Lamar Smith

Mr. SMITH of Texas

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank my Judiciary Committee colleague Mr. Marino for his leadership on this law enforcement priority. The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program is the centerpiece of the federal government's assistance for state and local criminal justice initiatives. It was created in 2005 when two existing federal grant programs were combined. Byrne JAG is a streamlined block grant program that empowers states and localities to address specific law enforcement challenges. Byrne JAG funding is distributed by the Justice Department based on a formula that considers the jurisdictions' population and crime rates. Some of the money is kept at the state level but much of it is distributed to localities. Jurisdictions can tailor their spending based on their own communities' needs. These include prosecution and court programs, drug treatment programs and crime victims programs. In my district, Byrne JAG funds have been used by the City of Austin to hire additional 911-call operators, purchase protective gear for law enforcement officers and provide training on forensics technology. These are all important public safety initiatives that were prioritized by local leaders. Byrne JAG is currently authorized at $1.1 billion per year, although this authorization is set to expire at the end of September when the current fiscal year ends. In fiscal year 2012, Congress appropriated $470 million for the Byrne JAG program, although $100 million of this money was a one-time set aside for this year's presidential nomination conventions. H.R. 6062 reauthorizes the Byrne JAG program for five years at $800 million a year. H.R. 6062 enjoys bipartisan support and is widely supported by the law enforcement community. I thank my Judiciary Committee colleague, Mr. Marino, for his work on this issue and I urge my colleagues to support the bill. I would like to yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino), who is a member of the Judiciary Committee and the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6062 currently under consideration.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time as well.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6062) to reauthorize the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program through fiscal year 2017.

Mr. SMITH of Texas

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 4362 currently under consideration.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of H.R. 4362, the Stopping Tax Offenders and Prosecuting Identity Theft Act of 2012, with my good friend and colleague, the distinguished gentlewoman from Florida, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. This is a bipartisan bill that strengthens criminal penalties for tax return identity thieves. Tax fraud is a very real problem, and Congress should do all it can to protect citizens from this costly crime. Tax fraud through identity theft is a rapidly growing criminal enterprise in the United States. Criminals use stolen identities to steal income tax refunds from unsuspecting victims and from the Federal Government. With nothing more than stolen identity information--Social Security numbers and their corresponding names and birth dates--criminals have electronically filed thousands of false tax returns and have received hundreds of millions of dollars in wrongful refunds. The thieves deceive the Internal Revenue Service and file a return before the legitimate taxpayer files. The criminals then receive the refund, sometimes by check but often through a convenient but hard-to- trace prepaid debit card. The criminals then wait for the mail to deliver the cards and checks at abandoned addresses. According to reports in the media, postal workers have been harassed, robbed, and, in one case, murdered as they have made their rounds with their mail truck full of debit cards and master keys to mailboxes. Tax thieves victimize innocent taxpayers in a number of ways. These thieves will file fake returns under a false name or claim someone who is no longer living as a dependent on their own forms. Often, the fraud is not detected until an individual files a tax return that is rejected by the IRS because someone else has already falsely filed and claimed their return. The IRS has detected 940,000 fake returns for 2010 alone, from which identity thieves would have received $6.5 billion in refunds. And those are just the ones they caught early. It is estimated by the IRS that they missed an additional 1.5 million returns with possibly fraudulent refunds worth more than $5.2 billion. The number of these cases has increased by approximately 300 percent every year since 2008. H.R. 4362 is a bipartisan bill that strengthens criminal penalties for tax return identity thieves. It adds tax return fraud to the list of predicate offenses for aggravated identity theft and expands the definition of an ``identity theft victim'' to include businesses and charitable organizations. H.R. 4362 also improves coordination between the Justice Department and State and local law enforcement officials in order to better protect groups that are most vulnerable to tax fraud from becoming future victims. The changes to Federal law proposed by H.R. 4362 are important to keep pace with this ever-increasing crime. Tax identity theft costs American families and taxpayers millions of dollars each year. It also results in confusion and needless worry, as taxpayers must work to correct the ID problem created by the false filers. It is critical that we take further steps to reduce the number of people who are victimized by this crime. Again, I want to thank Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her great work on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 4362. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. SMITH of Texas

