[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 10, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H8111-H8116]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2622, FAIR AND ACCURATE CREDIT 
                        TRANSACTIONS ACT OF 2003

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 360 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 360

       Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this 
     resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule 
     XVIII, declare the House resolved into the committee of the 
     Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of 
     the bill (H.R. 2622) to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 
     to prevent identity theft, improve resolution of consumer 
     disputes, improve the accuracy of consumer records, make 
     improvements in the use of, and consumer access to, credit 
     information, and for other purposes. The first reading of the 
     bill shall be dispensed with. All points of order against 
     consideration of the bill are waived. General debate shall be 
     confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally 
     divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority 
     member of

[[Page H8112]]

     the Committee on Financial Services. After general debate the 
     bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute 
     rule. It shall be in order to consider as an original bill 
     for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule the 
     amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the 
     Committee on Financial Services now printed in the bill. The 
     committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be 
     considered as read. All points of order against the committee 
     amendment in the nature of a substitute are waived. No 
     amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of a 
     substitute shall be in order except those printed in the 
     portion of the Congressional Record designated for that 
     purpose in clause 8 of rule XVIII and except pro forma 
     amendments for the purpose of debate. Each amendment so 
     printed may be offered only by the Member who caused it to be 
     printed or a designee and shall be considered as read. At the 
     conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the 
     Committee shall rise and report the bill to the House with 
     such amendments as may have been adopted. Any Member may 
     demand a separate vote in the House on any amendment adopted 
     in the Committee of the Whole to the bill or to the committee 
     amendment in the nature of a substitute. The previous 
     question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and 
     amendments thereto to final passage without intervening 
     motion except one motion to recommit with or without 
     instructions.

