[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 28, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H2947-H2949]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CLARIFY DECEPTIVE CENSUS MAILINGS LAW

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 5148) to amend title 39, United States Code, to clarify the 
instances in which the term ``census'' may appear on mailable matter.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5148

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

     SECTION 1. REQUIREMENT FOR MAIL BEARING THE TERM ``CENSUS'' 
                   ON THE ENVELOPE OR OUTSIDE COVER OR WRAPPER.

       (a) Matter Soliciting the Purchase of a Product or 
     Service.--Section 3001(h) of title 39, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``; or on which the term 
     `census' is visible through the envelope or outside cover or 
     wrapper'' after ``or which bears the term `census' on the 
     envelope or outside cover or wrapper''; and
       (2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``or matter on which the 
     term `census' is visible through the envelope or outside 
     cover or wrapper'' after ``In the case of matter bearing the 
     term `census' on the envelope or outside cover or wrapper''.
       (b) Matter Soliciting Information or Contribution of 
     Funds.--Section 3001(i) of title 39, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``; or on which the term 
     `census' is visible through the envelope or outside cover or 
     wrapper'' after ``or which bears the term `census' on the 
     envelope or outside cover or wrapper''; and
       (2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``or matter on which the 
     term `census' is visible through the envelope or outside 
     cover or wrapper'' after ``In the case of matter bearing the 
     term `census' on the envelope or outside cover or wrapper''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Towns) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) each will 
control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of H.R. 5148, the bill to further prohibit 
deceptive mailings using the word ``census.'' Only a few weeks ago, on 
March 10 to be exact, the House acted unanimously to deal with the 
misleading fundraising mail designed to look like it is from the Census 
Bureau. Congresswoman Maloney introduced H.R. 4621, the Prevent 
Deceptive Census Look Alike Mailing Act, which was originally 
cosponsored by me and Congressman Clay, chairman of the subcommittee 
with jurisdiction over the census. Congresswoman Maloney and 
Congressman Clay are longtime supporters of the census, and they have 
worked hard to make sure we have an accurate count in 2010.
  H.R. 4621 was also cosponsored by the ranking member of the 
committee, Congressman Issa of California, as well as the ranking 
member of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the postal service, 
Congressman Jason Chaffetz. I thank them for their support and for 
helping us to move it to the floor today.
  The goal of the bill was simple. The United States Census, currently 
under way, is a critical source of information for America's future. 
Regrettably, scammers and con artists are trying to hijack the word 
``census'' to confuse citizens into opening and responding to mail that 
is unrelated to the actual U.S. Census. We must protect the U.S. Census 
from this kind of fraud. H.R. 4621 simply requires mailings which have 
the term ``census'' on the envelope or cover to also include an 
accurate return address and the name of the sender on the envelope.

                              {time}  1045

  H.R. 4621 was drafted narrowly to avoid the First Amendment concerns 
and avoid interfering with the legitimate use of the mail by nonprofit 
organizations. The bill was intended to prevent the deceptive use of 
look-alike mailings by requiring transparency and disclosure. The House 
voted 416-0 to pass H.R. 4621. The Senate passed the same bill by 
unanimous consent. Not many bills pass this House unanimously, but this 
one did--both Houses. That's not something that happened real quick 
around here. You would think the message sent by that law was very 
clear.
  Unfortunately, days after H.R. 4621 was signed into law, the RNC sent 
a new mailing which includes the same deceptive practices. The new 
mailing is also labeled a census, and it does not include a return 
address or identify the sender as the RNC, as required by law, Mr. 
Speaker. One of these offensive mailings is dated April 12, only 5 days 
after the President signed H.R. 4621 into law. Apparently, the RNC 
cannot even let 1 week go by without deceiving the American public.
  Despite the unanimous action of Congress, the RNC continues to act in 
defiance of Congress and plain common sense and fairness. These 
mailings continue to mislead citizens, confuse voters, and annoy 
recipients.
  On that note, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of H.R. 5148. Not surprisingly, I'm the author of 
it. I insisted on being the author because it was the right thing to do 
and because there needed to be a message sent loud and clear. Deceptive 
advertising is already bad enough in America today. We often receive 
things that look like your credit card bill when, in fact, they're an 
offer to buy or to get something or, in fact, to apply for a credit 
card. We've all received cards that look like you're already getting a 
card when, in fact, it's John Doe on the card and it's only the 
opportunity to spend money to get the real card.
  But when it comes to the census, there is no separation between 
Republicans and Democrats and Independents. There is no separation 
between the House and the Senate. The sanctity of this constitutional 
responsibility to get it right, to count everyone, cannot be allowed to 
be interfered with by anyone's attempt to raise money.
  When the earlier bill was passed--authored by Carolyn Maloney and 
cosponsored by many of us--we thought we had ended this. As a matter of 
fact, for all of us on both sides of the aisle, we believed then that 
an independent agency, the post office, could have stopped that mail 
without the law. But we wanted to make the intent of Congress clear. By 
passing that bill, we made the intent of Congress clear. We all talked 
about deceptive advertising, about people seeing something, thinking it 
was from the Census Bureau, thinking that, in fact, it was a census 
form. We crafted it in a way, as the chairman said, that was intended 
not to cross over anyone's free speech rights, including that through 
the mail. We achieved that. But lawyers at the Republican National 
Committee made a decision that the language of the bill was such that 
they could continue having a piece of the successful mailing go on.
  Let me make something very clear here today: You cannot say we are 
beyond the letter of the law when you truly are within the intent of 
the law and tell the American people it's okay. The four squares of the 
law may or may not have been violated by the

