[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 206 (Thursday, December 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7176-S7178]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PALLONE-THUNE TELEPHONE ROBOCALL ABUSE CRIMINAL ENFORCEMENT AND
DETERRENCE ACT
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, today the Senate is taking the final step
to send much-needed legislation to protect consumers from robocalls to
the President's desk. I think we had hoped that this would be able to
be passed with a couple of other bills coming out of the Commerce,
Science, and Transportation Committee. I think the chairman of the
committee, Senator Wicker, will address those later: the data mapping
bill and the secure communications bill that deals with ensuring that
we protect our technology from harmful elements--Huawei and those sorts
of things. I would hope that we could get those cleared at some point,
too.
Today, we want to proceed with the robocall bill.
I will just start by saying that illegal robocalls have flooded
Americans' phones to the point where many folks don't want to answer
their phones at all. In fact, a recent report found that only 47
percent of calls Americans receive are actually answered. This means
consumers aren't answering legitimate calls that could be alerting you
of fraud on your credit card, notifying you that your flight has been
canceled, or reminding you of an upcoming medical appointment--all
calls that are important to consumers.
It is clear that no one is immune to these annoying and potentially
dangerous calls. Scammers use these calls to successfully prey on
vulnerable populations, especially elderly Americans, and they target
the kind of personal information that can be used to steal your money
or your identity. When scammers are successful, the consequences for
their victims can be devastating.
While there are laws and fines in place right now to prevent scam
artists for preying on Americans through the telephone, these measures
have been insufficient. When I served as chairman of the Commerce
Committee, I subpoenaed the mass robocaller Adrian Abramovich to
testify about his operation. His testimony made it clear that robocall
scammers simply build the current fines into the cost of doing
business.
On top of this, the Federal Communications Commission's enforcement
efforts are hampered by a tight time window for pursuing violators.
That is why, earlier this year, I introduced the legislation before us
today, the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence
Act, or the TRACED Act, with my fellow Commerce Committee member,
Senator Markey. The TRACED Act provides tools to discourage illegal
robocalls, protect consumers, and crack down on offenders. It expands
the window in which the FCC can pursue intentional scammers and levy
fines from 1 year to 4 years.
The legislation also requires telephone service providers to adopt
call verification technologies that would help prevent illegal
robocalls from reaching consumers in the first place. The TRACED Act
also recognizes the importance of legitimate calls and ensures
important calls like emergency public safety calls are not wrongly
blocked.
Importantly, it convenes a working group with representatives from
the Department of Justice, the FCC, the Federal Trade Commission, the
Department of Commerce, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, State
attorneys general, and others to identify ways to criminally prosecute
the illegal robocalling. TRACED also addresses the issue of so-called
one-ring scams, where international scammers try to get individuals to
return their calls so they can charge them exorbitant fees.
It directs the Federal Communications Commission to convene a working
group to address the problem of illegal robocalls being made to
hospitals.
Mr. President, I am very pleased that the TRACED Act received
bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. I am especially grateful
to Senator Markey for partnering with me on this legislation, and I
appreciate Chairman Wicker and Ranking Member Cantwell for quickly
advancing this legislation through the Commerce Committee this year.
I also appreciate the work of our House colleagues, Representatives
Pallone, Walden, Doyle, and Latta, for their work on advancing the
TRACED Act through the House. I am also very pleased this bill has
attracted tremendous support from State governments and industry and
consumer groups.
While the TRACED Act won't prevent all illegal robocalling, it is a
big step in the right direction. As The Washington Post editorial board
recently stated, the TRACED ``is what good, old-fashioned legislating
looks like.'' I could not agree more. No process is perfect, but today,
I am excited that the Senate will be sending the TRACED Act to the
President's desk.
Before I close, Mr. President, I would like to quickly thank several
staff members whose efforts helped get us here today. In my office, I
appreciate the work of Alex Sachtjen, Lauren
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Greenwood, Jessica McBride, and Nick Rossi. I would also like to extend
my thanks to Dan Ball, Olivia Trusty, John Keast, and Crystal Tully on
Chairman Wicker's team, who worked tirelessly to help develop and
advance this legislation.