                              {time}  1315

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Sweeney). The gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Sessions) is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield 
the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), 
my friend, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. 
During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the 
purposes of debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, the resolution before us is a fair and bipartisan 
modified open rule, simply requiring that proposed amendments to the 
underlying legislation be preprinted in the Congressional Record. This 
rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill and 
provides for 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the 
chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Financial 
Services.
  It provides that the amendment in the nature of a substitute 
recommended by the Committee on Financial Services now printed in the 
bill shall be considered as an original bill for the purpose of 
amendment and shall be considered as read.
  It waives all points of order against the committee amendment in the 
nature of a substitute, and makes in order those amendments to the 
committee's amendment that are printed in the Congressional Record or 
are pro forma amendments for the purpose of debate. It also provides 
that only the Member who has authorized for an amendment to be printed 
or a designee may offer it and that each of these amendments shall be 
considered as read.
  Finally, this rule also provides for one motion to recommit, with or 
without instructions.
  It has also come to my attention that a clerical error has caused 
Amendment No. 15 to be incorrectly printed in the Congressional Record, 
and I would like to inform Members that a copy of the correct amendment 
is available at the desk for their review.
  I rise today to introduce the rule for H.R. 2622, the Fair and 
Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, known as the FACT Act. This 
legislation represents a truly bipartisan effort by the Committee on 
Financial Services to produce a thoughtful and well-debated piece of 
legislation, and I would like to congratulate both the gentleman from 
Ohio (Chairman Oxley) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Ranking 
Member Frank) for a great deal of credit for their leadership that each 
of them have shown throughout the process of bringing this bill to the 
floor today.
  The United States enjoys a financial system that is the envy of the 
rest of the world. It is the most free market, transparent, open and 
robust system on the planet. American consumers and others who come 
from across the globe to conduct business here would not enjoy the 
benefits of this free market system without strong, smart laws to 
provide this transparency and freedom while offering meaningful 
consumer protections.
  The Fair Credit Reporting Act legislation that we are debating today 
lives up to this same high standard of smart and strong financial 
policy. It promotes transparency and a dynamic economic system in 
America while protecting consumers by preserving the basis of our 
uniform national consumer credit system. The national system currently 
in place has tremendously beneficial effects on the American economy 
and for American consumers. It has provided for the democratization of 
consumer credit since the Fair Credit Reporting Act was first passed in 
1970 by ensuring affordable access to credit for millions of Americans 
through uniform credit reporting standards, and it has increased the 
speed and efficiency at which these credit transactions can be 
processed.
  This legislation also makes extensive revisions to the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act's, or FCRA's, provisions governing the accuracy of 
consumer reports and enhancing consumers' ability to correct errors in 
them. By improving the accuracy of these reports, both consumers and 
those who supply the marketplace with credit reports stand to benefit 
tremendously.
  It should also be noted, as proof of their commitment to 
bipartisanship, that the Committee on Financial Services approved this 
legislation by a vote of 61 to 3, following an extensive and wide-
ranging battery of hearings.
  This legislation improves the accuracy of credit reports in a number 
of ways. It allows consumers to place fraud alerts on their personal 
credit reports to prevent identity thieves from opening accounts under 
their name. It allows consumers to block information from being given 
credit to a credit bureau and from reporting by a credit bureau after 
filing a police report if such information results in identity theft. 
It gives consumers increased flexibility to dispute inaccurate 
information in their credit reports. It provides victims of identity 
theft with a summary of their rights and gives consumers the right to 
see their credit scores. It expands consumers' access to a free copy of 
their credit reports and protects consumer privacy by restricting 
access to consumers' sensitive health information.
  This legislation also provides our Nation's financial institutions 
with new powers and obligations to ensure that they are doing as much 
as they can do in the battle against identity theft. The legislation 
requires credit card issuers to investigate suspicious address changes. 
It requires creditors to take additional precautions before extending 
additional credit to consumers who have placed a fraud alert on their 
files. It prohibits merchants from printing more than the last five 
digits of a payment card on an electronically printed receipt. It 
obligates banks to develop policies and procedures to identify 
potential instances of identity theft and to reconcile potentially 
fraudulent consumer address information during the opening of an 
account.
  This legislation also contains a provision of special interest to me 
and a number of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle. Title VI of 
this legislation contains a provision that I have authored that I 
believe will improve workplace safety for millions of Americans. Right 
now, an opinion by the Federal Trade Commission uses an interpretation 
of FCRA to create a disincentive for employers to retain objective and 
professional investigators of workplace misconduct, such as sexual or 
racial harassment, workplace violence, threat, fraud, SEC violations or 
other improprieties.
  This legislation would clarify that decision, ensuring that our 
workplaces are free of violence, fraud and intimidation by all 
employees.
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), the Committee on Rules 
chairman; the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), Committee on 
Financial Services ranking member, and a bipartisan coalition of other 
members of this body, including the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Sweeney) have cosponsored this provision, and I am glad that today, 
while we are doing as much as we can to help consumers and to preserve 
this great system of consumer credit, we have also taken the 
opportunity to do something for American's employees.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a fair rule that every Member of the House 
should support. The underlying legislation is also a bipartisan effort 
that passed through

[[Page H8113]]

