Wednesday: Cyber, debt prioritization

by Jordain Carney - 10/21/15 8:39 AM ET

The Senate will continue its work on a long-stalled cyber bill on Wednesday.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) reached the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon after months of being held up because of a packed Senate floor schedule and a fight on amendments.

{mosads}The legislation is aimed at increasing information sharing between businesses and the government on cyber threats, though it’s drawn pushback from privacy advocates including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), however, appeared optimistic that the Senate would be able to pass the bill next week.

“This is legislation that we are confident that we can pass,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “We intend to see it through completion hopefully next week.”

The Republican leader on Tuesday night filed cloture on a substitute package, which includes a slate of amendments, to the legislation, as well as the overall cyber bill.

Under Senate rules the first procedural vote would occur on Thursday, with lawmakers expected to continue debating CISA this week.

No votes are currently scheduled in the Senate.

Meanwhile, the House will take up a trio of proposals, including legislation that supporters argue would help prevent a default even if lawmakers fail to raise the debt ceiling.

Democrats, however, have slammed the Default Prevention Act arguing that it places making payments to foreign countries over social and welfare programs for Americans.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called the House bill “absurd” and a “partial default.”

“A partial default. Mr. President, you can’t be partially pregnant,” he added. “House Republicans have engineered legislation to pick which debts to ignore and pay. Their proposed legislation is going to pay foreign creditors first, like China.”

Votes in the House are expected between 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Tags Harry Reid Mitch McConnell Ron Wyden