[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 143 (Thursday, November 20, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6207-S6209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. HARKIN:
  S. 2954. A bill to improve the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I am proud to introduce my comprehensive 
proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the main law 
governing institutions of higher education in this country. My bill, 
the Higher Education Affordability Act, is the product of extensive 
conversations between both parties in Congress and stakeholders across 
the higher education community. Over the past year, our Senate Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has held 12 bipartisan 
hearings on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act on issues ranging 
from teacher preparation and accreditation to federal student loans and 
the States' role in higher education. These hearings were purposely 
designed to better inform members of Congress and the public on the 
most pressing issues in higher education and how best to address them 
at the federal level.
  In June, I put forward a discussion draft that included many of the 
ideas and policies discussed in our hearings. I asked the entire higher 
education community--including institutions, accreditors, and student 
advocacy organizations--to weigh in and offer suggestions on how best 
to strengthen my initial proposal.
  I am pleased to say they delivered abundantly on that request. We 
received comments from over 120 organizations from across the country. 
What I have put forward today is a direct result of our hearings and 
the feedback we received. This bill provides clear guidelines based on 
all the work we have done to date on how we should move forward with 
reauthorization in a way that puts students and families first. It 
takes a holistic approach in addressing the most urgent issues in 
higher education: increasing college affordability, helping struggling 
borrowers, strengthening accountability, and improving transparency 
throughout the higher education system.
  On the matter of affordability, my bill includes a number of policies 
designed to reduce college costs for students on the front end. It 
proposes a new federal partnership with States to incentivize them to 
reinvest in their systems of higher education. For too long, States 
have been cutting funding for their institutions of higher education 
and passing those costs onto students and their families. This is a 
trend in cost-shifting that must stop. The bill also reinstates year-
round Pell Grants to enable students to get their degrees faster and 
establishes a pilot program to reward institutions that do a good job 
of graduating low-income students. My bill also creates two grant 
programs to promote statewide and institutional innovation in higher 
education. Making sure college is affordable requires an all-hands-on-
deck approach: the Federal government, states, students and their 
families all need to do their part.
  We also hope to empower students and families through greater 
transparency by giving students and families better information on 
college costs and outcomes from the beginning of the college selection 
process and all the way through graduation. The bill promotes a 
seamless process from high school to post-graduation to ensure that 
students know exactly what they are getting into with regard to college 
quality and costs before they get started.
  On the matter of student debt, my bill takes a range of steps to help 
student borrowers better manage their loans. It provides for better up-
front and exit counseling for students regarding their federally 
guaranteed loans. It eliminates fees on federal loans to save students 
money. My bill also strengthens consumer protections for student loans, 
and it creates a safety net for borrowers who are seriously delinquent 
on their loans by automatically enrolling them in an income-based 
repayment plan with affordable monthly payments. To ensure that private 
student debt is treated no differently than any other consumer debt, my 
bill would allow private student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy, 
as they were before the law was changed in 2005.
  My bill would hold schools more accountable to both students and 
taxpayers by ensuring that no Federal money goes to marketing and 
advertising instead of education. I am also introducing new metrics, 
including a repayment rate, by which to better measure schools' 
performance. The bill also changes the current ``90/10'' rule to ``85/
15'' to ensure that for-profit schools are not wholly subsidized by the 
Federal government. For those bad actors making record-breaking profits 
through fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars, my bill includes a number 
of provisions designed to penalize this behavior and to stop it.
  Our country has reached a critical point in higher education. Beyond 
disagreements on specific policy issues, we must come together to 
decide whether higher education should be preserved, first and 
foremost, as a public good. Over the past two decades, rising college 
costs have been shifted unfairly onto the backs of students and 
families. The central question we must ask is whether this accelerating 
trend is the right direction for this country--whether paying for 
college should be the sole responsibility of students and families or 
our shared responsibility as a nation. My bill reflects the overall 
belief that all stakeholders--states, the Federal Government, students 
and families--should invest together in higher education to keep 
college affordable and accessible to all. Our country's economic future 
and the promise of equal opportunity depend upon this critical 
investment.
  It is unacceptable to ask students and their families to shoulder the 
bulk of college costs. Historically, this has never been the case, and 
we should not allow this unfortunate trend to grow worse. My bill would 
get us back on the right track, ensuring that our higher education 
system is affordable, transparent, and ultimately accountable to our 
students and taxpayers. Higher education should serve as an equalizer 
of opportunity for all, and that is a promise that we must fulfill 
together.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. NELSON (for himself, Mr. Donnelly, Ms. Collins, and Mr. 
        Booker):

[[Page S6208]]

