Supporting the goals and ideals of National Consumer Protection Week.

I thank my friend and colleague, Jim Matheson, for yielding time to me.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 94, a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Consumer Protection Week. I introduced this resolution with my good friend, Congresswoman Judy Biggert, a few weeks ago. And I want to thank Majority Leader Hoyer for bringing the resolution to the floor in such a timely manner.

Mr. Speaker, in addition I want to take a moment to take this opportunity to thank the leadership on Energy and Commerce for moving this resolution through their committee quickly after a thorough review by committee staff, especially Consuela Washington, Pete Goodloe, and Brian McCullough. I also want to thank legislative counsel, Brady Young, and Harry Savage for facilitating passage of this important resolution.

Congresswoman Judy Biggert and I have been collaborating for years on financial literacy, and together we strive to provide consumers with the information they need to make appropriate decisions.

As cofounders and cochairs of the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus, we will continue to reach out to the States, the local government, private sector, nonprofits and community-based organizations to improve financial literacy rates across the United States, which has become extremely important in light of the negative savings rate in the United States.

I am pleased that my staff and Zach Cikanek on Congresswoman Biggert's staff have jump-started our caucus so early this year, and I look forward to continuing our longstanding partnership. I encourage all of those Members of Congress watching us today to join the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus to help your constituents help protect themselves from fraud and identity theft.

To join, all you need to do is contact my office or the office of Congresswoman Biggert. For the past 8 years, local, State and Federal government agencies and national consumer advocacy organizations have worked together to provide as much protection as possible to consumers during what has been deemed National Consumer Protection Week.

They have all recognized the important role public and private organizations play in ensuring that the American consumer is protected from unfair practices. This week we here in Congress will finally join these organizations in supporting the goals and ideals of the ninth annual National Consumer Protection Week, which falls between February 4 and February 10 of this year.

I am pleased to inform my colleagues that this year's theme is ``Read up, reach out and be an informed consumer.'' This week will highlight consumer education efforts in the fight against fraud in communities across our Nation.

By gathering and sharing information, consumers and their friends and families can be more confident, savvy and safe in the marketplace. During this week, consumer protection partner organizations will provide practical and tactical tips so consumers can learn and teach others how to make well-informed purchase decisions, avoid scams, protect their personal information, and file a complaint.

Consumers can research and boost their marketplace IQ by accessing data at the National Consumer Protection Week section of the www.consumer.gov Web site. Some of the organizations that will participate in this week's activities include the Better Business Bureau, the Consumer Federation of America, the FDIC, and of course the Federal Trade Commission.

On Thursday of this week, February 8, 2007, the Federal Trade Commission, the FDIC and several other consumer-oriented government agencies will host a consumer protection fair for Capitol Hill staff as well as Members of Congress. The fair will be held in room 1302 Longworth beginning at 9 a.m. and running until noon.

Again, the fair will be held in room 1302 Longworth House Office Building, February 8, from 9 a.m. until noon.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that this fair, orchestrated by the FTC and Derick Rill, its congressional liaison, will provide the materials our staff needs to teach our constituents how to prevent themselves from becoming victims of fraud and identity theft and will help improve their overall financial literacy.

Again, I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this resolution that will benefit consumers across America.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 94) a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Consumer Protection Week, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution that supports the goals and ideals of National Consumer Protection Week. Starting yesterday, Sunday, February 4, through this Saturday, February 10, National Consumer Protection Week has the purpose of highlighting consumer protection and education efforts around the Nation.

This is a worthy goal that Congress should enthusiastically support. An informed consumer is a powerful consumer. Too often, the average citizen is unaware of the litany of scams being perpetrated at any given time.

Many criminals prey on consumers who have fallen on hard financial times, promising them quick fixes to magically solve all of their economic problems. These scams have real consequences for thousands of Americans, and the effects can be devastating to an individual or to a family.

