[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 14, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S293-S294]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Grassley, Mr. 
        Sessions, and Mr. Craig):
  S. 153. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to establish 
penalties for aggravated identity theft, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to reintroduce the Identity 
Theft Penalty Enhancement Act along with Senator Kyl, Senator Grassley, 
Senator Sessions, and Senator Craig.
  I first introduced this bipartisan legislation last June with the 
full support of the Justice Department. The bill will make it easier 
for prosecutors to target those identity thieves who, as is so often 
the case, steal an identity for the purpose of committing one or more 
other crimes.
  I am hopeful that we can build on the momentum generated by this 
legislation in the 107th Congress. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on 
Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information conducted a hearing 
on the bill on July 9, 2002.
  The Judiciary Committee subsequently passed the legislation out of 
Committee on November 14, shortly before the Senate went out of 
session.
  As we enter the 108th congress, there remains a compelling need to 
stiffen the penalties for identity thieves.
  A little more than a month ago, the largest single identity theft 
case in U.S. history was uncovered. Federal authorities arrested Philip 
Cummings who, along with two accomplices, allegedly sold the credit 
reports and other personal information of 30,000 victims for as little 
as $30 each. Investigators have confirmed $2.7 million in losses so 
far, and the totals are expected to be much greater. This case is an 
example of the tremendous damage that an identity thief can cause.
  Moreover, many serious crimes, even including terrorism, are aided by 
stolen identifies.
  Lofti Raissi, a 27-year old Algerian pilot from London who is 
believed to have trained four of the 9/11 hijackers, was identified in 
British court papers as having used the Social Security number of 
Dorothy Hansen, a retired factory worker from Jersey City, NJ, who died 
in 1991.
  Last year, the Department of Justice filed charges against an 
Algerian national who stole the identifies of 21 members of a health 
club in Cambridge, MA. He then transferred those stolen identities to 
one of the individuals convicted in the failed plot to bomb Los Angeles 
International Airport in 1999.
  Joseph Kalady of Chicago was charged with trying to fake his own 
death using the identity of another. Kalady, who was awaiting trial on 
charges of counterfeiting birth certificates, Social Security cards and 
driver's licenses, allegedly suffocated a homeless man and sought to 
have him cremated under Mr. Kalady's identity in order to fake his own 
death and avoid prosecution.
  The stories go on and on, and it is those stories that make the 
legislation we introduce today so vital. Identity theft has become the 
major escalating crime of the new millennium, and Congress needs to 
give law enforcement the tools to prosecute these crimes.
  Let me just outline what this bill would do.
  First, the bill would create a separate crime of ``aggravated 
identity theft'' for any person who uses the identity of another person 
to commit certain serious, Federal crimes.
  Specifically, the legislation would provide for an additional two-
year penalty for any individual convicted of committing one of the 
following serious Federal crimes while using the identity of another 
person: Stealing another's identity in order to illegally obtain 
citizenship in the United States; stealing another's identity to obtain 
a passport or visa; using another's identity to remain in the United 
States illegally after a visa has expired or an individual has been 
ordered to depart this country; stealing an individual's identity to 
commit bank, wire or mail fraud, or to steal from employee pension 
funds; and other serious Federal crimes, all of them felonies.
  Furthermore, the legislation would provide for an additional five-
year penalty for any individual who uses the stolen identity of another 
person to commit any one of the enumerated Federal terrorism crimes 
found in 18 U.S.C. 2332b(g)(5)(B). These crimes include: The 
destruction of aircraft; the assassination or kidnapping of high level 
Federal officials; bombings; hostage taking; providing material support 
to terrorism organizations; and other terrorist crimes.
  Under the legislation, aggravated identity theft is a separate crime, 
not just a sentencing enhancement. And the two-year and five-year 
penalties for aggravated identity theft must be served consecutively to 
the sentence for the underlying crime.
  This bill also strengthens the ability of law enforcement to go after 
identity thieves and to provide their case.

[[Page S294]]

  First, the bill adds the word ``possesses'' to current law, in order 
to allow law enforcement to target individuals who possess the identity 
documents of another person with the intent to commit a crime. Current 
Federal law prohibits the transfer or use of false identity documents, 
but does not specifically ban the possession of those documents with 
the intent to commit a crime.
  So if law enforcement discovers a stash of identity documents with 
the clear intent to use those documents to commit other crimes, the 
person who possesses those documents will now be subject to 
prosecution.
  Second, the legislation amends current law to make it clear that if a 
person uses a false identity ``in connection with'' another Federal 
crime, and the intent of the underlying Federal crime is proven, then 
the intent to use the false identity to commitment that crime need not 
be separately proved.
  This simply makes the job of the prosecutor easier when an individual 
is convicted of a Federal crime and uses a false identity in collection 
with that crime.
  This legislation also increases the maximum penalty for identity 
theft under current law from three years to five years.
  And finally, the legislation we introduce today will clarify that the 
current 25-year maximum sentence for identity theft in facilitation of 
international terrorism also applies to identity theft in facilitation 
of domestic terrorism as well.
  Identity theft is a crime on the rise in America, and it is a crime 
with severe consequences not only for the individual victims of the 
identity theft, but for every consumer and every financial institution 
as well.
  Identity theft comes in many forms and can be perpetrated in many 
ways, and that is why I have worked for many years now with Senator Kyl 
and others to put some safeguards into the law that might better 
prevent the fraud from occurring in the first place, and to crack down 
on identity thieves.
  And other legislation I have introduced would put into place certain 
procedural safeguards to protect credit card numbers, personal 
information, and other key data from potential identity thieves.
  The legislation we introduce today is meant to beef up the law in 
terms of what happens after an identity theft takes place. In seriously 
enhancing the penalties for identity thieves who commit other Federal 
crimes, we mean to send a strong signal to all those who would commit 
this increasingly popular crime that the relatively free ride they have 
experienced in recent years is over.
  No longer will prosecutors decline to take identity theft seriously. 
No longer will identity thieves get off with just a slap on the wrist, 
if they are prosecuted at all. Under this legislation, penalties will 
be severe, prosecution will be more likely, and cases against identity 
thieves will be easier to prove.
  Every day in this country serious criminals and criminal 
organizations are stealing and falsifying identities with the purpose 
of doing serious harm to common citizens, government officials, or even 
our Nation itself. It is time we did something about it, and this bill 
is an important step in that process.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I ask unanimous 
consent that the text of this legislation be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 153