  S. 2956. A bill to prevent caller ID spoofing, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, in 2010 Congress passed, and the President 
signed into law, the Truth in Caller ID Act, which prohibits caller ID 
spoofing when it is used to defraud or harm Americans.
  What is caller ID spoofing? It is a technique that allows a telephone 
caller to alter the phone number that appears on the recipient's Caller 
ID screen. In other words, spoofing allows someone to hide behind a 
misleading telephone number to try to scam consumers or trick law 
enforcement officers.
  The Truth in Caller ID Act put in place tough new sanctions to crack 
down on phone scams, empowering States to help the Federal Government 
track down and punish these fraudsters.
  Since then spoofing technology has evolved to give fraudsters new 
tools to pull the wool over our eyes. They take advantage of innovative 
text messaging services to trick unsuspecting Americans into sending 
money or providing sensitive personal information.
  I believe our laws must evolve and adapt to the new tactics and 
technologies used by these criminals. That is why I am introducing the 
Phone Scam Prevention Act of 2014, to update the protections we put in 
place in 2010 and give consumers the tools they need to help them 
protect themselves.
  The bill does 3 simple things.
  First, it extends the current prohibition on Caller ID spoofing to 
calls coming from outside the United States and stops crooks from using 
text messaging services to scam consumers.
  Second, it ensures consumers have access to what are known as 
``whitelist services,'' where the technology exists. Whitelist services 
allow consumers to pick a list of approved phone numbers to ring 
through to their phone. All other numbers are automatically forwarded 
to voicemail or rerouted to a different number.
  Calls from first responders, government agencies, and other important 
entities would still ring through to the consumer's phone.
  Several phone companies currently offer whitelist services to their 
customers. It only makes sense to allow more Americans to have access 
to these valuable services so that they can help protect themselves 
from abusive phone calls.
  Third, the bill directs the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, 
to develop Caller ID authentication standards within 5 years from the 
date of enactment to ensure Caller ID information is accurate, or at 
the very least warn consumers when such information cannot be verified.
  An international group of telecom engineers, including specialists at 
the FCC, are currently working to develop such standards. The bill 
would merely accelerate the timeline for the standards to be finalized 
and move us to a more secure telephone system sooner.
  When in place, Caller ID authentication will give consumers the 
information they need to judge the legitimacy of the call. Scammers 
will no longer be able to use spoofing technology to claim to be from 
the IRS, your bank, your utility company, or law enforcement and bilk 
you out of all your savings.
  I invite my colleagues to join Senators Collins, Donnelly, Booker, 
and me in support of the Phone Scam Prevention Act of 2014. Working 
together, I am hopeful that we can finally stop many of the fraudsters 
behinds these phone scams.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2956

       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 ``Phone Scam Prevention Act of 
     2014''.

     SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF WHITELIST SERVICES.

       (a) In General.--Part I of title II of the Communications 
     Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
     the end the following:

     ``SEC. 232. AVAILABILITY OF WHITELIST SERVICES.

       ``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
       ``(1) the term `voice service' means any service that 
     furnishes voice communications to an end user using resources 
     from the North American Numbering Plan or any successor plan 
     adopted by the Commission under section 251(e)(1);
       ``(2) the term `exempt entity' means--
       ``(A) the Federal Government, a State, a political 
     subdivision of a State, or an agency thereof; and
       ``(B) any entity with respect to which the Commission 
     determines that allowing calls that originate from that 
     entity to connect directly with the voice service customer 
     premises equipment (commonly referred to as `CPE') of a 
     subscriber would serve the public interest; and
       ``(3) the term `whitelist' means a list of telephone 
     numbers, designated by a subscriber, for which calls 
     originating from those numbers to the subscriber are 
     permitted to connect directly with the voice service CPE of 
     the subscriber.
       ``(b) Requirement to Offer Whitelist Service.--A provider 
     of a voice service shall offer each subscriber the option to 
     designate a whitelist, if technically feasible (as determined 
     by the Commission on a periodic basis).
       ``(c) Treatment of Nonapproved Telephone Numbers.--
       ``(1) In general.--If a subscriber elects to designate a 
     whitelist under subsection (b), the provider of the voice 
     service of the subscriber shall ensure that any call the 
     provider receives for termination that is not associated with 
     a telephone number on the whitelist of the subscriber or the 
     telephone number of an exempt entity is processed according 
     to preferences set by the subscriber with respect to the 
     whitelist, including by limiting or disabling the ability of 
     an incoming call to connect with the CPE of the subscriber.
       ``(2) Safe harbor.--Whitelist processing that, in 
     accordance with the preferences of a subscriber, limits or 
     disables connection with the CPE of a subscriber shall not be 
     considered to be--
       ``(A) blocking traffic; or
       ``(B) an unjust or unreasonable practice under section 201 
     of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201).
       ``(d) Number of Telephone Numbers on Whitelist Free of 
     Charge.--
       ``(1) In general.--A provider of a voice service shall 
     allow a subscriber (or a designated representative thereof) 
     to designate not less than 10 telephone numbers to be on the 
     whitelist under subsection (b), free of charge.
       ``(2) Telephone numbers of exempt entities.--The telephone 
     number of an exempt entity shall not be considered to be on 
     the whitelist of a subscriber for purposes of calculating the 
     10 telephone numbers that may be designated under paragraph 
     (1).''.
       (b) Effective Date.--Section 232 of the Communications Act 
     of 1934, as added by subsection (a), shall take effect on the 
     date that is 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

