WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Mark Warner (D-Virginia), members of the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today called the revised cyber security legislation a step in the right direction. The Senators also welcomed a commitment from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) to allow an open amendment process on the floor of the Senate. On June 18^th, Senators Snowe and Warner sent a letter to Leader Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) urging them to ensure transparent deliberation and a full and open debate on cyber security legislation in July.

Senators Snowe and Warner said: 

“As Members of both the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, we are in agreement that the Senate must act swiftly to pass comprehensive legislation to address our nation’s vulnerabilities to cyber threats. On June 18^th, we wrote to Senators Reid and McConnell pledging our full support for a fair and transparent approach to debating cyber legislation in the Senate during the July work period. Today, we welcomed the Majority Leader’s commitment to allow an open amendment process and we joined our colleagues in voting to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the cyber debate by robust vote of 84-11.  As we said in June, we are optimistic that there is tremendous potential for this chamber to forge a viable solution that incentivizes private sector participation and collaboration.  The revised legislation is a significant step in the right direction and we look forward to a full and open debate of relevant amendments.”

In their June letter, Senators Snowe and Warner called on the chamber to put aside partisan politics to forge a viable process for considering cyber security legislation in the Senate and incentivizing private sector participation and collaboration in preparing our nation to defend against this emerging threat.