However, if consumers are well informed and armed with knowledge, they can better navigate the marketplace and avoid these financial pitfalls. National Consumer Protection Week can help in this regard. Sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau, AARP, the Consumer Federation of America, and many other government and nonprofit organizations, community leaders can access a Web site with an outreach tool kit to help them educate their citizens and spread the word.

Now, this Web site is at www.consumer.gov/ncpw. Let me repeat that: www.consumer.gov/ncpw, which is the acronym for National Consumer Protection Week. On this Web site, consumers can access information about how to protect themselves from fraud.

It also gives tips consumers can use to recognize a ripoff when they see one. Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not quickly mention that as a new member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and specifically on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, it is my hope that this 110th Congress will be the National Consumer Protection Congress.

This week in February is National Consumer Protection Week, but we can do so much more in the coming months ahead. By working with Subcommittee Chairman Rush and Ranking Member Stearns, as well as Energy and Commerce Chairman Dingell and Ranking Member Barton, I believe that we can instigate many reforms to empower consumers and improve the lives of everyday Americans.

Our committee is prepared to aggressively examine a whole host of basic consumer protection and pocketbook issues. I look forward to working with my Republican friends in the 110th Congress on this effort.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to now yield 2 minutes to a fellow member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Towns from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to acknowledge the leadership of Mr. Hinojosa and Mrs. Biggert on this issue; thank them for their leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for House Resolution 94, a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Consumer Protection Week.

Now in its ninth year, this special week brings together a diverse array of public and private organizations in support of one common goal, ensuring that Americans have the knowledge and financial savvy they need to be responsible consumers and to protect themselves in the marketplace.

There have always been those who would prey on the unwary consumer, be it through misleading claims or fraudulent practices. And as more and more Americans begin conducting transactions on the Internet, or with the use of other rapidly changing technologies, we must actively educate ourselves against new and evolving threats.

Among the most serious risks today consumers face is identity theft. In Illinois alone, we had over 11,000 reports of identity theft in just 1 year. According to the FTC, Illinois ranks among the top 10 States where consumers are most likely to have their personal information compromised. And yet, by following just a few simple tips, consumers are better able to recognize frauds and can significantly reduce the likelihood that their private information will fall into the wrong hands.

In many cases, the wisest and safest consumers are those who simply, with the best understanding, make their choices. Whether it is paying for college, saving for retirement or shopping for a mortgage on a first home, many Americans just don't know where to look to learn about the scores of options that are available to them.

That is why, Mr. Speaker, in February 2005, I joined with my friend and distinguished colleague, Representative Hinojosa, to establish the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus. We began this caucus to ensure that Congress did its part, not just to protect consumers but to empower them. We wanted to make certain that Americans of all ages and all walks of life have access to the tools and the educational resources they need to ensure the economic security of their families.

Today, we have the opportunity to do just that. We can join the Federal Trade Commission, the United States Postal Service, the AARP, Better Business Bureaus of America, and hundreds of other consumer advocates across the country that have collaborated to make National Consumer Protection Week a success.

Together, we can raise the awareness, not just of pitfalls in the marketplace, but the wealth of information and options available to consumers. One such resource, as Representative Hinojosa said, is consumer.gov, a Federal Web site that provides one-stop shopping for information on everything from avoiding identity theft to finding savings at the gasoline pump.

I would like to also take this opportunity to thank my friend from Texas and cochair of the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus, Mr. Hinojosa, for working so hard on today's resolution, and his tireless effort on financial education issues.

In addition, my thanks go out to Chairman Dingell and Ranking Member Barton of the Energy and Commerce Committee for helping to bring this resolution to the floor in such a timely and bipartisan manner.

And finally, I would like to thank the distinguished gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) for managing our resolution here today.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to sponsor House Resolution 94, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Energy and Commerce is pleased to bring to the floor H. Res. 94, supporting the goals and ideals of National Consumer Protection Week. We commend Representatives Hinojosa and Biggert for authoring the resolution.

