[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 30, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3314-H3316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL SENIOR INVESTOR INITIATIVE ACT OF 2019
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1876) to create an interdivisional taskforce at the
Securities and Exchange Commission for senior investors.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1876
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 ``National Senior Investor
Initiative Act of 2019'' or the ``Senior Security Act of
2019''.
SEC. 2. SENIOR INVESTOR TASKFORCE.
Section 4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C.
78d) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(k) Senior Investor Taskforce.--
``(1) Establishment.--There is established within the
Commission the Senior Investor Taskforce (in this subsection
referred to as the `Taskforce').
``(2) Director of the taskforce.--The head of the Taskforce
shall be the Director, who shall--
``(A) report directly to the Chairman; and
``(B) be appointed by the Chairman, in consultation with
the Commission, from among individuals--
``(i) currently employed by the Commission or from outside
of the Commission; and
``(ii) having experience in advocating for the interests of
senior investors.
``(3) Staffing.--The Chairman shall ensure that--
``(A) the Taskforce is staffed sufficiently to carry out
fully the requirements of this subsection; and
``(B) such staff shall include individuals from the
Division of Enforcement, Office of Compliance Inspections and
Examinations, and Office of Investor Education and Advocacy.
``(4) Minimizing duplication of efforts.--In organizing and
staffing the Taskforce, the Chairman shall take such actions
as may be necessary to minimize the duplication of efforts
within the divisions and offices described under paragraph
(3)(B) and any other divisions, offices, or taskforces of the
Commission.
``(5) Functions of the taskforce.--The Taskforce shall--
``(A) identify challenges that senior investors encounter,
including problems associated with financial exploitation and
cognitive decline;
``(B) identify areas in which senior investors would
benefit from changes in the regulations of the Commission or
the rules of self-regulatory organizations;
``(C) coordinate, as appropriate, with other offices within
the Commission, other taskforces that may be established
within the Commission, self-regulatory organizations, and the
Elder Justice Coordinating Council; and
``(D) consult, as appropriate, with State securities and
law enforcement authorities, State insurance regulators, and
other Federal agencies.
``(6) Report.--The Taskforce, in coordination, as
appropriate, with the Office of the Investor Advocate and
self-regulatory organizations, and in consultation, as
appropriate, with State securities and law enforcement
authorities, State insurance regulators, and Federal
agencies, shall issue a report every 2 years to the Committee
on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Special
Committee on Aging of the Senate and the Committee on
Financial Services of the House of Representatives, the first
of which shall not be issued until after the report described
in section 3 of the National Senior Investor Initiative Act
of 2019 has been issued and considered by the Taskforce,
containing--
``(A) appropriate statistical information and full and
substantive analysis;
``(B) a summary of recent trends and innovations that have
impacted the investment landscape for senior investors;
``(C) a summary of regulatory initiatives that have
concentrated on senior investors and industry practices
related to senior investors;
``(D) key observations, best practices, and areas needing
improvement, involving senior investors identified during
examinations, enforcement actions, and investor education
outreach;
``(E) a summary of the most serious issues encountered by
senior investors, including issues involving financial
products and services;
``(F) an analysis with regard to existing policies and
procedures of brokers, dealers, investment advisers, and
other market participants related to senior investors and
senior investor-related topics and whether these policies and
procedures need to be further developed or refined;
``(G) recommendations for such changes to the regulations,
guidance, and orders of the Commission and self-regulatory
organizations and such legislative actions as may be
appropriate to resolve problems encountered by senior
investors; and
``(H) any other information, as determined appropriate by
the Director of the Taskforce.
``(7) Sunset.--The Taskforce shall terminate after the end
of the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment
of this subsection, but may be reestablished by the Chairman.
``(8) Senior investor defined.--For purposes of this
subsection, the term `senior investor' means an investor over
the age of 65.''.
SEC. 3. GAO STUDY.
(a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United
States shall submit to Congress and the Senior Investor
Taskforce the results of a study of financial exploitation of
senior citizens.