[[Page H2948]]

NRCC. Most of us believe, as I said before, the post office could have 
stopped it before the law and certainly could stop this after the law; 
and I have sent, along with my ranking subcommittee member, a letter to 
the Postmaster encouraging him to make that decision, as has 
Congresswoman Maloney.
  Notwithstanding their eventual action, we're making it clear here 
today that we will plug any perceived loopholes or any questions about 
whether or not you can or you cannot. The RNC sent out mailings which 
certainly violated the spirit of H.R. 4621. The mailings contained text 
visible from outside the envelope--not printed on the envelope, but 
effectively the same as printed on the envelope.
  I would say to people who raise money, whether it's the Republican 
National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, other political 
entities, or nonpolitical entities who simply want to have their 
envelopes opened for an opportunity to raise money or get a message 
out, don't use the census. Don't even think about using the census, 
because it's wrong. If something is deceptive, then it is wrong under 
the law that we already passed. It is wrong under the law that we 
expect this bill to represent.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chairman, Congresswoman 
Maloney and Congressman Jason Chaffetz and, more importantly, the 
leadership of the House, both Mr. Boehner and Mr. Hoyer, because they 
made it possible for us to come to the floor quickly, get it to the 
Senate quickly, allow the Senate to deal with it quickly so the 
President can make a statement for the second time in less than a 
month. He shouldn't have to do it. He does have to do it. We're going 
to make sure that while the census is underway, that we not have anyone 
think that this is a time where they can continue to do fundraising 
that ultimately links itself to the ongoing census.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from New 
York, Carolyn Maloney, who has been very involved in this issue, of 
course, and to say to my colleague from California, I really appreciate 
his involvement in this as well, the ranking member of the committee, 
Congressman Issa.
  Mrs. MALONEY. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his 
leadership in so many ways, and I thank my good friend on the other 
side of the aisle for his leadership on this issue and many others.
  We are united today in a bipartisan effort, Republicans and 
Democrats. We are united in our efforts to stop the RNC from using 
census mailings for political gain and to fundraise for the RNC.
  Mr. Steele, in particular, the head of the RNC, 5 days after this 
Congress in a bipartisan vote that was unanimous on both sides of the 
aisle, mailed out another partisan mailer, raising money for the RNC in 
an envelope that looked like it was an official document for the Census 
Bureau. I suggest that Mr. Steele contact the members of his own party 
before he acts in such a way, because the Republicans supported 
stopping using the census mailer in any way for partisan gain.
  Specifically, this Congress passed legislation to stop mailers, fake 
mailers, look-alike mailers, that made the document look official, like 
a census document, to open it up. The RNC and others were mailing 
fundraisers, acting like they were the census. This is wrong. We passed 
legislation to stop it. It is now under review by the postal 
department. I have every bit of confidence that they will report that 
it violated not only the spirit of the law but that it violated the 
law.
  The ink wasn't even dry from President Obama signing the legislation 
into law, and 5 days later the RNC leadership sent out another partisan 
mailer designed to look like the census to mislead people. This is 
dangerous because the census is important to our country. It is 
mandated by the Constitution. It must take place every 10 years, and 
the census numbers are the numbers that we use to decide 
representation. Practically every funding formula is based on census 
numbers. So we want people to respond to the census. It's important. To 
the degree that mock, fake mailers are out there deceiving people, it 
will drive down the participation.
  So today we are united on enforcing the law in a bipartisan way. And 
I congratulate particularly the leadership on the other side of the 
aisle that are speaking out against the leadership of their own RNC, 
knowing that the census is important and should not be used for 
partisan reasons. So I compliment Steny Hoyer and Mr. Boehner for 
moving this to the floor immediately so that another mailer doesn't go 
out.
  This is a critical time for the census. It is in full swing. People 
are responding to their mail. There will be enumerators. There will be 
additional mail. To the extent that people are fundraising with fake 
look-alike documents, it will drive down the participation in the 
federally mandated, constitutionally required, and federally funded 
census. It is undercutting tax dollars from the public that are trying 
to get an accurate count and an accurate picture of where we are from 
the census data. So this is a very important action, and it's one that 
we are acting quickly on. And I hope the RNC and anyone else who wants 
to put out a deceptive, misleading mailing will stop and respect the 
law, respect the census, and respect this Congress.
  I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
  Mr. TOWNS. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I would like to thank the gentlelady from New York. Her words are our 
words; her thoughts are our thoughts. Perhaps as a proud Republican, I 
can do more than the thought she made.
  Mr. Speaker, I want everyone to be counted in the census. I want 
everyone to open their envelopes from the census. As a Republican, I am 
particularly sensitive that I don't want Republicans to be 
undercounted. So I would advise, as I will do, if I receive anything 
and it looks like it's from the census, I'm going to open it. When I 
open it, if it's from the census, I'm going to fill it out. If it's not 
from the census, I'm going to throw it out because, ultimately, all of 
us, regardless of our party, should be indignant if we receive a 
request for money and we open it, believing it's from the census, only 
to find out that it is a request for money.
  The census does not ask us for money. They ask us for sensitive 
information leading to a correct count of the American population, and 
from that, Congress does its work to allocate resources and, quite 
personally, to allocate representation here in the House. So I, for 
one, will open all the mail and encourage all to open all the mail. And 
when you open it, do the right thing if it's from the census; do the 
right thing if it's from somebody trying to fundraise. Let there be no 
doubt, this is important to us in the House. We speak with one voice. 
We speak today. I suspect that they will speak by tomorrow in the 
Senate, and we will make sure that this cannot be allowed.
  In closing, I did join with the gentlelady from New York and Mr. 
Chaffetz, the gentleman from Utah, and the chairman in calling on the 
Postmaster to assert any jurisdiction he may believe he can, which we 
believe he has, to stop mailings even if they're going out today. But 
certainly within a matter of hours or days, we expect there will be new 
power without any question that would allow for the holding of that 
mail and its destruction.
  So with that, Mr. Speaker, I encourage passage of the bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to close by saying that we need 
to send the kind of message that will make certain this stops. However, 
I do believe the new RNC mailings are illegal under current law. That's 
number one. This bill will clarify that any use of the word ``census'' 
that is visible through the envelope would trigger a requirement to 
disclose the name and return address of the sender. Congress should not 
have to act twice to make it clear that it is wrong to imitate the 
census, which is mandated by our Constitution. Unfortunately, the 
foolishness of the RNC has forced us to act again.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all of my colleagues, especially the 
ranking member of the committee, Congresswoman Maloney, and Mr. 
Chaffetz and others, especially their staffs, who understand and 
recognize how important the census is and that we should

[[Page H2949]]

not get involved in any kind of trickery when it comes to the census 
because there are so many things that depend on the census. Therefore, 
to play around with it, to me, is so unfair when you're talking about, 
really, playing around with the lives of people, because so many things 
are based on the fact that the count, the count is so important. So 
it's my hope that the RNC will recognize this and stop this trickery, 
because there is no place, no time do we need that today.

                              {time}  1100

  We need to make certain that everybody fills out their census form, 
and gets it back in as soon as possible.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 5148.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________