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[Page H8830]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRACED ACT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Budd) for 5 minutes.
Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an issue that has
afflicted nearly every American, including me, and it is the influx of
annoying and deceptive robocalls. These seemingly endless automated
calls disrupt every part of our daily lives, constitute a serious form
of harassment, and expose millions of Americans to dangerous financial
scams.
A prime example of the insidious nature of these calls occurred last
year in New York when scammers pretended to be from the Chinese
consulate and demanded money from people with what they considered to
be Chinese-sounding last names. As a result, 21 Chinese immigrants lost
a total of $2.5 million.
In another instance, scammers attempted to phish personal information
by calling people and threatening them with fines unless they signed up
for health insurance.
These incidences are financially devastating and are happening to far
too many people across our country. If there is one thing Republicans
and Democrats should be able to agree on is that Congress can no longer
sit back and ignore this problem. Our efforts must be focused on adding
teeth to the Federal Government's ability to detect and punish
individuals and organizations that abuse automated dialing technology.
With that in mind, I am proud to be a cosponsor of the TRACED Act,
introduced by my friend, David Kustoff. This legislation expands the
penalties and the timeframes under which the Federal Communications
Commission can identify robocallers and pursue civil action. This is
entirely bipartisan, and it passed the Senate, last May, 97-1.
Under the TRACED Act, the FCC will be able to impose fines of up to
$10,000 for each individual scam call. Currently, telemarketing
scammers face a maximum fine of only $1,500. I am confident that
increasing the maximum penalty up to $10,000 will deter many scammers
by making the cost of getting caught simply too expensive.
To make these harsher penalties the norm and not the exception, the
FCC needs to be given more time to find the perpetrators of illegal
robocalls. If the TRACED Act becomes law, the period in which the
source of a robocall can be investigated and found liable will be
tripled from 1 year to 3 years.
This important provision will work in lockstep with the increased
fines. The FCC has told Congress that extending the statute of
limitations in this way would improve the Commission's enforcement
efforts.
During my time in office, I have heard frustration from countless
constituents on this issue. Robocalls frequently interrupt our daily
lives, ringing our phones during important work-hours, and distracting
us from time spent at home with our families.
The TRACED Act is an important bipartisan bill that is supported by
attorneys general in all 50 States, along with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.
As scammers adjust the way they perpetrate fraud on the American
people, it seems like common sense that our laws should be updated to
fight back. No matter which side of the aisle we find ourselves on, we
should all be able to agree that it is time for these illegal robocalls
to be stopped once and for all.
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