its committee of jurisdiction overwhelmingly and deserves the support 
of every Member of this body.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  (Mr. HASTINGS of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, first, let me thank my friend 
from Texas (Mr. Sessions) for yielding me the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I support the underlying bill before us today, the Fair 
and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, and while the rule is not 
actually open and the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley), the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee) and the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Emanuel) each had amendments denied by the Committee on rules, it 
does allow Members to offer amendments that have been preprinted in the 
Congressional Record and that do not violate the rules of the House of 
Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is not perfect, but it is a bipartisan 
product, and the Democrats on the Committee on Financial Services, led 
by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), our ranking member, 
made significant improvements in it during the committee process. The 
resulting legislation includes new consumer protections against 
identity theft, a $50 billion problem that claimed 10 million victims 
in 2002.
  It requires credit bureaus to block adverse credit information that 
has resulted from identity theft and allows consumers to add fraud 
alerts to their credit information. Moreover, the bill strengthens 
consumers' rights to review their credit scores, allowing them to 
request a free credit report annually from each of the three major 
national credit bureaus.
  It has provisions for medical privacy. It prevents in that regard 
disclosure of certain health information and prohibits credit bureaus 
from using medical information to determine credit eligibility.
  Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge Members, as does the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Frost) who was to handle this rule but had other matters 
that called him away, but I am encouraged to say that he joins in 
supporting this bipartisan bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Dallas, Texas (Mr. Hensarling), who is on the Committee on Financial 
Services.
  Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me 
the time.
  Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to challenge the fact that Americans 
have the most accessible and lowest cost credit in the world. Uniform 
national standards have played a major role in this development. These 
national standards have led to an increase in access to credit for many 
previously underserved populations, especially lower income Americans. 
This has created new economic freedoms for many who could not dream of 
such opportunity in the past, including unprecedented rates of 
homeownership and automobile ownership which are the envy of the world.
  The FACT Act protects these standards. The FACT Act also protects 
consumers because the best consumer protection is a competitive 
marketplace and a free flow of accurate information. National standards 
allow numerous credit providers throughout the country to more 
effectively compete for each other consumers' business. In turn, 
consumers benefit through lower cost in a dizzying variety of credit 
products.
  Mr. Speaker, the FACT Act plays an integral role in job creation as 
well. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has testified that seven out of 
10 small businesses are started with less than $20,000 and over 45 
percent of them use credit cards as a major source of financing. If the 
national standards provided by the Fair Credit Reporting Act are 
allowed to expire, small businesses, the job engine of our economy, 
would face new obstacles and new burdens in obtaining much needed 
start-up and expansion capital. This will hurt jobs.
  Some argue that national standards for credit reporting are not 
necessary and that consumer information and privacy would be more 
effectively regulated on a State-by-State basis, but most credit 
transactions take place across State lines, and such a patchwork of 
State-by-State laws would clearly interfere with the free flow of 
reliable information and the access to instant credit upon which our 
economy is dependent.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that identity theft is a growing problem 
in our society. As a former victim of identity theft myself, I am 
pleased to see that the FACT Act takes many steps to ensure that all 
the parties involved in identity theft are doing their part to protect 
both consumers and businesses. Law enforcement officials agree that 
national standards are vital, or play a vital role in combating 
identity theft, and this legislation works towards that end.
  For the sake of jobs and the economy, for the sake of low-cost 
available credit, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this rule and 
vote for the bipartisan FACT Act. And I want to thank the gentleman 
from Ohio (Mr. Oxley) and the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) for 
their leadership on this vital issue.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from 
Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), one of the bright young stars of the 
Republican majority and a member of the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule and in 
passage of the Fair And Accurate Credit Transactions Act. H.R. 2622 
makes permanent the national uniform standards for credit reporting 
that were established in 1996. This bill will do much to give consumers 
and small businesses protection from fraud and from identity theft.
  National standards for the management of financial information have 
allowed more consumers to qualify for home loans, and we should not 
forget that home purchases and refinancing are keys to this economy's 
health. With 9.9 million victims of identity theft in 2002 alone, it is 
time for us to take action.
  Now, I am one of those that prefers State control to Federal control, 
but Congress does have a responsibility under the Constitution for the 
oversight of interstate commerce, and credit is the key to the economic 
prosperity. Fifty different systems make credit less accessible, more 
expensive, and less reliable. This will help our lending institutions 
be better recordkeepers, it will give consumers more control over their 
credit files, and ensure that lenders notify consumers before 
submitting negative credit information.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus), the chairman of the Subcommittee 
on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit and the main sponsor of 
this legislation.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the vice chairman of the Committee 
on Rules for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, our economy today is important to all of us. That goes 
without saying. But what a lot of people do not realize is that two-
thirds of our economy is consumer spending. That is the driver in our 
economy today. And consumer spending today is contingent upon 
maintaining a national uniform credit reporting system. We have that 
today, but it will expire December 31.
  Now, what has the national uniform credit reporting system done? A 
lot of people do not know that it exists, but we use it every day and 
the benefits to our country and to the American people have been 
immense. We have held eight hearings. We have had over 100 witnesses, 
and we have brought out legislation to protect the national uniform 
credit reporting system by a vote of 61 to 3 from the committee.
  Since the institution of the national uniform credit reporting 
system, the number of Americans having credit extended to them has 
tripled in percentages. There was a time in this country, and our 
grandfathers and even our fathers or mothers might tell us about it, 
that when they needed a loan, they had to be eyeballed. We heard 
testimony of this in the committee. An individual

