[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,

[[Page S7178]]

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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