     SEC. 3. AUTHENTICATION OF CALL ORIGINATION.

       Part I of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
     U.S.C. 201 et seq.), as amended by section 2, is amended by 
     adding at the end the following:

     ``SEC. 233. AUTHENTICATION OF CALL ORIGINATION.

       ``(a) Definition.--In this section, the term `voice 
     service' means any service that furnishes voice 
     communications to an end user using resources from the North 
     American Numbering Plan or any successor plan adopted by the 
     Commission under section 251(e)(1).
       ``(b) Development of Authentication Standards by 
     Commission.--Not later than 5 years after the date of 
     enactment of the Phone Scam Prevention Act of 2014, the 
     Commission shall develop authentication standards for 
     providers of a voice service to validate the calling party 
     number and caller identification information of a call 
     originated through a voice service so that the subscriber 
     receiving the call may obtain--
       ``(1) a secure assurance of the origin of the call, 
     including--
       ``(A) the calling party number; and
       ``(B) caller identification information for the call; or
       ``(2) notice that an assurance described in paragraph (1) 
     is unavailable.
       ``(c) Adoption of Authentication Standards by Entities.--
     Each provider of a voice service that is allocated telephone 
     numbers from the portion of the North American Numbering Plan 
     that pertains to the United States shall adopt the 
     authentication standards developed under subsection (b).''.

     SEC. 4. EXPANDING AND CLARIFYING PROHIBITION ON INACCURATE 
                   CALLER ID INFORMATION.

       (a) Communications From Outside United States.--Section 
     227(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
     227(e)(1)) is amended by striking ``in connection with any 
     telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service'' and 
     inserting ``or any person outside the United States if the 
     recipient of the call is within the United States, in 
     connection with any voice service''.
       (b) Coverage of Text Messages and Other Voice Services.--
     Section 227(e)(8) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
     U.S.C. 227(e)(8)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``telecommunications 
     service or IP-enabled voice service'' and inserting ``voice 
     service (including a text message sent using a text messaging 
     service)'';

[[Page S6209]]

       (2) in the first sentence of subparagraph (B), by striking 
     ``telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service'' 
     and inserting ``voice service (including a text message sent 
     using a text messaging service)'';
       (3) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(C) Text message.--The term `text message'--
       ``(i) means a real-time or near real-time message 
     consisting of text, images, sounds, or other information that 
     is transmitted from or received by a device that is 
     identified as the transmitting or receiving device by means 
     of a telephone number;
       ``(ii) includes a short message service (commonly referred 
     to as `SMS') message, an enhanced message service (commonly 
     referred to as `EMS') message, and a multimedia message 
     service (commonly referred to as `MMS') message; and
       ``(iii) does not include a real-time, 2-way voice or video 
     communication.
       ``(D) Text messaging service.--The term `text messaging 
     service' means a service that permits the transmission or 
     receipt of a text message, including a service provided as 
     part of or in connection with a voice service.
       ``(E) Voice service.--The term `voice service' means any 
     service that furnishes voice communications to an end user 
     using resources from the North American Numbering Plan or any 
     successor plan adopted by the Commission under section 
     251(e)(1).''.
       (c) Rules of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
     construed to modify, limit, or otherwise affect--
       (1) the authority, as of the day before the date of 
     enactment of this Act, of the Federal Communications 
     Commission to interpret the term ``call'' to include a text 
     message (as defined under section 227(e)(8)) of the 
     Communications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (b)); or
       (2) any rule or order adopted by the Federal Communications 
     Commission in connection with--
       (A) the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (Public 
     Law 102-243; 105 Stat. 2394) or the amendments made by that 
     Act; or
       (B) the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.).
       (d) Regulations.--Not later than 18 months after the date 
     of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications 
     Commission shall prescribe regulations to implement the 
     amendments made by this section.
       (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall take effect on the date that is 6 months after the date 
     on which the Federal Communications Commission prescribes 
     regulations under subsection (d).

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