[[Page H8114]]

went down to the bank, they sat down and they were asked a series of 
questions. They could ask about your family. A lot of times credit was 
based on an individual's family or whether they had lived in a 
community for 2 or 3 years.
  Credit could not be taken across State lines. Credit could not even 
be taken from one city to another. If someone moved and credit was 
dependent, and they had not had a job for over a year or 2 years, they 
did not get credit. That is all ended today. Almost all Americans today 
can get credit and credit from a number of sources.
  Contrast that to Europe, contrast that to Asia where less than half 
the people in those countries today enjoy credit. Today, we can go down 
and buy an automobile, and within an hour it can be financed on the 
spot. We can apply for a home mortgage and have 20 or 30 different 
opportunities and rates. Credit cards? Some have argued there is too 
much credit out there. But let me say this. The other option is no 
credit. And in a country where we enjoy freedom and we enjoy choice, 
having a choice or having the ability to get a credit card is an 
important privilege.
  Today or tomorrow we are going to vote on this legislation. It goes 
beyond renewing our national uniform credit reporting system. It 
addresses the shortcomings of that system. Most all of us have had 
constituents come to us, most of my colleagues in this body have shared 
stories with me and said there is something inaccurate on my credit 
report, and even though I have tried to repair it, it keeps popping up. 
There are important new rights for consumers to ensure that their 
credit reports will be more accurate in the future. What will that mean 
to them? It could mean getting a loan on a home mortgage at a half a 
percent or a quarter percent lower rate. What could that mean to them? 
It could mean as much as $50,000 or $75,000 over the term of the loan.
  We have another problem in this country. The FTC said yesterday that 
it is a problem costing American consumers $50 billion, something that 
was not even in our vocabulary 10 years ago, and it is called ID theft. 
There was a time that if someone wanted to rob, they went to a bank. 
Then we protected our banks with security guards and safes and systems 
like that. Then they started robbing railroad trains. They started 
attacking those because they were defenseless. Today, they do not have 
to rob a bank, if they are smart. They do not have to break into the 
mail. All they have to do is go on a computer and steal someone's ID. 
ID theft.

