Senior Security Act of 2019

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support, as well, of H.R. 1876, the Senior Security Act, and I want to thank my friends and colleagues, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hollingsworth), for their collaboration and work on this important bipartisan legislation, all focused on protecting our seniors.

Madam Speaker, America's capital markets are open. They are innovative, and they are essential for our families. That is how we live the American Dream. We can grow a nest egg that helps us for our retirement, helps put our kids or grandkids through college, or helps buy a home.

But as Americans age, they become more critical to the success of those open, transparent, and vibrant capital markets because those Americans over 50, Madam Speaker, roughly, have 77 percent of the financial assets in our country.

So when bad actors violate our laws and regulations, commit fraud, or exploit our senior Americans or their families, the integrity of those transparent and open markets and the opportunity of that American Dream are threatened.

To that end, protecting senior investors and preventing such behavior within our financial system is a shared goal. H.R. 1876 protects senior investors and will help the SEC reduce increasing instances of financial exploitation. It will create an interdivisional task force at the SEC to examine and identify challenges facing senior investors.

I have to say, Madam Speaker, over two decades of working in the investment world and working with the SEC and working with FINRA, the regulatory body for broker-dealers and investment advisers, their efforts of sweep exams and the education of the responsibilities of investment advisers are critical.

This will give them more tools to identify what the gaps are today.

I would add, in my career, that gap extends way beyond financial advisers to CPAs, lawyers, people in a position of trust that advise and guide over Americans.

It is shocking for us to report that $36 billion each year are lost to financial scams in this country and that one out of five seniors have reported being victims of exploitation.

Many States are taking action on their own. According to the National Conference of State Legislators: ``The number of bills introduced by State legislators to combat elder financial exploitation increased by over 57 percent in 3 years.''

So this bipartisan bill is a very important step in generating awareness at the Federal level of the need to strengthen protections for our senior investors.

Madam Speaker, protecting seniors and ensuring the integrity of our capital markets are things that I believe we all stand behind on this House floor. It is our duty to protect our constituents, particularly the most vulnerable, and that is why I urge my colleagues to support

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the work of the sponsor, Mr. Gottheimer, and his important personal testimony about his family and the importance of this bill.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hollingsworth), the minority sponsor of this bill and my good friend.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Indiana's comments. He has been an excellent author.

Again, Madam Speaker, you hear the testimony from both sides of the aisle, from constituents in both these districts, and the importance of this.

Madam Speaker, on behalf of my colleagues, we urge adoption of H.R. 1876, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1876) to create an interdivisional taskforce at the Securities and Exchange Commission for senior investors.

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

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

Madam Speaker, I am proud to support H.R. 1876, the Senior Security Act of 2019, a bipartisan bill introduced by Congressman Gottheimer and Congressman Hollingsworth.

The financial exploitations of senior citizens is a major problem today, and with the aging of the baby boomer generation, it will only get worse in the coming years.

By 2030, one in five persons in the U.S. is projected to be 65 or older. That would equal approximately 75 million people who are senior citizens.

It is also estimated that nearly one in five Americans over the age of 65 have been a victim of financial exploitation. This can take many forms, including being steered towards inappropriate investment, paying unreasonably high fees for financial services, or outright fraud.

Senior citizens are often targeted because they are more likely to suffer from problems of memory and judgment, making them vulnerable to fraud. Exacerbating the issue is that the overwhelming majority of incidents of elder financial exploitation go unreported to authorities.

The Senior Security Act would help combat elder financial abuse by creating a task force in the SEC to identify the challenges that senior investors encounter and areas in which senior investors would benefit from changes to SEC regulations.

The bill also requires that the GAO conduct a study on the financial exploitation of senior citizens. The GAO study would give us an important comprehensive look at this issue, including a breakdown of the economic costs of financial exploitation of senior citizens, answers to how often this happens, why such abuses often go unreported, and factors that contribute to an increased risk of exploitation.

Americans work hard over their lifetime in order to save for retirement and be financially safe and secure when they get older. Unscrupulous people and companies would take advantage of these senior citizens and rob them of their hard-earned money. Those people and companies should not be able to get away with such egregious behavior.

This bill would allow us to more effectively combat this growing problem. For that reason, I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hollingsworth) for bringing this bipartisan initiative forward. I urge all Members to vote ``yes.''

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer), the coauthor of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time.

Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate, again, Mr. Gottheimer and Mr. Hollingsworth for having brought this bill to the floor. I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this important piece of legislation to comprehensively examine and strengthen the protections against financial exploitation of our senior citizens.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for allowing me to speak on behalf of this bipartisan legislation. I also want to thank my good friend, Congressman Trey Hollingsworth, for being a great partner on this important legislation.

