[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 121 (Tuesday, September 11, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5829-H5830]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
U.S. SAFE WEB ACT OF 2006 EXTENSION ACT
Mrs. BONO MACK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 6131) to extend the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud
Enforcement With Enforcers beyond Borders Act of 2006, and for other
purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 6131
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. EXTENSION OF THE U.S. SAFE WEB ACT OF 2006.
Section 13 of the U.S. SAFE WEB Act of 2006 (Public Law
109-455; 15 U.S.C. 44 note) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 13. SUNSET.
``Effective September 30, 2020, this Act, and the
amendments made by this Act, are repealed, and any provision
of law amended by this Act shall be amended to read as if
this Act had not been enacted into law.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
California (Mrs. Bono Mack) and the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Butterfield) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.
General Leave
Mrs. BONO MACK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and insert extraneous materials in the Record on H.R. 6131.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
Mrs. BONO MACK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce,
Manufacturing and Trade, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6131, a
bill to reauthorize the U.S. SAFE Web Act of 2006.
I would like to thank Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Upton
for his leadership on this important issue, as well as Ranking Member
Waxman. But a special thank you also goes out to my good friend and
lead coauthor of H.R. 6131, our subcommittee's ranking member, Mr.
Butterfield of North Carolina, for his strong bipartisan support.
When it comes to the future of electronic commerce, consumer trust
and online privacy are trending topics that Americans care very deeply
about. Today, the Internet serves billions of users worldwide with e-
commerce in the U.S. topping $200 billion last year for the first time
and up a remarkable 15 percent so far this year. But lurking online are
hackers, cyberthieves, and even organized crime rings.
As someone who is deeply involved in online privacy issues, as well
as consumer protection, I'm very concerned that e-commerce will cease
to grow and flourish if Americans lose faith in their ability to be
protected from online predators, jeopardizing future innovation, as
well as our Nation's fragile economic recovery.
One important tool in combating crossborder fraud, spam, and spyware
is this act, which is set to expire next year. H.R. 6131 reauthorizes
important crime-fighting and consumer protection law for another 7
years.
By any measure, the U.S. SAFE Web Act has been extremely effective,
allowing the Federal Trade Commission to better protect U.S. consumers
from fraud, deception, spam and spyware, and crossborder cases
involving threats originating both domestically and abroad. And to give
you an idea of just how well it's working, no opposition to
reauthorizing the law has been expressed from either the business
community or by advocacy groups.
Most importantly, the U.S. SAFE Web Act enhances the FTC's
investigative and enforcement functions by authorizing information
sharing with foreign enforcement agencies, something the commission may
not do without express authorization. The act only allows information
sharing with countries whose law on data sharing is substantially
similar to that governing the FTC, and the FTC may share data only
under conditions where the information will be treated confidentially
and a country will reciprocate information sharing with the FTC.
Clearly, we would be fighting an uphill battle if these critically
important consumer protections were not in place.
About a decade ago, the Federal Trade Commission began to highlight
the growing problems that it encountered in effectively combating
Internet scams and fraud directed at American citizens by foreign
operators, oftentimes involving organized crime rings. By 2005, an
estimated 20 percent of consumer complaints the FTC received involved
fraud originating outside of the U.S., costing American consumers
hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
In order to expand its ability to effectively fight online fraud, the
FTC sent Congress legislative recommendations in 2005 seeking
additional authorities. Without objection, Congress passed the U.S.
SAFE Web Act on December 6, 2006, and it was signed into law 2 weeks
later by President Bush. For American consumers, the U.S. SAFE Web Act
has been a clear success to date, and it should be reauthorized before
its expiration next year.
Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge the passage of H.R. 6131, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6131, a bill that
will reauthorize certain powers granted to the Federal Trade Commission
under the U.S. SAFE Web Act that are set to expire very soon.
Congresswoman Bono Mack, the chair of the Commerce, Manufacturing and
Trade Subcommittee of Energy and Commerce and I and our staffs worked
together in a bipartisan manner to quickly get this very important
reauthorization language out of the committee and onto the House floor.
When the bill was first authored in the 109th Congress, it was
overwhelmingly supported by both Republicans and Democrats and passed
the House under suspension of the rules. So I am happy to see that this
reauthorization is proceeding in much the same way.
This law provides the Federal Trade Commission with expanded and
enhanced authorities with the aim of combating crossborder spyware and
spam attacks against the U.S., as well as helping protect consumers
from phony Internet rip-offs and telemarketing scams. The enhanced
authority has empowered the FTC to better protect American consumers
through robust crossborder information sharing, investigative
assistance, and coalition building with foreign consumer protection
agencies.