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Identity Theft Penalty 
     Enhancement Act''.

     SEC. 2. AGGRAVATED IDENTITY THEFT.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 47 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding after section 1028, the following:

     ``Sec. 1028A. Aggravated identity theft

       ``(a) Offenses.--
       ``(1) In general.--Whoever, during and in relation to any 
     felony violation enumerated in subsection (c), knowingly 
     transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a 
     means of identification of another person shall, in addition 
     to the punishment provided for such felony, be sentenced to a 
     term of imprisonment of 2 years.
       ``(2) Terrorism offense.--Whoever, during and in relation 
     to any felony violation enumerated in section 2332b(g)(5)(B), 
     knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful 
     authority, a means of identification of another person shall, 
     in addition to the punishment provided for such felony, be 
     sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 5 years.
       ``(b) Consecutive Sentence.--Notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law--
       ``(1) a court shall not place on probation any person 
     convicted of a violation of this section;
       ``(2) except as provided in paragraph (4), no term of 
     imprisonment imposed on a person under this section shall run 
     concurrently with any other term of imprisonment imposed on 
     the person under any other provision of law, including any 
     term of imprisonment imposed for the felony during which the 
     means of identification was transferred, possessed, or used;
       ``(3) in determining any term of imprisonment to be imposed 
     for the felony during which the means of identification was 
     transferred, possessed, or used, a court shall not in any way 
     reduce the term to be imposed for such crime so as to 
     compensate for, or otherwise take into account, any separate 
     term of imprisonment imposed or to be imposed for a violation 
     of this section; and
       ``(4) a term of imprisonment imposed on a person for a 
     violation of this section may, in the discretion of the 
     court, run concurrently, in whole or in part, only with 
     another term of imprisonment that is imposed by the court at 
     the same time on that person for an additional violation of 
     this section, provided that such discretion shall be 
     exercised in accordance with any applicable guidelines and 
     policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission 
     pursuant to section 994 of title 28.
       ``(c) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term 
     `felony violation enumerated in subsection (c)' means any 
     offense that is a felony violation of--
       ``(1) section 664 (relating to theft from employee benefit 
     plans);
       ``(2) section 911 (relating to false personation of 
     citizenship);
       ``(3) section 922(a)(6) (relating to false statements in 
     connection with the acquisition of a firearm);
       ``(4) any provision contained in this chapter (relating to 
     fraud and false statements), other than this section or 
     section 1028(a)(7);
       ``(5) any provision contained in chapter 63 (relating to 
     mail, bank, and wire fraud);
       ``(6) any provision contained in chapter 69 (relating to 
     nationality and citizenship);
       ``(7) any provision contained in chapter 75 (relating to 
     passports and visas);
       ``(8) section 523 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 
     6823) (relating to obtaining customer information by false 
     pretenses);
       ``(9) section 243 or 266 of the Immigration and Nationality 
     Act (8 U.S.C. 1253 and 1306) (relating to willfully failing 
     to leave the United States after deportation and creating a 
     counterfeit alien registration card);
       ``(10) any provision contained in chapter 8 of title II of 
     the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1321 et seq.) 
     (relating to various immigration offenses); or
       ``(11) section 208, 1107(b), or 1128B(a) of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 408, 1307(b), and 1320a-7b(a)) 
     (relating to false statements relating to programs under the 
     Act).''.
       (b) Amendment to Chapter Analysis.--The table of sections 
     for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
     inserting after the item relating to section 1028 the 
     following new item:

``1028A. Aggravated identity theft.''.

     SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO EXISTING IDENTITY THEFT PROHIBITION.

       Section 1028 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(7)--
       (A) by striking ``transfers'' and inserting ``transfers, 
     possesses,''; and
       (B) by striking ``abet,'' and inserting ``abet, or in 
     connection with,'';
       (2) in subsection (b)(1)(D), by striking ``transfer'' and 
     inserting ``transfer, possession,'';
       (3) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ``three years'' and 
     inserting ``5 years''; and
       (4) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting after ``facilitate'' 
     the following: ``an act of domestic terrorism (as defined 
     under section 2331(5) of this title) or''.
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