May 23, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 87 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S3073-S3075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 S. 151

  Mr. WICKER. Madam President, in a few moments, the Senate will vote 
on the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence 
Act. The shorthand name for that is the TRACED Act. I rise in strong 
and optimistic support of this legislation at this time. I thank the 
leadership on both sides of the aisle for working to bring this bill to 
a vote.
  Last month, the people of my State of Mississippi received over 50 
million robocalls. That is just in the State of Mississippi, with about 
3 million citizens. That is more than 17 robocalls for every man, 
woman, or child in my State--50 million. Imagine what it is around the 
country. It is billions and billions.
  Some robocalls are legitimate. When we get a reminder from a doctor's 
office that our appointment is coming soon or when a school activity is 
canceled, those are welcome. But many are not. Most are not.
  Billions and billions of robocalls are scams targeting the most 
vulnerable members of our society. These abusive robocalls have plagued 
Americans for years. Studies show that in my part of the country, the 
Southeastern United States, they are particularly abusive and 
pervasive, costing consumers billions of dollars each year and costing 
our economy billions of dollars each year.
  Many of these illegal robocalls use what is referred to as neighbor 
spoofing, where robocallers somehow manage to use a local number and a 
local area code in the hope that recipients will be more likely to pick 
up the phone. The result is many Americans don't answer those phone 
calls. They just let it ring and see if there is a message. But 
Americans also miss important calls because of scammers and because 
this has been hijacked by the extraordinary networks used by these 
scammers and illegal violators of the law.
  The TRACED Act will help. It goes after abusive and illegal 
robocallers by giving consumers, regulators, and law enforcement tools 
to fight the people taking advantage of the system. The bill will help 
the Federal Communications Commission, or the FCC, to crack down on 
violators, require phone companies to authenticate calls, and require 
the FCC to consider when and how to make call-blocking services 
available to customers.
  Perhaps the most important part of the TRACED Act is that law 
enforcement will now join the battle. Under the authority of the U.S. 
Attorney General, the bill will get law enforcement fully engaged in 
the fight to prevent and prosecute robocall violations. The American 
people are ready for this and are demanding this. We can give it to 
them in just a few moments when we vote on final passage.
  The bill will task the Attorney General with providing Congress with 
the next steps we need to take to stay ahead of the pestilence of 
illegal robocalls.
  I thank the bipartisan leadership in the Commerce Committee for 
moving this bill forward and the authors, Senator Thune and Senator 
Markey, for their leadership on this important issue. I thank my 
ranking member, the Senator from Washington, Ms. Cantwell, for her help 
in getting this important piece of legislation approved by a voice vote 
out of the Commerce Committee. Also, there is a special thank-you to 
Senator Schatz and Senator Moran for their amendment to the TRACED Act, 
which improves the FCC's reporting on robocalls and generally makes the 
bill better.
  I predict an overwhelming majority vote for this piece of legislation 
when it comes up for a vote in just a few moments. My appreciation goes 
to all of those who have participated. My optimism is that this will 
soon move to passage in the House of Representatives also.
  Thank you.
  I see my distinguished colleague from Massachusetts, the sponsor of 
this legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Madam President, I rise in support of the TRACED Act, a 
piece of legislation that will help all Americans deal with the 
epidemic of robocalls, which afflicts them and their families every 
single day of the year.
  I thank Chairman Wicker for all of his assistance in moving this 
legislation expeditiously through the legislative process.
  I thank my partner, Senator Thune from South Dakota. He and I have 
worked very hard to reach this moment where Democrats and Republicans 
can come together on an issue, which we all agree is something that we 
have to address in a very serious way.
  So this question of robocalls and their role in American society, 
well, it is a daily deluge of calls that Americans experience. It is 
more than a nuisance in 2019. It is a consumer protection crisis.
  Americans across the country face an epidemic of robocalls bombarding 
landlines and mobile phones. While our phones were once a reliable 
means of communication, they have been turned against us and are now 
mechanisms for scammers and fraudsters who wish to do us harm. The 
numbers are staggering.
  In 2018, consumers received an estimated 48 billion robocalls--18 
billion more than in 2017. That is 131 million robocalls per day--more 
than 5 million calls an hour, more than 1,000 calls per second in the 
United States, and nearly 500 million robocalls to Massachusetts 
residents alone.
  The reality is that we no longer have confidence in our phones. What 
was once a trusted means of communication, our phone has become a tool 
for fraud, scams, harassment, and an avenue by which individuals with 
bad intent can access our homes, our purses, or our pockets at any 
time.
  Caller ID is not trusted. Important calls go unanswered. Innocent 
Americans are defrauded. Our seniors, in particular, are targeted. 
Robocalls are a menace. But today, the U.S. Senate is saying loud and 
clear that robocall relief is in sight.
  I am proud to partner with Senator John Thune from South Dakota on 
the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, 
or TRACED Act. Our legislation cracks down on scammers that now account 
for nearly one-half of all of the robocalls in our country. It is an 
unbelievable number. One-half of all of the robocalls are now being 
delivered by scammers trying to take advantage of innocent Americans.
  Years ago, scammers needed expensive, sophisticated equipment to 
robocall and robotext consumers en masse. Today, they just need a

[[Page S3074]]

smartphone to target thousands of phones an hour at literally very 
little expense. So something has changed, and we know it has changed, 
and this is our opportunity here today to do something about it.
  These new technologies allow illegal robocallers to conduct fraud 
anonymously, depriving both Federal regulators and consumers the 
ability to identify and punish the culprit. By passing this legislation 
today, we are sending a clear message to these fraudulent robocallers: 
Your days are numbered.
  Stopping robocalls requires a simple formula, which we have included 
in the TRACED Act--authentication, No. 1; blocking, No. 2; and tougher 
enforcement, No. 3.
  First, this bill requires telephone carriers to adopt call 
authentication technologies so that they can verify that incoming calls 
are legitimate or authentic before they reach consumers' phones. This 
must be mandatory for every single phone carrier in the United States.
  Second, the Federal Communications Commission must require callers to 
block unverified calls--fake calls--something the Commission has yet to 
do.
  Third, we need to increase from 1 year to 3 years the time for the 
Federal Communications Commission to pursue penalties for robocallers 
that intentionally violate the rules. That is the recipe for success, 
and that is what the TRACED Act does.
  This bill we will vote on today has enormous support across the 
country: 54 State and Territory attorneys general, all of the 
Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission and at the 
Federal Trade Commission, major industry associations, and leading 
consumer groups endorse the legislation and agree that the TRACED Act 
is an essential weapon in combating the rise of illegal, fraudulent 
robocalls.
  Senator Thune and I are joined by over 80 of our colleagues in 
support of this bill. This is not a liberal or a conservative issue; it 
is an ``everyone'' issue. It affects the elderly, the young, the small 
business owner, and the student. Our grandparents, our neighbors, our 
teachers, and our coworkers--today, no one is spared from this consumer 
protection pandemic.
  Senator Thune and I have worked together, but it 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, so many more. These groups joined the 
chorus of countless Americans who have raised their voices and called 
on Congress to pass this bipartisan, commonsense legislation, and we 
thank each and every one of them.
  There are no blue robocalls. There are no red robocalls. All there 
are are robocalls attacking every home in our country and every person 
walking around with a wireless device on their person. This is 
something that we finally have a chance today to do something about--to 
pass meaningful legislation that will begin this process of curtailing 
this scourge of robocalls that is an abuse of every single American 
every single day of the year.
  We thank everyone for all of their great work on this issue. Again, I 
thank my great partner, John Thune, and his staff for their partnership 
on this legislation. I thank my staff--Joey Wender, who is sitting out 
here on the floor; Daniel Greene; and, as well, Bennett Butler, who is 
sitting right behind me. They worked on a bipartisan basis with 
Republican staffers to craft this very important piece of legislation. 
Again, I thank Senator Thune and I thank Senator Wicker for ensuring 
that America now has a chance to see that this body is going to work to 
begin an end to this epidemic.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.
  Mr. THUNE. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call 
be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, pretty much every American has had to 
deal with illegal robocalls. How many times have you answered the phone 
only to discover it is an automated message saying that you have won a 
contest that you never entered or asking you to provide personal 
information like your bank account or Social Security number?
  Illegal robocalls, I think we can all agree, are a major nuisance, 
and too often they are not just a nuisance. Scammers use these calls to 
successfully prey on vulnerable populations like elderly Americans who 
are sometimes less technologically savvy. Scammers target the kind of 
personal information that can be used to steal your money and your 
identity, and when scammers are successful, the consequences for their 
victims can be devastating.
  Well, there are laws and fines in place right now to prevent scam 
artists from preying on Americans through the telephone. These measures 
have been insufficient. In many cases, 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 I introduced the legislation before us today, the 
Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, or 
the TRACED Act, along 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 from 1 year to 3 
years, and in years 2 and 3, increases the financial penalty for those 
individuals making robocalls from zero dollars to $10,000 per call to 
make it more difficult for robocallers just to figure fines into the 
cost of doing business.
  It also requires telephone service providers to adopt new call 
verification technologies that would help prevent illegal robocalls 
from reaching consumers in the first place. And, 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 illegal 
robocalling.
  Criminal prosecution of illegal robocalling can be challenging. 
Scammers are frequently based abroad and can quickly shut down shop 
before authorities have a chance to get to them, but we need to find 
ways to hold scammers criminally accountable. When scammers are 
successful, they can destroy people's lives, and they should face 
criminal prosecution for the damage they do.
  I am very pleased that the TRACED Act has attracted a tremendous 
amount of support from Members of both parties. In fact, 84 Senators 
have signed on as cosponsors of this bill. I am especially grateful to 
Senator Markey for partnering with me on this legislation. I appreciate 
Chairman Wicker and Ranking Member Cantwell for prioritizing this bill 
as they have assumed the reins at the Commerce Committee.
  I am also very pleased that this bill has attracted tremendous 
support from State governments and industry and consumer groups. All 50 
State attorneys general support this bill, and it