In a 2009 report to Congress, the FTC noted the significant role the
act has played in facilitating crossborder cooperation in
investigations and enforcement proceedings, along with the growing need
for continued cooperation to combat new and existing global fraud.
Simply put, Mr. Speaker, the expanded authorities are working to
protect the American people, and Congress needs to make sure they
remain in place so the Federal Trade Commission can effectively combat
crossborder scams.
The original SAFE Web Act passed in the 109th Congress included a
sunset provision that will cause these enhanced authorities to expire
in December of next year. H.R. 6131 will extend these authorities to
September of the year 2020.
Mr. Speaker, I am a strong supporter of granting the FTC the powers
it needs to effectively protect consumers against fraud, whether
originating here or abroad.
{time} 1720
So I joined my good friend, Congresswoman Bono Mack, in pushing the
7-year extension in this bill. It is important to highlight that each
and every FTC Commissioner, all of them, of both political parties,
have called for a permanent reauthorization.
I joined with the FTC in calling for the sunset clause in the U.S.
SAFE WEB Act to be completely repealed, and it is still, it is still my
opinion and the opinion of several in our committee that this is a
better approach.
Nonetheless, Mr. Speaker, both parties can agree, and the FTC's
enforcement record shows, that this has been a successful law, so we
should not delay. We should not delay or disrupt the FTC's ability to
protect the American people from those who want to take advantage of
them. I hope my colleagues will agree with us and will join with us in
supporting this measure.
[[Page H5830]]
Again, I want to thank the gentlelady from California for her
friendship and her leadership on the committee. You have just been
extraordinary. I also want to thank the chairman of the full committee,
Mr. Upton, the gentleman from Michigan, as well as my ranking member,
Mr. Waxman, from California. All of us, all of us have worked together
so diligently to make this happen, and I thank you so very much.
I will close by simply reiterating what I have said the last 3 or 4
minutes. This is a good bill. We have bipartisan support for this bill.
It has been expedited to the House floor. I ask my colleagues to join
with us and get it passed, and let's get it enacted into law.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. BONO MACK. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I just would like to say
that today, with nearly 1.5 billion credit cards now in use in the
U.S., nearly everyone has a stake in making certain that the FTC has
the powers that it needs to combat cross-border fraud, spam, and
spyware.
Rather than give the FTC more power, the U.S. SAFE WEB Act is simply
giving the FTC the tools it needs to carry out its mission more
effectively; and it's done so without increasing the cost to American
taxpayers, without any new rulemaking, and without any new
investigative authority. Reauthorizing the U.S. SAFE WEB Act as soon as
possible will avoid disrupting ongoing investigations, allowing the FTC
to continue to pursue cross-border fraud complaints and to continue
important information-sharing agreements with foreign law enforcement
agencies.
Again, let me just emphasize that this is a critically important
consumer protection bill, it enjoys broad bipartisan support, it
doesn't cost any additional money, and the clock is ticking. The law
needs to be reauthorized now.
It's good for American consumers, and it's good for the future of e-
commerce. It sends an important signal to the rest of the world that
online crooks, no matter where they're located, will be tracked down
and prosecuted.
Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of H.R. 6131, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, in 2006 when the original SAFE WEB Act was
signed into law, I was Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee's
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. I believed
then, as I believe now, that this bill provided needed authority to the
Federal Trade Commission to address cross border fraud.
Essentially, the SAFE WEB Act ensures that the FTC can effectively
combat Internet scams and fraud being perpetrated against U.S. citizens
by foreign operators. Throughout my tenure in Congress I have worked to
pass strong data security and cyber protections for consumers, and the
SAFE WEB Act directly correlates with this mission.
Without reauthorization, the Act and its grant of authorities to the
FTC will expire on December 22, 2013. I appreciate Chairman Bono Mack's
attention to this issue and focus on reauthorizing this bill before it
expires. Delay in reauthorization could threaten the strong
relationships the FTC has been able to build with foreign countries,
such as Canada, these past six years.
I am also pleased to see that while today's bill will extend the SAFE
WEB Act for an additional seven years, it also makes clear that the law
will sunset if not again reauthorized. While I applaud what the FTC has
done so far, I support sun-setting laws that provide independent
agencies with new authorities. Such action guards against bureaucratic
overreach and preserves important Congressional oversight.
In conclusion, I believe this is an important bill and I encourage
all my colleagues to support this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono Mack) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6131.
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.
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