Lee Terry: “Unfortunately, I rise today in opposition to S. 3386, the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act. This bill would…”

“Unfortunately, I rise today in opposition to S. 3386, the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act. This bill would regulate e-commerce, specifically, negative option marketing and third-party billing. The Committee on Energy and Commerce has not held a single hearing or markup on this legislation or any legislation similar in concept. Furthermore, it has been less than 2 weeks since the majority first raised the issue with minority staff and informed us of their intentions to place this bill on the suspension calendar. We have not held a single stakeholders meeting regarding this legislation, nor have we spoken with the Federal Trade Commission about how they would implement this legislation or if they feel it is necessary. In fact, we had not one single stakeholder call, email, or letter or one single call, email, or letter from the regulator on this issue until Monday. Since then, we have received a number of stakeholder calls voicing concerns with the legislation. However, without holding any hearings or meetings, we can't properly evaluate these concerns. As has been aptly demonstrated by the majority's health care bill and the CPSIA, the consumer protection bill that we've had to make several changes to, the heavy hand of Federal regulation is prone to producing unforeseen and unacceptable consequences on the Nation's economy.”