To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for an exclusion from Red Flag Guidelines for certain businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3763) to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for an exclusion from Red Flag Guidelines for certain businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

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

First, I want to thank Representatives Michael Simpson from Idaho,

Paul Broun from Georgia, particularly Chris Lee from New York, as well as Dan Maffei from New York for helping me draft this bipartisan bill to help protect small businesses from overreaching Federal regulations during these tough economic times. In addition, I would like to thank Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC, for delaying enforcement of the Red Flag Guidelines until Congress passes this commonsense fix.

American small businesses are struggling. They are often forced to comply with burdensome regulations that significantly increase their expenses. I am committed to helping small businesses, because the key to our economic recovery is tied to their ability to thrive. Today, my bill will clarify the intention of past legislation so that it isn't blindly enforced against America's small businesses.

The Federal Trade Commission went too far and went beyond the intent of Congress by considering non-financial, service-related industries to be ``creditors'' under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. Its ruling would force thousands of small businesses to comply with burdensome, expensive regulations by forcing them to develop and implement an identity theft program.

My commonsense bill would exempt health care practices, law and accounting firms from the FTC's Red Flag Guidelines. In addition, it would create a system where the FTC has some flexibility to waive implementation of the regulations for other industries.

During these tough economic times, the Federal Government should not be placing burdensome regulations on small businesses. Small businesses are the backbone of New Jersey's economy, and they shouldn't be included under a random definition interpreted by a Federal bureaucracy. Failure to pass this bill today will hurt America and the hardworking, innovative entrepreneurs that manage and operate small businesses across this great country.

Again, I applaud the bipartisan way we crafted this legislation and urge the rest of my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill.

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

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Before I close, I would like to reiterate the importance of this bill. Many of America's economic problems are not the fault of small businesses, but they have borne the brunt of the economic downturn. My legislation, Mr. Lee's legislation, Mr. Broun's legislation, Mr. Simpson's and Mr. Maffei's, a bipartisan piece of legislation, will prevent one more layer of Federal regulations that would add another cost on the backs of small businesses across America.

Again, I urge all Members of Congress to support this bill. I thank Mr. Broun for his comments about the bipartisan nature of this bill. This is my and Mr. Lee's second bill together. I hope it's the second of many to try to serve the process of this House and to serve the people of our great country.

I yield back the remainder of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support to H.R. 3763, to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for an exclusion from Red Flag Guidelines for certain businesses. This bill is a bipartisan, common-sense approach to protecting our nation's small businesses from needless, burdensome government regulation. This legislation would exempt certain businesses, including health providers, from complying with the Red Flags Rule, which requires financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement a written identity theft program.

The bill recognizes that many of our nation's small businesses, particularly health providers, are not financial institutions and therefore do not present the same level of risk as financial institutions in cases of identity theft. In fact, many of these medical and dental offices were considered creditors under the rule simply because of the fact that they are willing to work with patients on developing flexible payment plans for those patients that can't afford to pay at the time of service. Thus, this rule actually appeared to discourage efforts to improve access to care for people who can't afford to pay, which runs contrary to all of Congress's efforts, on both sides of the aisle, to improve our health system.

When Congress expressed those concerns to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), they delayed the implementation of the rule twice, in April and again in August, as they worked with providers and other small businesses in an effort to minimize the burdens of compliance and address their concerns with the program. I would like to recognize and thank the FTC for their efforts. However, as this bill demonstrates, Congress believes that entities such as health providers, accountants and others were never meant to be included in the definition of creditor. This legislation is an appropriate next step to better defining who is a creditor and protecting our small businesses from needless costs and regulations.

I would like to thank Chairman Frank and Ranking Member Bacchus for working with us to craft a balanced bill to address all parties' concerns. In addition, I would like to thank Congressman Adler and Congressman Broun--I have greatly enjoyed working with you on this legislation. In addition, 1 would like to thank tile FTC for their willingness to work with us to address the concerns of medical providers and small businesses alike. They have been a true partner in this process, and I would like to recognize their efforts to address our concerns with this rule.

Mr. Speaker, during these difficult economic times, it is more important than ever that government push forward legislation to promote small businesses in America. In addition, we should be working with America's dentists and doctors to promote policies that improve access to care instead of burdening them with unnecessary rules and compliance measures. This legislation does exactly that.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3763, which will exempt small businesses from cumbersome government regulations regarding identity theft, and I appreciate the leadership of my friend from New Jersey.

