number of foreclosures women than yesterday. ments we carry around—BlackBerrys, being advertised. Yesterday in my office I had a meet- Yesterday Senator MCCONNELL and I iPhones, all these kinds of things, in- received a letter from General Alex- struments we have at home—every one ing with the President of Lockheed. ander, who runs the National Security of those is a vehicle to find out what is They are headquartered in Fort Worth, Agency—he is one of the top leaders going on in my life, your life, the life of but they have one of their largest man- there—urging us to move more quick- the Chamber of Commerce.