As I mentioned before, I appreciate the great work of Senator Markey,
his partnership on this bill, and I want to thank the work of Daniel
Greene, Joey Wender, and Bennett Butler on his staff. This truly was,
Mr. President, a team effort, so I thank you.
I look forward to the President's signature on the TRACED Act in the
near future, and I hope that, as this bill gets implemented, it will
once again be safe to answer your phone in this country.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, thank you. This is a big day for consumers
in the United States, and I want to begin first by thanking my friend,
Senator Thune, for his tremendous partnership on this legislation and
the issue that we are discussing today, robocalls. That is because
there are no blue robocalls. There are no red robocalls. There are only
despised robocalls. That is what is bringing this Chamber together
today. So I thank Senator Thune for his great leadership.
I thank Senator Wicker and Senator Cantwell for helping us to
navigate this political pathway. Today is a big day. The daily deluge
of robocalls that Americans experience is more than a nuisance in 2019.
It is a consumer protection crisis. Today, the U.S. Senate is sending
Americans a holiday gift on everyone's list: stopping the plague of
robocalls. Americans across the country face an epidemic of illegal and
fraudulent robocalls bombarding their phones.
While their telephones were once a reliable means of communications,
they have been turned against us. They are now mechanisms for scammers
and fraudsters who wish to cheat and to defraud. The numbers are
staggering. In 2019, consumers have received an estimated 54 billion
robocalls. That is 6 billion more than 2018, and we still have 2 more
weeks to go. The year isn't even over. In November alone, an estimated
5 billion robocalls were made to Americans. That is 167 million
robocalls per day. That is 7 million robocalls an hour. That is 2,000
every second in our country. In the time it takes me to make these
remarks, 10,000 robocalls will have been placed across this country.
In 2019, already almost 600 million robocalls have been placed to my
constituents in Massachusetts. Enough is enough. The reality is that we
no longer have confidence in our phones. Our phones have become tools
for fraud, for scams, for harassment mechanisms by which those with bad
intent can access our homes, our purses, or even our pockets at any
time. Caller ID is not trusted. Important calls go unanswered. Innocent
Americans are defrauded. Our seniors in particular are targeted.
Years ago, scammers needed expensive, sophisticated equipment to
robocall and robotext consumers en masse. Today, they just need a
smartphone to target thousands of phones an hour at relatively little
expense, and readily available software permits them to spoof their
numbers, which means their true caller ID is, in fact, concealed from
the person picking up the phone. These new technologies allow illegal
robocalls to conduct fraud anonymously, both depriving Federal
regulators and consumers the ability to identify and to punish the
culprit.
Today, the U.S. Senate is putting robocall relief in sight. I have
been proud again to partner with Senator Thune on the Telephone
Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, or TRACED Act
for short. We introduced it earlier this year; today is the culmination
of that work in partnership with the House of Representatives. Stopping
robocalls requires a simple formula, which we have included in the
TRACED Act: 1, authentication; 2, blocking; 3, enforcement.
First, this bill requires carriers to adopt call authentication
technologies so they can verify that incoming calls are legitimate
before they reach consumers phones. This will be mandatory for phone
carriers. Second, the Federal Communications Commission will require
phone companies to block unverified calls at no charge to consumers.
Third, we will increase from 1 year to 4 years the time for the Federal
Communications Commission to pursue penalties for robocallers that
intentionally violate the rules. This is a recipe for success. That is
what our TRACED Act does.
At the same time, this bill also ensures that emergency public safety
calls still go through. The bill we will vote on today has enormous
support across the country: 54 State and Territory attorneys general,
all commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, and the
Federal Trade Commission. Major industry associations and meeting
consumer groups endorse the legislation and agree that the TRACED Act
is an essential weapon in combating the rise of illegal, fraudulent
robocalls.
This robocall legislation is a political Halley's Comet. It is
something we can all gather around and learn from. The robocalls we
receive every day are neither Democrat, nor Republican. They are a
universal menace. They impact the elderly, the young, the small
business owner, and the student. Our grandparents and neighbors, our
teachers and our coworkers today, no one is spared from this consumer
protection pandemic.