[[Page S3075]]

has been embraced by the AARP, Verizon, AT&T, CTIA, USTelecom, NTCA, 
Consumer Reports, and a number of other organizations. It is also 
supported by all of the current Commissioners at the Federal Trade 
Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.
  I think we all know that the TRACED Act will not prevent all illegal 
robocalling. I think we can all agree it is a big step in the right 
direction. It will make life a lot more difficult for scam artists and 
help ensure that more scammers face punishment for their crimes. I am 
excited the full Senate is voting on this bill today, and I hope that 
the House will quickly take it up so that we can get this legislation 
to the President's desk.
  Before I close, I would be remiss if I didn't quickly thank several 
staff members whose tireless efforts helped get us here today. In my 
office, I recognize and thank Alex Sachtjen and Nick Rossi. I am 
thankful for their dedication and expertise. I thank Dan Ball and 
Crystal Tully, who serve on Chairman Wicker's team at the Commerce 
Committee, Daniel Greene on Senator Markey's staff, and John Branscome 
and Shawn Bone on Ranking Member Cantwell's staff. This truly was a 
team effort. I am glad that we have an opportunity to do something that 
in a very big bipartisan way will start putting steps forward that will 
help prevent something that has become a scourge in the lives of so 
many Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Madam President.
  Again, I want to thank the Senator from South Dakota for his great 
leadership on this legislation. I think it is a start. It is a 
revolution in the telecommunications industry that we are going to be 
voting on here today.
  I want to thank you so much for your great leadership.
  Once again, I thank Senator Wicker and Senator Cantwell for helping 
to bring this out here to let the American people know we are going to 
take action to stop this plague from affecting their families.
  Thank you so much.
  Mr. THUNE. I appreciate the comments from the Senator from 
Massachusetts and also his great work on this. It has been a team 
effort and a great partnership. He and I--although in many cases we 
represent different parts of the country, we all represent constituents 
who care deeply about this issue and want to see their Congress do 
something about it.
  I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member of the committee.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.

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