  The FTC says that it cost American consumers $50 billion last year. 
They say that there are probably a half million Americans who do not 
even know they have been the victim of ID theft. Many of those that we 
all represent have had $100 or $50 or $20 taken from them by ID theft. 
They do not know it, and they may never know it. This bill offers 
important new protections in that regard, and it does what the consumer 
groups have said was the number one need of Americans, and that is the 
ability to have their credit report, to have a free credit report, to 
be able to look at that credit report and see if it is accurate. This 
bill gives that right.
  Also, if someone has been the victim of ID theft, and the gentlewoman 
from Oregon (Ms. Hooley), who cosponsored this bill with me along with 
the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), who cosponsored this bill with 
me, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert), who cosponsored this 
bill, who were original lead cosponsors, all of them had constituents 
who told horror stories of being the victims of ID theft and not being 
able to defend themselves in a fair and expeditious manner, this 
legislation today will help those we represent who have been the victim 
of ID theft. It will also protect the rest of us from becoming victims 
of ID theft.
  Will it end ID theft? No, it will not end ID theft. Will it help us 
protect ourselves against ID theft? Yes. Will it help us have more 
accurate credit reports? Yes. Will it help us continue to offer low 
interest rates and choices to low- and middle-income Americans? Yes, it 
will. Will it continue to help us protect an economy that is driven by 
consumer spending? Yes. An important bill? As important in finance as 
the national interstate highway system is to us in transportation.
  Imagine if we did not have a national interstate system today for 
transportation. Well, imagine what it would be like if we do not pass 
this bill, and we do not do it in an expeditious manner, and we cripple 
this national uniform reporting agency. Our interstates today run 
straight through. They are seamless. We do not have a bunch of traffic 
lights on our interstates. What we have today and what we want to 
preserve is a seamless standard, one uniform standard nationwide; and 
that is what this bill we bring to the floor does today.
  Our constituents will know nothing about this bill. They will 
probably read nothing about this bill. But this bill is very important 
to them. It is very important to business people. Today, a car dealer, 
every day, cannot make a sale without going to the national uniform 
credit reporting system. The national automobile dealers have joined 
over 100 other business groups in saying this is their number one 
priority for the year.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is the result of the leadership of the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley), and it is the result of bipartisan 
support. It had 32 original cosponsors almost evenly divided between 
Democrats and Republicans. It is a good product. It is good for our 
constituents. Secretary of the Treasury John Snow advocated and was 
successful in his suggestion being incorporated in this bill for 
further protections for the American people. And we will hear a lot 
about those in the next 4 or 5 hours as we consider this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, we will need to consider the good within it. And I 
appreciate the gentleman on the other side of the aisle saying he 
supported the underlying bill. Let us not unravel that bill today. Some 
of these amendments may be considered innocuous, but after 6 months of 
looking at it and building a consensus, what we have included in this 
bill is what business groups, consumer groups, and other groups came to 
a consensus on. The administration, Democrats, Republicans in committee 
feel this is the very best bill; and that is what we will vote on 
today, hopefully.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 4 
minutes to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley). She too is one of 
the bipartisan cosponsors of this measure
  Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding 
me this time. I wish to thank the Committee on Rules for the work they 
have done in bringing us an open rule for the Fair and Accurate Credit 
Transactions Act so we can all openly debate this bill.
  I would also like to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley), the 
chairman of the committee; the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Frank), the ranking member; the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus), 
the subcommittee chairman; the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders); 
the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore); the gentlewoman from Illinois 
(Mrs. Biggert); the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette); and all of 
the others that worked so hard on this legislation. And particularly 
the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus). I do not know how many 
meetings he held, but we held more meetings on this piece of 
legislation than any other piece of legislation I have had since I have 
been here.
  Five years ago, I was at a meeting where we were talking about 
consumer credit and credit reports and what that meant to people, and I 
started hearing stories about identity theft. That is when I first 
introduced this bill and got interested in this. Very recently, I was 
at a meeting with some technology people, and we were talking about a 
bunch of other things. I gave a little spiel, and when I got through I 
had mentioned in my opening remarks some talk about identity theft. The 
rest of the conversation was about identity theft and the number of 
people that either had it happen to them or knew someone that had had 
it happen to them and talked about how awful it was to get through the 
process.

                              {time}  1345

  What we have before us today is a bill that will help prevent 
identity theft, and help people get through the

[[Page H8115]]