Senator Thune and my efforts would not have been possible without the
great work of groups like the National Consumer Law Center, AARP,
Consumer Reports, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Action, the
National Association of Attorneys General, USTelecom, CTIA, NTCA, and
so many more groups. These groups join the chorus of countless
Americans who raised their voices and called on Congress to pass this
bipartisan commonsense legislation, and we thank you.
What I would like to do, as well as Senator Thune, is to thank my
staff, Joey Wender, who is sitting out here on the floor with me right
now; and Bennett Butler, right over my shoulder; and Daniel Greene, who
worked on it; for Alex Sachtjen, Daniel Ball, Olivia Trusty, Nick
Rossi, Crystal Tully, from the majority staff, all partnered to make
today possible. I just want to say, again, we can't thank Alex Sachtjen
enough for all the work that was done.
I thank Senator Thune, and I thank the entire Senate for their
support for this legislation.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I appreciate that. I thank the Senator from
Massachusetts. He and his staff were tremendous in working on this. As
I said before, it is nice when we have an opportunity to work in a
bipartisan way on something that is this meaningful in people's lives.
This has a tremendous impact on the daily life of Americans who are
bombarded, in many cases, not just with annoying nuisance calls, but
also with calls that are very predatory and particularly when it comes
to some of our vulnerable populations.
Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XII, I ask unanimous consent that
the Chair lay before the Senate the message to accompany S. 151.
The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message
from the House of Representatives:
Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 151) entitled
``An Act to deter criminal robocall violations and improve
enforcement of section 227(b) of the Communications Act of
1934, and for other purposes'', do pass with an amendment.
Motion to Concur
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment,
and I know of no further debate on the motion.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the motion to
concur?
If not, the question is on agreeing to the motion.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. THUNE. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be
considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Order of Procedure
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent that this be
separate from the discussion that we are now having, but I would ask
unanimous consent that at 12 p.m. today,
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postcloture time on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the
Senate amendment to H.R. 1865 expire; the other pending motions and
amendments be withdrawn; and Senator Enzi or his designee be recognized
to raise a budget point of order, followed by Senator Shelby or his
designee to make a motion to waive the budget point of order; finally,
if the motion to waive is agreed to, the Senate vote on the motion to
concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 1865 with
no intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
I recognize the Senator from Wyoming.
Mr. ENZI. Reserving the right to object.
Does that mean I won't get to give the comments before we vote? There
has to be some comments about the point of order. Looking at the clock,
the number of people waiting, it looks like I am being cut of that
time.
Would that be a correct interpretation?
Mr. THUNE. I would say my view here is that the gentleman from
Wyoming wants to explain his point of order. There is no objection to
allowing him to do that.
Mr. ENZI. Then I have no objection.
Mr. THUNE. Thank you.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. I recognize the Senator from Mississippi.
Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, the time is fleeting.
The distinguished Republican whip is correct. We had hoped that the
robocall bill could be included with unanimous consent with two other
very important pieces of legislation--one being the Broadband DATA Act,
S. 1822, which is designed to tell the FCC: Go back. Get the maps
right. Show us where we have coverage and where we do not have
coverage. We are making great progress with that. I do believe we will
get that bill passed in just a moment.
The other issue is the Huawei data security act. I understand we are
going to have some trouble with that. Let me talk briefly before I make
my unanimous consent request.
China is up to no good with their government-controlled companies,
Huawei and ZTE. They are required by Chinese law to do the bidding of
the Chinese Communist dictatorship, and that means using their
equipment to spy on Americans.
This is an undisputed fact, and it is recognized not only by
Americans but also by other countries, our allies, which are taking
steps to protect themselves. Japan, Australia, New Zealand have already
begun the process of removing this dangerous ZTE and Huawei equipment
from their networks.
We have legislation we thought was going to be included in this
three-bill package, H.R. 4998, to authorize this in the United States.
Earlier this year, the President signed an Executive order declaring
a national emergency--and I agree with the President--because of the
dangerous effects of keeping Chinese equipment in our Nation's critical
infrastructure. Given these threats, we have an opportunity today to
remove this Huawei and ZTE equipment from American telecommunication
networks so we can protect Americans.
We are going to have some trouble with that on the unanimous consent
request. I think with the broadband DATA Act we will not.
(Mrs. FISCHER assumed the Chair.)
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