There is no question that identity theft is a serious problem in this country. Millions of Americans every year have their credit affected by identity thieves, prompting previous Congresses to enact measures to increase awareness and education about the issue. These actions have played a significant role in decreasing the number of Americans impacted by identity theft each and every year. Additionally, a policy change enacted in 2003 required large financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement identity theft programs to increase consumer protections.

Unfortunately, however, the Federal Trade Commission, the government body responsible for enforcing these guidelines, has gone too far in defining the intent of the law and has chosen to apply the guidelines to all businesses, large and small. While these reporting requirements are no doubt necessary for large businesses and corporations with thousands of customers, FTC has issued rules that it will soon begin to impose, forcing the same regulation requirements for small businesses as well.

Small businesses know their customers, and they have a more personal relationship with those they do business with. If not addressed by this Congress, small businesses will soon be mandated to follow these excessive requirements that will place an undue burden on them while not providing any real increase to consumer protections.

Specifically, the bill before us today will exempt accounting, legal and the health care practices with 20 or fewer employees from the reporting requirement. Importantly, it also provides FTC with the option of excluding other small businesses that know all its customers individually and perform services near where its customers live. By passing this fix today, Congress can provide the FTC a clear definition of how Congress intended the policy to be enacted and protect small businesses and their customers from unnecessary government intervention.

As a cosponsor of this important legislation, I urge its immediate adoption.

I reserve the balance of my time.

With that, I would like to yield 3 minutes to my good friend from Georgia (Mr. Broun).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, so I will close by encouraging my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this much-needed legislation that will ensure that small businesses are not encumbered with more burdensome Federal regulation and ensure that we can get this economy back and moving forward.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Chris Lee from New York, for yielding me some time.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to come before you today to speak in favor of this bipartisan, commonsense bill which will help so many of our small businesses in our country. In my opinion, the manner in which this legislation was crafted, with input from both sides of the aisle, with the FTC and with the various sectors that would be adversely affected if we had not acted, is the model for how this House can work to actually solve the problems facing our country.

I wish very ardently that we could get together, Republicans and Democrats alike, and find some commonsense solutions to the health care financing in this country the same way that my friend, Mr. Adler, and the rest of the Democratic colleagues and those of us on our side came together on this. And I think that's the way that this House ought to operate.

I congratulate Mr. Adler for what he has done and other colleagues on both sides for bringing forth this commonsense legislation. I would personally like to thank my colleagues, Mr. Adler and Dr. Simpson, for their tireless efforts as we worked to put this very effective, commonsense legislation together. I also want to thank the committee staff that helped in this process.

This legislation is a very specific exemption without which it would cost so many small businesses thousands of dollars to unnecessarily implement. But it also allows the FTC the ability to exempt other businesses that aren't one of the three industries outlined in this bill. And that just makes sense, also.

When enacted, H.R. 3763 will truly reflect the original intent of the FACT Act and codify an exemption for health care providers, accounting firms and law firms that were never meant to be wrapped in this overarching Red Flag legislation.

So, again, I would like to thank Mr. Adler, Mr. Lee and Dr. Simpson and each and every person who helped bring this legislation to fruition. This is the way we ought to operate. And I think it is just a great day for this Congress as we, as Democrats and Republicans, came together on this commonsense legislation.

Madam Speaker, due to an illness in my immediate family, I was unable to cast votes October 20 thru 23, 2009. If I had been present I would have cast the following votes:

Rollcall 790--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 3763: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 791--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 3319: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 792--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree to H. Res. 558: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 793--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree to S. 1793: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 794--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree to H. Res. 811: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 795--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree to H. Res. 837: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 796--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree to H. Res. 660: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 797--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree to S. Con. Res 43: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 798--H. Res. 846: On ordering the previous question Agreed to: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 799--H. Res. 846: Providing for consideration of H.R. 3585: On agreeing to the resolution: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 800--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree to H. Res. 797: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 801--On Broun Amendment to H.R. 3585: ``No.''

Rollcall 802--On Kaptur Amendment to H.R. 3585: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 803--On Klein Amendment to H.R. 3585: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 804--On Titus-Teague-Cohen Amendment to H.R. 3585: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 805--On Heinrich Amendment to H.R. 3585: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 806--On Himes Amendment to H.R. 3585: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 807--On Passage of H.R. 3585: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 808--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree to H. Res. 175: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 809--H. Res. 853: On ordering the previous question: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 810--H. Res. 853: Providing Consideration for H.R. 3619: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 811--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree to H. Res. 836: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 812--On Kratovil Amendment to H.R. 3619: ``Yes.''

Rollcall 813--On Passage of H.R. 3619: ``Yes.''