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

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time on this side and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Internet child pornography may be the fastest-growing crime in America, increasing by an average of 150 percent per year. Every day, online criminals prey on America's children with virtual anonymity, and according to recent estimates there are as many as 100,000 fugitive sex offenders in the U.S. Congress has taken important steps to combat child exploitation, including the passage of the Adam Walsh Act in 2006 and the PROTECT Our Children Act in 2008. But our work is not yet done. That is why Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz and I introduced H.R. 6063, the Child Protection Act of 2012, that provides law enforcement officials with important tools and additional resources to combat the growing threat of child pornography and exploitation. This bipartisan legislation increases penalties for child pornography offenses that involve young children and strengthens protections for child witnesses and victims. The bill allows a Federal court to issue a protective order if it determines that a child victim or witness is being harassed or intimidated and imposes criminal penalties for a violation of that protective order. The Child Protection Act ensures that paperwork does not stand in the way of the apprehension of dangerous criminals. This bill gives the U.S. marshals limited subpoena authority to locate and apprehend fugitive sex offenders. Unlike the other 300 Federal administrative subpoena powers, which are used at the beginning of a criminal investigation, a marshal's use of subpoena authority under this bill will occur only after, and only after, these actions occur: The fugitive is arrested pursuant to a judge-issued warrant, indicted for committing a sex offense, convicted by proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and sentenced in a court of law; The fugitive is required to register as a sex offender; The fugitive pleas or otherwise violates their registration requirements; and A State or Federal arrest warrant is issued for violation of the registration requirements. This narrow subpoena authority is critical to help take convicted sex offenders off the streets. H.R. 6063 also reauthorizes, for 5 years, the Internet Crimes Against Children task forces. The ICAC task forces were launched in 1998 and officially authorized by Congress in the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008. The ICAC Task Force Program is a national network of 61 coordinated task forces that represent over 3,000 Federal, State, and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies dedicated to child exploitation investigations. Since 1998, the ICAC task forces have reviewed more than 280,000 complaints of alleged child sexual abuse and arrested more than 30,000 individuals. The Child Protection Act increases the cap on grant funds for ICAC training programs and makes several clarifications to provisions enacted as a part of the PROTECT Our Children Act. Finally, the bill requests a report from the Justice Department on implementation of a national Internet crimes against children data system. Yesterday, Senator Blumenthal and Senator Cornyn introduced the companion bill in the Senate. This bipartisan, bicameral bill is supported by a number of outside organizations, which include the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Major City Chiefs of Police, Futures Without Violence, the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, the National District Attorneys Association, the National White Collar Crime Center, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Surviving Parents Coalition, the Rape Abuse Incest National Network, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, and the National Association to Protect Children. Once again, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her great work on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this important legislation to protect America's children. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 6063, the bill currently under consideration.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time as well.

