[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     amendments made by this Act, are repealed, and any provision 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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