Under Rule X, the Committee on Energy and Commerce is the authorizing Committee for the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC, which administers over 40 Federal statutes under our purview, is the lead Federal consumer protection agency. The FTC also administers a handful of financial consumer protection laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. This has been and remains an effective model.

The Committee that I am honored to lead has a long and proud tradition of consumer protection. It has mandated and overseen major initiatives to rid the markets of unsafe, and in some cases deadly, children's toys and other products.

It has taken legislative action to establish the national Do Not Call List, a giant step forward in lessening annoying telemarketing calls to consumer homes. It also has responsibility for the CAN-SPAM law aimed at curbing the volume of junk e-mail polluting and slowing down Internet commerce.

It is the lead Committee on privacy. Two of our Members, Ranking Member Joe Barton and Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet Chairman Ed Markey, are co-founders of the Privacy Caucus. Together, we wrote the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that protects the most intimate details of American lives. We have begun bipartisan discussions with the Committee on Ways and Means for the design and operation of privacy and security protections for groundbreaking health information technology legislation that we hope to have enacted in this Congress. We authored the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that protect financial information.

Later this week, we will be reintroducing four major privacy bills-- legislation regarding spyware, pretexting, data security, and Social Security number protection--that were reported unanimously by the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the 109th Congress (and in the case of spyware, passed the House). We intend to resolve jurisdictional issues with other Committees where they exist. We will also continue to work with consumer groups, technology experts, and industry groups to enact protections that are the most effective possible for both consumers and businesses.

We work hard to live the goals of National Consumer Protection Week. All too often the marketplace takes on the Darwinian tone of ``survival of the fittest'' with John Q. Public trampled in the process. It is fitting that we reflect on our responsibility to ensure transparency and fair treatment in the marketplace for the people who elect us. We salute the FTC, the Better Business Bureau, and consumer groups for their hard work all year-round on behalf of the American consumer. The Committee on Energy and Commerce intends to continue to live up to its reputation for fair and balanced laws and vigorous oversight on consumer protection issues. In the words of the Beatitudes: ``Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for what is right for they shall be satisfied.''

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 94, recognizing National Consumer Protection Week. The Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over consumer protection and is a major component of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

This subcommittee, Mr. Speaker, has a history of being active and aggressive in the area to address threats to bringing sensible and meaningful changes to help consumers defend themselves against fraud and provide the Federal Trade Commission with the tools necessary for enforcement.

Some of the consumer protection measures we have passed out of the committee include the anti-spyware legislation offered by Mrs. Bono and Mr. Towns, data security legislation to require companies that maintain protection for consumers' sensitive personal information and notify them in the event of a breach; anti-pretexting legislation to prevent unauthorized access to personal phone records; anti-spam legislation to reduce unsolicited and often fraudulent e-mails; and a public law providing for greater authority for the Federal Trade Commission to pursue criminal activity originating in other countries.

Despite all of these improvements and new public laws and our commitment to pass these bills in this Congress, they were not enacted into law in the last Congress. There are unscrupulous people who will continue to try to perpetuate fraud.

Unfortunately, fraud is often not discovered until there are victims and we then become aware. If we want to see the biggest reduction in fraud, we will need to reduce the pool of potential victims. We can only do so with the cooperation of individuals. Consumers need to be educated and able to detect and prevent fraud.

The effects of fraud are often ruinous for individuals and detrimental to society, when we lose trust in our fellow citizens, because those pretending to offer their services are in reality only thieves. In a country as prosperous as the United States, our citizens are too often the target of scams and frauds originating from all over the world.

Mr. Speaker, I therefore urge support of H. Res. 94, because this resolution intends to raise citizens' awareness to the problems of fraud and calls on consumers to take every precaution to secure their personal information.

Mr. Speaker, I commend Representatives Hinojosa and Biggert for bringing this resolution to the floor in conjunction with National Consumer Protection Week.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to yield 6 minutes to the coauthor of this legislation, the gentlelady from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I yield back the balance of my time.