[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 83 (Thursday, May 13, 2021)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D514-D515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                        House of Representatives


Chamber Action
 Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced: 60 public bills, H.R. 3172-
3231; 1 private bill, H.R. 3232; and 5 resolutions, H. Res. 392-396, 
were introduced.                                         
  Pages H2311-15
Additional Cosponsors:                                       
  Page H2317
Report Filed: A report was filed today as follows:
  H.R. 1157, to provide for certain authorities of the Department of 
State, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 117-33). 
                                                             Page H2311
Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act: The House passed H.R. 
2547, to expand and enhance consumer, student, servicemember, and small 
business protections with respect to debt collection practices, by a 
yea-and-nay vote of 215 yeas to 207 nays, Roll No. 141. 
                                                         Pages H2276-95
  Pursuant to the Rule, the amendment in the nature of a substitute 
recommended by the Committee on Financial Services now printed in the 
bill, modified by the amendment printed in part A of the report of the 
Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution, shall be considered as 
adopted.                                                     
Page H2276
Agreed to:
Waters en bloc amendment No. 1 consisting of the following amendments 
printed in part B of H. Rept. 117-29: Bonamici (No. 1) that expands 
requirements debt collectors must meet to take legal action on a debt, 
including providing advanced notice of commencing legal action and 
updates FDCPA to require proof that a debt is legally owed and due; 
Adams (No. 2) that provides private student loan borrowers the same 
protections as federal borrowers, with regards to prohibiting servicers 
and credit reporting agencies from reporting adverse information and 
directs the credit reporting agencies to remove any adverse 
information; Bowman (No. 3) that ensures that debt collectors would not 
be allowed to contact consumers via social media unless explicitly 
provided written consent; Bush (No. 5) that requires the CFPB report to 
Congress in 6 months analyzing consumer complaint data relating to debt 
collection practices (including debt collection practices as it relates 
to medical debt and debts owed by servicemembers) during the pandemic, 
as well as a list of enforcement actions taken by CFPB relating to debt 
collection during the pandemic; Cohen (No. 6) that adds language that 
would explicitly prohibit debt collectors from collecting or attempting 
to collect debt from consumers which the statute of limitations has 
expired and would also prohibit a debt collector from bringing, or 
threatening to bring, legal action against any consumer on a debt in 
which the statute of limitations has expired; Craig (No. 7) that adds a 
new section entitled the ``Ryan Frascone Memorial Student Loan Relief 
Act of 2021'' to release cosigners of private student loan agreements 
in the event of the death of the borrower, which will align current law 
with loans made prior to enactment of the Economic, Growth, Regulatory 
Relief, and Consumer Protection Act; Newman (No. 10) that requires the 
CFPB to create a page on their website with a consumer bill of rights 
for abusive debt collectors and resources, as well as directing it to 
be offered in different languages; Omar (No. 11) that directs the CFPB 
to study and report to Congress within 18 months about the consumer 
experiences and financial impacts of debt collection practices on 
student loan borrowers with private education loans, and requires an 
analysis on the practices of private student lenders challenging undue 
hardship petitions; Payne (No. 12) that requires the CFPB to report to 
Congress on the number of people unable to pay a debt because a debt 
collector is unable to accept a cash payment; Ross (No. 13) that 
directs the GAO to (1) analyze the trends and impacts associated with 
the use of electronic and telephone communications in the debt 
collection industry, and (2) recommend regulatory and legislative 
proposals to reduce the annoyance, abuse, and harassment of consumers 
by debt collectors, including the frequency of electronic and telephone 
communications by debt collectors to consumers; and Williams (GA) (No. 
14) that commissions a report that identifies and analyzes racial 
disparities relating to debt collection practices and pro-vides 
administrative and legislative recommendations to address such 
disparities (by a yea-and-nay vote of 210 yeas to 202 nays, Roll No. 
138).                                          
  Pages H2284-88, H2292-93

[[Page D515]]

Rejected:
Waters en bloc amendment No. 2 consisting of the following amendments 
printed in part B of H. Rept. 117-29: Burgess (No. 4) that sought to 
have the Treasury Secretary shall certify that this legislation will 
not limit the availability of debt products or increase their cost for 
Americans without a credit history, Americans with poor credit history, 
or Americans from lower socio-economic backgrounds; and Luetkemeyer 
(No. 8) that sought to direct the GAO to study and report to Congress 
within 1-year about how restricting debt collection will impact low- to 
moderate-income and minority borrowers with the bill becoming effective 
upon date of the report's release (by a yea-and-nay vote of 208 yeas to 
214 nays, Roll No. 139); and                      
  Pages H2288-92, H2293
  Wagner amendment (No. 9 printed in part B of H. Rept. 117-29) that 
sought to replace the underlying bill with targeted approaches to 
improve the debt collection and credit reporting framework which will 
ensure the financial system remains safe and sound while protecting and 
introducing options for consumers (by a yea-and-nay vote of 199 yeas to 
224 nays, Roll No. 140).                       
Pages H2290-92, H2293-94
  H. Res. 380, the rule providing for consideration of the bills (H.R. 
2547) and (H.R. 1065) was agreed to yesterday, May 12th.
Suspension-Proceedings Resumed: The House agreed to suspend the rules 
and pass the following measure. Consideration began Tuesday, May 11th.
Behavioral Intervention Guidelines Act of 2021: H.R. 2877, to amend the 
Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services to develop best practices for the establishment and use of 
behavioral intervention teams at schools, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote 
of 323 yeas to 93 nays with two answering ``present'', Roll No. 142. 
                                                         Pages H2295-96
Senate Referral: S. 1585 was held at the desk.               
  Page H2296
Senate Message: Message received from the Senate by the Clerk and 
subsequently presented to the House today appears on page S2296.
Quorum Calls--Votes: Five yea-and-nay votes developed during the 
proceedings of today and appear on pages H2292-93, H2293, H2293-94, 
H2294-95, and H2295-96.
Adjournment: The House met at 12 noon and adjourned at 7:30 p.m.