(b) Contents.--The study required under subsection (a)
shall include information with respect to--
(1) economic costs of the financial exploitation of senior
citizens--
(A) associated with losses by victims that were incurred as
a result of the financial exploitation of senior citizens;
(B) incurred by State and Federal agencies, law enforcement
and investigatory agencies, public benefit programs, public
health programs, and other public programs as a result of the
financial exploitation of senior citizens;
(C) incurred by the private sector as a result of the
financial exploitation of senior citizens; and
(D) any other relevant costs that--
(i) result from the financial exploitation of senior
citizens; and
(ii) the Comptroller General determines are necessary and
appropriate to include in order to provide Congress and the
public with a full and accurate understanding of the economic
costs resulting from the financial exploitation of senior
citizens in the United States;
(2) frequency of senior financial exploitation and
correlated or contributing factors--
(A) information about percentage of senior citizens
financially exploited each year; and
(B) information about factors contributing to increased
risk of exploitation, including such factors as race, social
isolation, income, net worth, religion, region, occupation,
education, home-ownership, illness, and loss of spouse; and
(3) policy responses and reporting of senior financial
exploitation--
(A) the degree to which financial exploitation of senior
citizens unreported to authorities;
(B) the reasons that financial exploitation may be
unreported to authorities;
(C) to the extent that suspected elder financial
exploitation is currently being reported--
(i) information regarding which Federal, State, and local
agencies are receiving reports, including adult protective
services, law enforcement, industry, regulators, and
professional licensing boards;
(ii) information regarding what information is being
collected by such agencies; and
(iii) information regarding the actions that are taken by
such agencies upon receipt of the report and any limits on
the agencies' ability to prevent exploitation, such as
jurisdictional limits, a lack of expertise, resource
challenges, or limiting criteria with regard to the types of
victims they are permitted to serve;
(D) an analysis of gaps that may exist in empowering
Federal, State, and local agencies to prevent senior
exploitation or respond effectively to suspected senior
financial exploitation; and
(E) an analysis of the legal hurdles that prevent Federal,
State, and local agencies from effectively partnering with
each other and private professionals to effectively respond
to senior financial exploitation.
[[Page H3315]]
(c) Senior Citizen Defined.--For purposes of this section,
the term ``senior citizen'' means an individual over the age
of 65.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Foster) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.
General Leave
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Illinois?
There was no objection.
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I am proud to support H.R. 1876, the Senior Security
Act of 2019, a bipartisan bill introduced by Congressman Gottheimer and
Congressman Hollingsworth.
The financial exploitations of senior citizens is a major problem
today, and with the aging of the baby boomer generation, it will only
get worse in the coming years.
By 2030, one in five persons in the U.S. is projected to be 65 or
older. That would equal approximately 75 million people who are senior
citizens.
It is also estimated that nearly one in five Americans over the age
of 65 have been a victim of financial exploitation. This can take many
forms, including being steered towards inappropriate investment, paying
unreasonably high fees for financial services, or outright fraud.
Senior citizens are often targeted because they are more likely to
suffer from problems of memory and judgment, making them vulnerable to
fraud. Exacerbating the issue is that the overwhelming majority of
incidents of elder financial exploitation go unreported to authorities.
The Senior Security Act would help combat elder financial abuse by
creating a task force in the SEC to identify the challenges that senior
investors encounter and areas in which senior investors would benefit
from changes to SEC regulations.
The bill also requires that the GAO conduct a study on the financial
exploitation of senior citizens. The GAO study would give us an
important comprehensive look at this issue, including a breakdown of
the economic costs of financial exploitation of senior citizens,
answers to how often this happens, why such abuses often go unreported,
and factors that contribute to an increased risk of exploitation.
Americans work hard over their lifetime in order to save for
retirement and be financially safe and secure when they get older.
Unscrupulous people and companies would take advantage of these senior
citizens and rob them of their hard-earned money. Those people and
companies should not be able to get away with such egregious behavior.
This bill would allow us to more effectively combat this growing
problem. For that reason, I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey
(Mr. Gottheimer) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hollingsworth) for
bringing this bipartisan initiative forward. I urge all Members to vote
``yes.''
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support, as well, of H.R. 1876, the Senior
Security Act, and I want to thank my friends and colleagues, the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer) and the gentleman from
Indiana (Mr. Hollingsworth), for their collaboration and work on this
important bipartisan legislation, all focused on protecting our
seniors.
Madam Speaker, America's capital markets are open. They are
innovative, and they are essential for our families. That is how we
live the American Dream. We can grow a nest egg that helps us for our
retirement, helps put our kids or grandkids through college, or helps
buy a home.
But as Americans age, they become more critical to the success of
those open, transparent, and vibrant capital markets because those
Americans over 50, Madam Speaker, roughly, have 77 percent of the
financial assets in our country.
So when bad actors violate our laws and regulations, commit fraud, or
exploit our senior Americans or their families, the integrity of those
transparent and open markets and the opportunity of that American Dream
are threatened.
To that end, protecting senior investors and preventing such behavior
within our financial system is a shared goal. H.R. 1876 protects senior
investors and will help the SEC reduce increasing instances of
financial exploitation. It will create an interdivisional task force at
the SEC to examine and identify challenges facing senior investors.
I have to say, Madam Speaker, over two decades of working in the
investment world and working with the SEC and working with FINRA, the
regulatory body for broker-dealers and investment advisers, their
efforts of sweep exams and the education of the responsibilities of
investment advisers are critical.
{time} 1245
This will give them more tools to identify what the gaps are today.
I would add, in my career, that gap extends way beyond financial
advisers to CPAs, lawyers, people in a position of trust that advise
and guide over Americans.
It is shocking for us to report that $36 billion each year are lost
to financial scams in this country and that one out of five seniors
have reported being victims of exploitation.
Many States are taking action on their own. According to the National
Conference of State Legislators: ``The number of bills introduced by
State legislators to combat elder financial exploitation increased by
over 57 percent in 3 years.''