Since I took office, I have been committed to helping seniors save their hard-earned money for retirement, to helping them cut their taxes and afford their prescription drugs, and to protecting Social Security and Medicare so that, at the end of the day, they can afford to stay in New Jersey and enjoy their lives with their kids and their grandkids.

Unfortunately, there are millions of seniors across the country who have been the victims of financial scams and abuses that have cheated them out of their rightful retirement and are now putting that all at risk. Here are a few disturbing facts.

According to a report from the Senate Special Committee on Aging, older Americans lose approximately $3 billion each year to financial scams and abuse.

Scammers claim to be a child or a grandchild on the phone. Thousands pose as IRS agents, others as tech support people and representatives; and then, in the end, they are just going after personal data and bank information.

A separate survey from the Investor Protection Trust found that approximately 7 million Americans have reported being victims of exploitation. They scare and intimidate seniors, and many seniors don't even report it. Only 1 in every 24 cases of elder exploitation actually gets reported.

My mom was even a victim of one of these scammers.

It is appalling. It is offensive. It is unacceptable. Thankfully, we are here today to do something about it.

Today, the House of Representatives is considering our bipartisan legislation, the Senior Security Act, to help

protect vulnerable seniors from predatory scams and financial abuse.

The bipartisan Senior Security Act will help stop financial predators from scamming seniors out of their savings by finding ways to strengthen protections and safeguards for seniors and by creating a senior investor task force at the Securities and Exchange Commission to focus on how seniors are being targeted by fraudsters and to help stop those who seek to take financial advantage of our seniors.

New Jersey's seniors have given us so much. We should always have their backs and help protect them from those who would seek to do them harm and take advantage of them.

Madam Speaker, again, I would like to thank my colleague, Mr. Hollingsworth, for his commitment to protecting seniors, and I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense, bipartisan legislation.

Madam Speaker, I, too, rise in support of this legislation.

This is not just a Main Street issue. It is an Elm Street issue; it is a Maple Street issue; it is a Broad Street issue. This is an issue that affects our friends; it affects our neighbors; it affects our veterans; it affects our parents and our grandparents. This is something that has gone on far too long.

We have all seen the startling statistics. Over 24,000 cases were reported to the Treasury Department last year alone, more than double just 5 years ago.

We have seen the statistics about how over $3 billion a year are lost by our senior citizens to scammers and fraudsters.

We have all seen the statistics showing how more than 10,000 baby boomers are retiring each and every year, so this problem will only grow into the future.

I applaud Representative Gottheimer for reaching across the aisle and working on how we stop this problem, how we slow the growth of this problem by setting up a task force at the SEC to specifically focus on how our senior citizens are being targeted, how we can lessen their vulnerabilities.

This is an issue that I am extremely passionate about, not only because of the statistics that are startling and eye-opening, but also because of the Hoosiers who walk through our offices every single day being the victims of these crimes.

We had one a couple of weeks ago who had already wired half of her life savings as a part of a scheme to get a Nigerian prince into the country. We had somebody last year who had wired over $8,000 because they believed that their son had been imprisoned in Mexico, wrongfully, and the money was needed to get him out of prison.

They try all sorts of schemes. They try all sorts of ruses. Well, it is time that we come together and try to stop them.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the work of Representative Gottheimer reaching across the aisle and developing legislation on how we find the best practices to ensure that our senior citizens, our veterans, our friends, our neighbors, our parents, and our grandparents are protected in this very important time.

Madam Speaker, I was absent April 29, 2019 through May 2, 2019. If I were present, I would have voted on the following: Roll no. 168--H.R. 91--On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill: YEA; Roll no. 169--JOURNAL--On Approving the Journal: YEA; Roll no. 170-- H.R. 1876--On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill: YEA; Roll no. 171--H. Res. 328--On motion to suspend the rules and pass the resolution: YEA; Roll no. 172--H. Res. 329--On ordering the previous question: YEA; Roll no. 173--H. Res. 329--On agreeing to the resolution: YEA; Roll no. 174--H. Res. 304--On motion to table the measure: YEA; Roll no. 175--H.R. 9--On Agreeing to the Espaillat Amendment: YEA; Roll no. 176--H.R. 9--On Agreeing to the Gosar Amendment No. 10: NAY; Roll no. 177--H.R. 9--On Agreeing to the Gosar Amendment No. 11: NAY; Roll no. 178--H.R. 9--On Agreeing to the Porter Amendment: YEA; Roll no. 179--H.R. 9--On Agreeing to the Fletcher Amendment: YEA; Roll no. 180--H.R. 9--On Agreeing to the Schrier Amendment: YEA; Roll no. 181--H.R. 9--On Agreeing to the Van Drew Amendment: YEA; Roll no. 182--H.R. 9--On Agreeing to the Engel Amendment: YEA; Roll no. 183--H.R. 9--On Motion to Recommit with Instructions: NAY; Roll no. 184--H.R. 9--On Passage: YEA.