process a lot easier. It has more consumer protections than any piece 
of legislation that I have seen since I have been here. This bill is a 
bipartisan effort, and the final product is something we can all be 
proud of.
  I did have one amendment which was not granted a waiver by the 
Committee on Rules. This amendment would have increased criminal 
penalties for identity thieves. I felt it was germane to the underlying 
legislation, to stem the tide of identity theft. While I am 
disappointed the amendment will not be considered today, I look forward 
to working with the Committee on the Judiciary and drafting legislation 
that will put more teeth into our laws to punish those criminals who 
prey on our Nation's consumers.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the Committee on Rules and the Committee on 
Financial Services for the fine work they have done on the Fair and 
Accurate Credit Transaction Act. I urge Members to support both the 
rule and final passage.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Oxley), the chairman of the Committee on Financial Services.
  (Mr. OXLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to first applaud the Committee on 
Rules for granting an open rule here. This is a bill that in many ways 
reflects all of the folks in our district who rely on getting credit to 
make this economy run. That is pretty much everybody that we represent, 
and so to have a full and open debate on this legislation, after all, 
we are, in fact, reauthorizing the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and we 
will be making a lot of these provisions permanent, so this is a very 
important debate. Obviously, the opportunity to debate this fully is 
the proper thing to do.
  This bill that we will be taking up under this open rule is in many 
ways landmark legislation, historic legislation that addresses some of 
the real needs that people have out there in terms of obtaining credit, 
of keeping our economy moving with easily available credit, for 
eliminating the paperwork and the time that it took for a long time to 
get auto loans and other consumer loans, and just as importantly, to 
protect individuals against theft of their own identity.
  We carefully crafted, with the work of the gentlewoman from Oregon 
(Ms. Hooley), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette), the chairman of 
the subcommittee, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus), and other 
members of the committee, particularly the gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Frank), to not only make this a reauthorization of the Fair Credit 
Reporting Act, but to encompass the real need to change the law as it 
regarded identity theft.
  The Federal Trade Commission recently completed a study that 
indicated that every year 10 million Americans have their identity 
stolen. One of the most gripping hearings that the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Bachus) conducted was to hear from a woman from Cleveland, 
a constituent of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette), testifying 
about how long it took her once she found out she was a victim of 
identity theft, to get her good credit back, the time it took, the 
amount of money it took, and this could be the kind of story that 
literally millions of people can tell every day.
  So we set about working with the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley) 
and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and others to craft 
legislation that we could make part of this historic bill that we are 
going to be voting on this afternoon.
  That was our goal and clearly we met it. The bill that we debated and 
marked up first in the subcommittee and then in our full committee 
turned out to be a bipartisan product that all of us can take a great 
deal of pride in. It is really how this place ought to work. It is how 
the legislative process ought to work when working on important pieces 
of legislation in a bipartisan manner to solve problems that bedevil 
our constituents. I think that is why the Committee on Rules 
recommended an open rule because they felt that we had this good 
bipartisan support; indeed, a 61-3 vote that came out of our committee, 
and a wide number of Members on both sides of the aisle, whether they 
were on the Committee on Financial Services or not, who share the same 
goals as we do in pursuing our efforts to reauthorize this legislation 
and particularly to provide strong consumer protections and protections 
against the theft of one's identity.
  Mr. Speaker, that is what brings us here today. I would expect after 
some very vigorous debate and some amendments proffered, that at the 
end of the day, we will see a strong bipartisan vote in the House for 
this legislation.
  I think that we will look back on this with a great deal of pride in 
what we have been able to accomplish.
  Make no mistake about it, we have to reauthorize the existing Fair 
Credit Reporting Act by the end of this session of Congress. To do 
anything less would be a dereliction of our duty to maintain the strong 
credit reporting system that we have developed in this country in the 
1996 Act. That is why I support the rule and obviously support passage 
of this historic legislation. Again, I thank the Committee on Rules for 
making our job just a little bit easier.
  I would like to thank Mr. Sessions and the rest of the Committee on 
Rules for crafting a good rule that provides for the consideration of 
H.R. 2622, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACT Act. 
The rule before us today is a modified open rule that gives Members on 
both sides of the aisle full opportunity to propose amendments to this 
bipartisan legislation. It also allows our Democrat colleagues a motion 
to recommit.
  It is not surprising that we would take up this important consumer 
protection legislation under such an open process. From the very 
beginning of the Financial Services Committee's consideration of this 
bill we have worked cooperatively with our Democrat colleagues on the 
committee. In April of this year, the ranking minority member of the 
committee, Mr. Frank, and I announced that the committee would hold 
comprehensive hearings on issues relating to the reauthorizing of the 
Fair Credit Reporting Act, landmark consumer protection legislation 
first enacted in 1970. The legislation that emerged from that process--
which included eight hearings and testimony from over 100 witnesses--is 
bipartisan in the truest sense of that word, as demonstrated by the 
overwhelming 61-3 committee vote on final passage.
  Committee members, Republicans and Democrats alike, have realized 
that the FACT Act is critically important to the U.S. economy and the 
American public. How many times over the past 2 years have we heard 
that it is the American consumer who has almost single-handedly kept 
our economy afloat? At a time in our history when consumer spending 
accounts for over two-thirds of gross domestic product, any disruption 
in the free flow of affordable credit would have serious consequences 
for job creation and economic growth. By preserving our national credit 
reporting system the FACT ensures that this disruption will not put the 
brakes on an economy that is on the mend.
  The FACT Act is one of the most comprehensive consumer protection 
bills the Congress will enact this year. It significantly advances the 
fight against identity theft, one of the fastest growing crimes in 
America. A study conducted by the FTC just last week outlines the 
dramatic increase in the rate and cost of identity theft crimes. The 
study indicates that 10 million Americans were victimized by identity 
thieves last year. The financial costs are staggering with over $10,000 
stolen in the average fraud, and American businesses and innocent 
victims spending upwards and innocent victims spending upwards of $55 
billion due to identity theft. The FTC's findings underscore the urgent 
need for Congress to pass this legislation.
  While many members in our Committee contributed to this work product, 
I wanted to mention two members who deserve special recognition. I 
would like to thank Mr. Frank for his contributions to this 
legislation, in particular for his attention to the legislation's 
provisions on medical privacy and on the accuracy of consumer reports. 
I also want to recognize the contribution of the author of this 
legislation, Mr. Bachus, the chairman of the Financial Institutions and 
Consumer Credit Subcommittee, who painstakingly reviewed the issues 
addressed in this legislation in an exhaustive series of hearings and 
ushered the bill so successfully through his subcommittee.
  On a related note, since the Financial Services Committee reported 
out H.R. 2622, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) submitted a 
statement to the Senate Banking Committee on July 31, 2003, emphasizing 
the critical nature of accurate credit reporting to the consumer credit 
process, and some notable inconsistencies in the accuracy of consumer 
credit reporting today. It has recently come to my attention that 
reporting an accurate date of delinquency may be complicated