So this bipartisan bill is a very important step in generating
awareness at the Federal level of the need to strengthen protections
for our senior investors.
Madam Speaker, protecting seniors and ensuring the integrity of our
capital markets are things that I believe we all stand behind on this
House floor. It is our duty to protect our constituents, particularly
the most vulnerable, and that is why I urge my colleagues to support
H.R. 1876.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer), the coauthor of this legislation.
Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for allowing me
to speak on behalf of this bipartisan legislation. I also want to thank
my good friend, Congressman Trey Hollingsworth, for being a great
partner on this important legislation.
Since I took office, I have been committed to helping seniors save
their hard-earned money for retirement, to helping them cut their taxes
and afford their prescription drugs, and to protecting Social Security
and Medicare so that, at the end of the day, they can afford to stay in
New Jersey and enjoy their lives with their kids and their grandkids.
Unfortunately, there are millions of seniors across the country who
have been the victims of financial scams and abuses that have cheated
them out of their rightful retirement and are now putting that all at
risk. Here are a few disturbing facts.
According to a report from the Senate Special Committee on Aging,
older Americans lose approximately $3 billion each year to financial
scams and abuse.
Scammers claim to be a child or a grandchild on the phone. Thousands
pose as IRS agents, others as tech support people and representatives;
and then, in the end, they are just going after personal data and bank
information.
A separate survey from the Investor Protection Trust found that
approximately 7 million Americans have reported being victims of
exploitation. They scare and intimidate seniors, and many seniors don't
even report it. Only 1 in every 24 cases of elder exploitation actually
gets reported.
My mom was even a victim of one of these scammers.
It is appalling. It is offensive. It is unacceptable. Thankfully, we
are here today to do something about it.
Today, the House of Representatives is considering our bipartisan
legislation, the Senior Security Act, to help
[[Page H3316]]
protect vulnerable seniors from predatory scams and financial abuse.
The bipartisan Senior Security Act will help stop financial predators
from scamming seniors out of their savings by finding ways to
strengthen protections and safeguards for seniors and by creating a
senior investor task force at the Securities and Exchange Commission to
focus on how seniors are being targeted by fraudsters and to help stop
those who seek to take financial advantage of our seniors.
New Jersey's seniors have given us so much. We should always have
their backs and help protect them from those who would seek to do them
harm and take advantage of them.
Madam Speaker, again, I would like to thank my colleague, Mr.
Hollingsworth, for his commitment to protecting seniors, and I urge my
colleagues to support this commonsense, bipartisan legislation.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the work of the
sponsor, Mr. Gottheimer, and his important personal testimony about his
family and the importance of this bill.
Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from Indiana (Mr. Hollingsworth), the minority sponsor of this bill and
my good friend.
Mr. HOLLINGSWORTH. Madam Speaker, I, too, rise in support of this
legislation.
This is not just a Main Street issue. It is an Elm Street issue; it
is a Maple Street issue; it is a Broad Street issue. This is an issue
that affects our friends; it affects our neighbors; it affects our
veterans; it affects our parents and our grandparents. This is
something that has gone on far too long.
We have all seen the startling statistics. Over 24,000 cases were
reported to the Treasury Department last year alone, more than double
just 5 years ago.
We have seen the statistics about how over $3 billion a year are lost
by our senior citizens to scammers and fraudsters.
We have all seen the statistics showing how more than 10,000 baby
boomers are retiring each and every year, so this problem will only
grow into the future.
I applaud Representative Gottheimer for reaching across the aisle and
working on how we stop this problem, how we slow the growth of this
problem by setting up a task force at the SEC to specifically focus on
how our senior citizens are being targeted, how we can lessen their
vulnerabilities.
This is an issue that I am extremely passionate about, not only
because of the statistics that are startling and eye-opening, but also
because of the Hoosiers who walk through our offices every single day
being the victims of these crimes.
We had one a couple of weeks ago who had already wired half of her
life savings as a part of a scheme to get a Nigerian prince into the
country. We had somebody last year who had wired over $8,000 because
they believed that their son had been imprisoned in Mexico, wrongfully,
and the money was needed to get him out of prison.
They try all sorts of schemes. They try all sorts of ruses. Well, it
is time that we come together and try to stop them.
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the work of Representative Gottheimer
reaching across the aisle and developing legislation on how we find the
best practices to ensure that our senior citizens, our veterans, our
friends, our neighbors, our parents, and our grandparents are protected
in this very important time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from
Indiana's comments. He has been an excellent author.
Again, Madam Speaker, you hear the testimony from both sides of the
aisle, from constituents in both these districts, and the importance of
this.
Madam Speaker, on behalf of my colleagues, we urge adoption of H.R.
1876, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time.
Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate, again, Mr. Gottheimer and Mr.
Hollingsworth for having brought this bill to the floor. I urge my
colleagues to join us in supporting this important piece of legislation
to comprehensively examine and strengthen the protections against
financial exploitation of our senior citizens.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 1876.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. FOSTER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
____________________