Mr. SMITH of Texas

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member John Conyers, IP Subcommittee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, IP Subcommittee Ranking Member Mel Watt, and the other Members of the House from both sides of the aisle who joined as original cosponsors of this commonsense bill. The Foreign and Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act of 2012 focuses on one goal: to deter and punish criminals who target U.S. economic and security interests on behalf of foreign interests. In 1975, tangible assets, such as real estate and equipment, made up 83 percent of the market value of S&P 500 companies. Intangible assets, which include trade secrets, proprietary data, source code, business processes, and marketing plans, constituted only 17 percent of these companies' market value. By 2009, these percentages had nearly reversed. Tangible assets accounted for only 19 percent of S&P 500 companies' market value while their intangible assets had soared to 81 percent. In a dynamic and globally connected information economy, the protection of intangible assets is vital not only to the success of individual enterprises but also to the future of entire industries. A global study released last year by McAfee, the world's largest security technology company, and Science Applications International Corporation concluded that corporate trade secrets and other sensitive intellectual capital are the newest ``currency'' of cybercriminals. The study found the motivation for such crimes in the cyber underground is almost always financial. In recent years, cybercriminals have shifted from targeting the theft of personal information, such as credit cards and Social Security numbers, to the theft of corporate intellectual capital. Corporate intellectual capital is vulnerable, of great value to competitors and foreign governments, and its theft is not always discovered by victims. Our intelligence community warns that foreign interests place a high priority on acquiring sensitive U.S. economic information and technologies. Targets include information and communications technologies, business information, military technologies, and rapidly growing civilian and dual-use technologies, such as those that relate to clean energy, health care, and pharmaceuticals. We know that certain actors intentionally seek out U.S. information and trade secrets. The most recent report from the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive identified Chinese actors as ``the world's most active and persistent perpetrators of economic espionage.'' The report also described Russia's intelligence services as responsible for ``conducting a range of activities to collect economic information and technology from U.S. targets.'' Of seven Economic Espionage Act cases resolved in fiscal year 2010, six involved links to China. Five companies were accused of the theft of trade secrets earlier this year. Four are Chinese state-owned enterprises or subsidiaries. In the U.S., the EEA serves as the primary tool the Federal Government uses to protect secret, valuable commercial information from theft. The EEA addresses two types of trade secret theft. Section 1831 punishes the theft of a trade secret to benefit a foreign entity. Section 1832 punishes the commercial theft of trade secrets carried out for economic advantage whether or not the theft benefits a foreign entity. Since enacting the EEA in 1996, Congress has not adjusted its penalties to take into account the increasing importance of intellectual property to the economic and national security of the U.S. The bill increases the maximum penalties for an individual convicted of committing espionage on behalf of a foreign entity. Currently, the maximum penalty for someone convicted under section 1831 of the EEA is 15 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $500,000. This bill increases the maximum penalty to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $5 million. Earlier this year, the FBI estimated that U.S. companies had lost $13 billion to trade secret theft in just over 6 months. Over the past 6 years, losses to individual U.S. companies have ranged from $20 million to as much as $1 billion. Our intelligence community has recognized a ``significant and growing threat to our Nation's prosperity and security'' posed by criminals, both inside and outside our borders, who commit espionage. Congress should also recognize this increasing threat and enhance deterrence and more aggressively punish those criminals who knowingly target U.S. companies for espionage. So I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6029, which was unanimously reported by the Judiciary Committee this month. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 6029 currently under consideration.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the rules of the House entrust to the Judiciary Committee the responsibilities of revision and codification of the statutes of the United States. This power does not give our committee substantive legislative jurisdiction over all areas of law; it merely confers the authority to organize duly enacted laws into an efficient codification system. The nonpartisan Office of the Law Revision Counsel is responsible for properly codifying public laws into titles and sections of the United States Code. From time to time, that office provides the Judiciary Committee advice as to how to enact a more user-friendly and cohesive statutory system. This spring, Republican and Democratic committee staff worked cooperatively with the Office of the Law Revision Counsel to develop H.R. 1950. The bill creates a new title of positive law--title 54--to compile all of the laws that relate to the National Park System. Codification bills do not make any substantive changes to existing law. Before the Judiciary Committee marked up H.R. 1950, industries, government, and interested parties commented on the draft. Based on their comments, I offered a manager's amendment in committee to further ensure this bill makes no changes to substantive law. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1950) to enact title 54, United States Code, ``National Park System'', as positive law, as amended.

Mr. SMITH of Texas

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 3796, as amended, currently under consideration.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was enacted in 2006 to honor the victims of several violent crimes against children, including Adam Walsh, a 7-year-old boy who was abducted from a store where his mother was shopping in July 1981 and found murdered just 2 weeks later. This important legislation is primarily known for its efforts to create a national sex offender registry. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, or SORNA, created a more uniform system of sex offender registries throughout the country by providing minimum standards that each State must meet. In addition to SORNA, the Adam Walsh Act made the U.S. Marshals Service responsible for the apprehension of both Federal and State fugitive sex offenders, as well as for the investigation of sex offender registry violations. The Marshals Service apprehended over 11,000 fugitive sex offenders in 2010 alone. H.R. 3796, the Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act of 2012, introduced by Crime Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, reauthorizes the two key programs created by the Adam Walsh Act. It provides funding for the U.S. Marshals' sex offender apprehension activities and gives grants to States and other jurisdictions to implement the national sex offender registry requirements. These two programs are reauthorized for 5 years at amounts that reflect the fiscal year 2012 appropriation levels. The original Adam Walsh Act contained over 20 different programs and was scored at approximately $1.5 billion over 5 years. By contrast, H.R. 3796 is targeted, fiscally responsible legislation that only reauthorizes the act's most primary programs at an estimated cost of less than $300 million over the same period. I thank Mr. Sensenbrenner for his leadership on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 3796. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would first like to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren) for introducing this legislation. H.R. 3120 helps prevent student visa fraud by requiring that any college or university that admits foreign students on F visas must be accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the Department of Education. Accreditation of academic institutions ensures that foreign students in the United States on temporary visas receive the high-level education they deserve and expect as opposed to an education from a sham school only interested in the student's money. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a foreign national can get a student visa to study at a U.S. college or university. Those schools must be officially recognized, but that sometimes means that there's just a windshield check to see that the building actually exists. Foreign students were admitted to the US 1.5 million times on F visas during fiscal year 2010. We must ensure that the colleges or universities they attend are not simply visa mills that exist only to provide the students with a way to enter the United States. Examples of rampant student visa fraud can be found in many recent news reports. H.R. 3120 helps ensure a school's legitimacy for foreign students who want to come to the United States in order to receive an education. It also helps ensure the integrity of our immigration system by reducing the opportunities for visa fraud. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3120. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.