[[Page H8116]]

by the relationship between the credit grantor, which originates and 
controls that data, and the data furnisher's role as the 
``intermediary'' between the creditor and the consumer reporting 
agency. Maintaining and reporting accurate credit data will necessarily 
be a cooperative effort between the creditor and all other businesses 
engaged by the creditor to perform collection and data furnishing 
services. As this legislation moves to conference committee, I will 
continue to study the date of delinquency issue in hopes that the data 
furnishers who establish and follow the reasonable procedure 
requirements created in H.R. 2622 are not subject to unreasonable 
enforcement actions.
  I urge my colleagues to support this fair rule and support the bill.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I compliment the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley) and the 
ranking member for their efforts in this regard. As was said earlier, 
while the bill is not perfect, it does make significant improvements, 
and these came about during the bipartisan committee process.
  With that in mind, I would hope that we would understand that 
strengthening consumers' rights is always a part of our responsibility. 
The one regret that we have is that the amendment of the gentlewoman 
from Oregon (Ms. Hooley) that was offered that was not made in order 
which would allow for criminal penalties for identity theft does seem 
to be a make-sense proposition, and hopefully at some point in the 
future, it will be undertaken in a positive way, which I believe will 
assist consumers.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this debate today, this opportunity to talk about the 
Fair Credit Reporting Act with not only the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Hastings) and his colleagues on his side of the aisle, but my 
colleagues on this side of the aisle, we give thanks for a lot of hard 
work that has taken place.
  The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) from the Committee on 
Financial Services, began the process, was a leader in the identity 
theft issue. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley) and the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Bachus) have done a fabulous job, but let us not forget 
the work that we did together with the ranking member, the gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and others on the Democratic side, to 
ensure that this bill has the necessary protections.
  I thank the staff director of the Committee on Rules Billy Pitts, and 
Josh Saltzman and Adam Jarvis, who are with the Committee on Rules, and 
from the White House we received a great deal of hard work from Elen 
Liang representing President Bush. I would like to thank them for their 
strong work. I support this rule and the underlying legislation, and I 
urge all of my colleagues to support it also.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the 
previous question on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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