mr. lieberman: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lieberman: thank you, mr. president. i rise to continue the discussion of cybersecurity legislation and particularly s. 3414, which is the pending business before the senate, which is the cybersecurity act of 2012, a bipartisan piece of legislation to deal with an urgent national crisis. mr. president, i wanted first again to speak to our colleagues about the seriousness of the threat. i think sometimes that because most people haven't experienced the consequences of a cyber attack and most are not aware of the constant cyber threat going on, moving money from bank accounts, stealing industrial secrets, because frankly a lot of

mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, i rise to support that motion to proceed to s. 3414, which is the cybersecurity act of 2012, and i do so with the hope and the request that all of our colleagues will vote "yes" on this motion to proceed, so we can begin what i think is a crucial debate about how best to protect our national and economic security in this wired world where threats increasingly -- and thefts -- come not from land, sea, or sky but in invisible strings of 1's and 0's traveling through cyberspace. this bill has been a long time in coming to the floor, and a lot of work has been done on it. but i must say, i have a sense of confidence certainly about the inclination of -- of the overwhelming majority of members of the senate to vote to proceed to this matter because i think everyone in the chamber understands that what we're dealing with here is not a problem that's speculative or theoretical. anybody who's spent any time not even studying the classified materials on this but just republican coll

mr. lieberman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. was the president about to -- you were about to -- okay. let me, if i may, have a few moments. i thank the chair. the senate has not gone into a quorum call, has it? i don't believe so. the presiding officer: there is no quorum call. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. madam president, very briefly, i have just received a copy of a letter that has been sent this morning to the majority leader, senator reid, and the republican minority leader, senator mcconnell, from keith alexander, general of the united states army, director of the national security agency and chief of cyber command at the department of defense. a distinguished and honored leader of our military, one of the people who has the greatest single responsibility for protecting our security, both in tems of the extraordinary capabilities that the national security agency has but now increasingly for the defense of our cyber systems. i think this is a very important -- this is a career military off

mr. lieberman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: good morning, mr. president. i thank the chair. mr. president, as the senate now turns its attention to the pending legislation whose aim is to enhance our nation's cyber defenses, i'd like to take a few moments to review where we are, because the bill we now have on the floor i think brings us closer than ever to an agreement on a way to better defend our country, our prosperity, our security against what is emerging as the most significant threat we face today. bigger than conventional attack by a foreign enemy, bigger even than islamist terrorism; a threat that is very different than anything we faced before and so probably hard for most americans to conceptualize, but trust me, it's here. that's why it's so important that i think we've come closer than ever to an agreement, but we're not there yet. and i've come to the floor to say to my colleagues that those of us who sponsor the pending legislation --

mr. lieberman: i thank my friend. i feel disappointed that we continue to have to return to the floor to make these pleas. i hope that we come to a day soon when we can come to the floor to celebrate the victory of freedom and the defeat of assad, the dictator. may it happen soon. mr. mccain: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. whitehouse: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: madam president, are we presently in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. whitehouse: may i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted? the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: may i further ask unanimous consent that for the next half-hour, myself, senator mikulski, senator blumenthal, senator coons and senator blunt and also should they come senator graham and senator kyl be allowed to engage in a colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: our topic, madam president,

mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, i have eight unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i, therefore, ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that they be printed in the record. the presiding officer: no objection, so ordered. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair. mr. president, may i ask what the pending business is now. the presiding officer: the motion to proceed on s. 3414. mr. lieberman: i thank the chair and i rise to speak on that motion to proceed to s. 3414, which is the cyber security act of 2012. mr. president, this -- a cloture petition has been filed. it will ripen sometime tomorrow but i think it's the hope of members on both sides of the aisle that we can proceed to vote on the motion to proceed today. and i'm hopeful that colleagues on both sides of the aisle will -- will vote to proceed because though there continue to be some disagreements about the content of this bil

mr. lieberman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: mr. president, for the information of my colleagues, i know that the senate leader is in discussions with the republican leader, and i know the hope is that we can soon have the vote on the motion to proceed to s. 3414, but as yet i not have been informed that there has been the necessary meeting of minds. so i hope it will be soon, and i hope everyone will support it. with that, i would yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. hoeven: i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. hoeven: i have a comprehensive plan for energy security for our nation. when i say energy security, i mean producing more energy than we consume. and i believe with this approach, within five to seven years we truly can be a nation that is energy secure. again, meaning we produce more ene

mr. lieberman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. he chair. mr. president, i suppose senator mcconnell, the leader, has given a preference for what i want to say. i think the american people should know where we stand on these important questions. that's why i come to the floor, to indicate that i will vote in favor of proceeding to debate on s. 3412, senator reid's proposal to amend the internal revenue code of 1986; but if the matter does come to full discussion and debate on the floor, as i hope it will, i will not vote for it in its current form. and i want to explain why. mr. president, i feel strongly that the first thing the american people want us to do is get the economy going again so that the economy is creating jobs. and i'm convinced that the best thing congress can do to restore economic growth and job creation is to enact a comprehensive bipartisan plan to balance our budget along the lines of the simpson-bowles commission recommendations. unfortunately, s. 3412, which is the so-called middle-class tax cut, which would

senator lieberman? >> thanks mr. chairman and to the three of you for your service for the opening statements which i agree with the chairman or compelling with your service and opening statements and your testimony reminds us or me why the u.s. military remains perhaps the only great institution on our society that continues to enjoy the respect, the almost role respect of the american people and deserve that and i thank you for that. general, in your answers to the committee's advanced policy when you're estimates and priorities i was quite compressed and interested that your first priority was kai and i quote, continuing to strengthen the nuclear enterprise. and i wanted to ask first a few questions about that. i assume from that that you believe that the continued strength of america's nuclear weapons capability is a central part of our fulfilling our responsibility to protect our national security >> senator, i personally do believe that. more importantly, from my perspective, it is clearly the policy decision o

the specific language, but i think the bill authored by senator lieberman and senator collins is keur tradihild otou cca astu. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thanks very much, senator akaka. if the witnesses have time, i have just one more rhine - o lof qio l dre focused on, and it builds on yesterday's question when we discussed with the experts an interestin in some ways unsettling range of potential future heland security threats. inted ou w sentsf the current capabilities within dhs to assess and identify future threats and the obviously, to take actions to addressthem d is not adequate, what we might do about it. i want to go down the line. admiral allen, as you well know, the coast gud has an internal futures planning initiave lledrojeveend d yo a tt ho gh relate, if it does, to dhs overall. congresswoman harman, do you want to begin that? is there within d the capability to accurately or adeqte arenyyntat facing threats and respond? >> i think i'm least qualified on this panel to answer that because i haven't been in the operating mechanism of the departme. bewet's unen, wld inoea tt understood than others, and as i me