WASHINGTON, DC – All Democratic Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee joined their colleagues U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky, John Dingell, and Ed Markey in sending a letter to Chairman Barton requesting hearings on reports that the NSA has collected a massive database of Americans’ phone records with the assistance of major telecommunications companies.

The letter also questioned why the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act, which unanimously passed the Energy and Commerce Committee, was pulled from floor consideration on May 2. Representative Schakowsky is the sponsor of the SAFE CALL Act, which would prohibit pretexting – or posing as others in order to obtain their phone records.

The letter sent by Representative Schakowsky and Energy and Commerce Democrats is below:

May 11, 2006

The Honorable Joe Barton
Chair
Energy and Commerce Committee
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Barton:

As I am sure you have read in a USA Today article today, “NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls; 3 Telecoms Help Government Collect Billions of Domestic Records,” AT&T, BellSouth, and Verizon have been providing the records of millions of Americans to the National Security Agency without consumers’ knowledge or consent. We are very concerned about this practice and the privacy questions it raises.

The Energy and Commerce Committee recently passed unanimously H.R. 4943, the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act, which would protect consumers from having their phone calls accessed without their permission as is currently happening. Although it was scheduled for a vote on the House floor on May 2, 2006, it was pulled because of undisclosed concerns of the House Intelligence Committee which we are concerned are related to the above mentioned article. As you know, we have had a good history of working on privacy and consumer issues together. With these recent revelations, we respectfully request that a full committee hearing be held as soon as possible. We believe it is important to our constituents that we continue the fight to protect their rights.

Sincerely,

Jan Schakowsky
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection

JOHN D. DINGELL (Michigan)

EDWARD J. MARKEY (Massachusetts)
Ranking Member of the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, Member of the Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, and the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee

HENRY A. WAXMAN (California)

RICK BOUCHER (Virginia)

EDOLPHUS TOWNS (New York)

FRANK PALLONE, JR. (New Jersey)

SHERROD BROWN (Ohio)

BART GORDON (Tennessee)

BOBBY L. RUSH (Illinois)

ANNA G. ESHOO (California)

BART STUPAK (Michigan)

ELIOT L. ENGEL (New York)

ALBERT R. WYNN (Maryland)

GENE GREEN (Texas)

TED STRICKLAND (Ohio)

DIANA DEGETTE (Colorado)

LOIS CAPPS (California)

MIKE DOYLE (Pennsylvania)

TOM ALLEN (Maine)

JIM DAVIS (Florida)

HILDA L. SOLIS (California)

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ (Texas)

JAY INSLEE (Washington)

TAMMY BALDWIN (Wisconsin)

MIKE ROSS (Arkansas)

cc: Representative Cliff Stearns, Chair, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection

Representative Fred Upton, Chair, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet