[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 136 (Thursday, October 26, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11123-S11124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PASSAGE OF S. 3164

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the ``Protecting Seniors 
from Fraud Act'' passed the Senate. I was an original cosponsor of this 
bill, S. 3164, which Senator Bayh introduced on October 5, 2000, with 
Senators Grams and Cleland. I have been concerned for some time that 
even as the general crime rate has been declining steadily over the 
past eight years, the rate of crime against the elderly has remained 
unchanged. That is why I introduced the Seniors Safety Act, S. 751, 
with Senators Daschle, Kennedy, and Torricelli over a year ago.
  The Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act includes one of the titles from 
the Seniors Safety Act. This title does two things. First, it instructs 
the Attorney General to conduct a study relating to crimes against 
seniors, so that we can develop a coherent strategy to prevent and 
properly punish such crimes. Second, it mandates the inclusion of 
seniors in the National Crime Victimization Study. Both of these are 
important steps, and they should be made law.
  The Protecting Seniors from Fraud Act also includes important 
proposals for addressing the problem of crimes against the elderly, 
especially fraud crimes. In addition to the provisions described above, 
this bill authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make 
grants to establish local programs to prevent fraud against seniors and 
educate them about the risk of fraud, as well as to provide information 
about telemarketing and sweepstakes fraud to seniors, both directly and 
through State Attorneys General. These are two common-sense provisions 
that will help seniors protect themselves against crime.
  I hope that we can also take the time to consider the rest of the 
Seniors Safety Act, and enact even more comprehensive protections for 
our seniors. The Seniors Safety Act offers a comprehensive approach 
that would increase law enforcement's ability to battle telemarketing, 
pension, and health care fraud, as well as to police nursing homes with 
a record of mistreating their residents. The Justice Department has 
said that the Seniors Safety Act would ``be of assistance in a number 
of ways.'' I have urged the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee 
to hold hearings on the Seniors Safety Act as long ago as October 1999, 
and again this past February, but my requests have not been granted. 
Now, as the session is coming to a close, we are out of time for 
hearings on this important and comprehensive proposal and significant 
parts of the Seniors Safety Act remain pending in the Senate Judiciary 
Committee as part of the unfinished business of this Congress.
  Let me briefly summarize the parts of the Seniors Safety Act that the 
majority in the Congress declined to consider. First, the Seniors 
Safety Act provides additional protections to nursing home residents. 
Nursing homes provide an important service for our seniors--indeed, 
more than 40 percent of Americans turning 65 this year will need 
nursing home care at some point in their lives. Many nursing homes do a 
wonderful job with a very difficult task--this legislation simply looks 
to protect seniors and their families by isolating the bad providers in 
operation. It does this by giving federal law enforcement the authority 
to investigate and prosecute operators of those nursing homes that 
engage in a pattern of health and safety violations. This authority is 
all the more important given the study prepared by the Department of 
Health and Human Services and reported this summer in the New York 
Times showing that 54 percent of American nursing homes fail to meet 
the Department's ``proposed minimum standard'' for patient care. The 
study also showed that 92 percent of nursing homes have less staff than 
necessary to provide optimal care.
  Second, the Seniors Safety Act helps protect seniors from 
telemarketing fraud, which costs billions of dollars every year. This 
legislation would give the Attorney General the authority to block or 
terminate telephone service where that service is being used to defraud 
seniors. If someone takes your money at gunpoint, the law says we can 
take away their gun. If someone uses their phone to take away your 
money, the law should allow us to protect other victims by taking their 
phone away. In addition, this proposal would establish a Better 
Business Bureau-style clearinghouse that would keep track of complaints 
made about telemarketing companies. With a simple phone call, seniors 
could find out whether the company trying to sell to them over the 
phone or over the Internet has been the subject of complaints

[[Page S11124]]

or been convicted of fraud. Senator Bayh has recently introduced 
another bill, S. 3025, the Combating Fraud Against Seniors Act, which 
includes the part of the Seniors Safety Act that establishes the 
clearinghouse for telemarketing fraud information.
  Third, the Seniors Safety Act punishes pension fraud. Seniors who 
have worked hard for years should not have to worry that their hard-
earned retirement savings will not be there when they need them. The 
bill would create new criminal and civil penalties for those who 
defraud pension plans, and increase the penalties for bribery and graft 
in connection with employee benefit plans.
  Finally, the Seniors Safety Act strengthens law enforcement's ability 
to fight health care fraud. A recent study by the National Institute 
for Justice reports that many health care fraud schemes ``deliberately 
target vulnerable populations, such as the elderly or Alzheimer's 
patients, who are less willing or able to complain or alert law 
enforcement.'' This legislation gives law enforcement the additional 
investigatory tools it needs to uncover, investigate, and prosecute 
health care offenses in both criminal and civil proceedings. It also 
protects whistle-blowers who alert law enforcement officers to examples 
of health care fraud.
  I commend Senators Bayh, Grams and Cleland for working to take steps 
to improve the safety and security of America's seniors. We have done 
the right thing in passing this bipartisan legislation and beginning 
the fight to lower the crime rate against seniors. I also urge my 
colleagues to consider and pass the Seniors Safety Act. Taken together, 
these two bills would provide a comprehensive approach toward giving 
law enforcement and older Americans the tools they need to prevent 
crime.

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