“I want the House to pass this bill. It will let state and local police use federal grant money to investigate financial scams targeting old people. It also says federal agencies can help them use blockchain tracing tools.”

“I want the House to pass this bill. It lets state, local, and tribal police use federal grant money to investigate financial scams, especially scams targeting older people and cryptocurrency fraud. It also lets federal agencies help local police trace those crimes.”

“Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2978) to permit State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies that receive eligible Federal grant funds to use such funds for investigating elder financial fraud, pig butchering, and general financial fraud, and to clarify that Federal law enforcement agencies may assist State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies in the use of tracing tools for blockchain and related technology, and for other purposes, as amended. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows:”

“I want this bill to pass. It is good for old people. I'm glad the Judiciary Committee and Chairman Jordan support it. Scammers are bad. They target old people. This bill lets local police use federal money to fight scammers. The bill also lets federal agencies help with technology. This is good. This is a bipartisan bill. It will protect people. I want you to vote for it.”

“I want the House to pass this bill. Scammers are targeting older Americans and stealing their savings. This bill lets local, state, and tribal police use federal grant money to investigate financial scams. It also lets federal agencies help local police track stolen money online and get it back.”

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I note that although H.R. 2978 has not been reported out of Judiciary Committee, which also received a referral for the bill, the Judiciary Committee supports H.R. 2978 being considered today under suspension of the rules. I thank Chairman Jordan for his committee's support. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2978, the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception Act, or GUARD Act. Financial fraud is one of the fastest-growing threats facing hardworking Americans, particularly seniors and retirees who have spent decades saving for the future. Today, sophisticated scammers are using technology to target vulnerable Americans through increasingly complex schemes. The GUARD Act helps address this challenge by allowing State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies to use existing Federal grant funding to investigate financial fraud. This bill also gives law enforcement greater access to modern investigative tools by allowing Federal agencies to assist State and local authorities with blockchain tracing and related technologies. These tools can help law enforcement follow the money, identify bad actors, and recover funds that have been stolen from victims. As scammers continue to develop new ways to exploit Americans, our law enforcement agencies must have the tools and information necessary to keep pace. This bipartisan bill takes a commonsense approach by strengthening coordination between Federal, State, local, and Tribal law enforcement, while providing the resources needed to investigate and disrupt financial fraud. More importantly, the GUARD Act will help protect seniors and retirees who have worked hard their entire lives and deserve to be protected from predatory actors. I thank Representatives Nunn, Fitzgerald, and Gottheimer for their leadership on this important bill. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2978, and I reserve the balance of my time.”

“I want this bill to pass. Scammers are bad. They use computers and crypto to steal money from Americans. Even people in my state lost money. A farmer lost a lot of money. Scammers even attacked him. Local police can't stop it. The government should spend money on this. We need new tools. My bill has these tools. I talked to people in my state. They told me what to put in the bill. This bill will help stop scammers.”

“I want Congress to pass this bill. Scammers overseas are using the internet and digital money to steal billions of dollars from Americans. Local police cannot track this stolen money on their own. This bill gives local officers federal help and tools to trace the money and catch the criminals.”

“Mr. Speaker, every family is now impacted by this. Every American knows someone who has come into contact with an AI fraud, a pig butchering scheme, a romance theft. Right now, criminals on the other side of the world are stealing the life savings of people in our own communities, and the local officers who answer those calls oftentimes can't even do anything about it. The money moves through digital currencies, including crypto, faster than anyone can even trace it. By the time a deputy who answers the call files a report, the life savings of that family, individual, or loved one is gone. I will share a story of what happened in my district in rural Iowa, of all places. A farmer in Wapello County was targeted through social media by an account posing as a Russian model. Over months, this Russian woman began to earn his trust and then took him for $1 million, including farm equipment that he had to mortgage. Over months, the people behind it further earned his trust. When they realized that he had money on his farm, in cash, they hired mercenaries on U.S. soil to drive from New York to a rural farmhouse in Iowa, where, when he refused to give up his cash, they opened fire on him. Due to this smart-thinking farmer locking himself in his barn and calling local law enforcement, his life was spared. His monetary loss was immeasurable. Sheriff Don Phillips of Wapello and his deputies worked with Federal agents. They arrested the men who showed up that day. Out of the three, they were able to keep one. The other two ended up getting away. The people who ran the schemes, the real perpetrators of this, were far overseas. They still haven't answered for a single dollar of the more than $1 million that this farmer lost. This is no longer a rare story. In Iowa alone last year, families lost $96 million to these types of frauds, and Americans lost as much as $200 billion. To put that in another context, the entire budget for the U.S. Army is gone in 1 year, mainly to foreign actors committing fraud on U.S. citizens. Those citizens are retirees, farmers, and families. This is now the number one financial crime impacting families. That is why, 2 years ago, I brought together Iowa sheriffs, investigators, and local detectives and asked them what they needed to combat this rising number of scams and fraudsters targeting our communities. I am proud to say that their best ideas are now in the process of potentially becoming law with this bill, the GUARD Act. Together, we are fighting for 21st century solutions to address criminals who are using cutting-edge technology, but we are still dealing with it built from a different era. The moment that their money crosses a State line or an ocean, they hit a wall that only the Federal Government can help them climb. This bill aims to fix that. That is why our bipartisan bill, the GUARD Act, brings together real solutions and puts legislation in place for real-time tracing tools, including blockchain tracking, as well as Federal backup when these things happen, so that we can combat it on the front line before it becomes a national catastrophe. It helps not only my State and local law enforcement. It helps the deputy who is just trying to help a community member follow up, identify the money, and stop it before it leaves the district or the country. Most importantly, it goes after the people running these scams. I am grateful to AARP, financial lenders across the country, law enforcement, veterans groups, and other advocates who brought these ideas forward. This is exactly what Congress should be doing: taking and hearing concerns from our local communities and distilling them into a law that can actually help save money, save lives, and, most importantly, help people right here in our own country. Mr. Speaker, I thank colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their support of the GUARD Act.”

“I like this bill. I chair a committee. We spent a year looking at fraud. We had hearings. We wrote a report. Americans lost a lot of money. Over $200 billion. Scammers are bad. They steal from everyone. The bill will help. It has tools for police. The bill follows our report's ideas. I want the bill to pass.”

“I want the House to pass this bill. My committee found that scams cost Americans billions of dollars last year. This bill gives police the tools they need to track down stolen money and stop these criminals.”

“Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge and thank the leadership of Congresswoman De La Cruz for seeing this bill through and my colleague, Congressman Nunn, because, as he stated, the level of importance of this is vast. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 2978, the GUARD Act. For well over a year, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, which I chair, has led in-depth investigations into the growing prevalence of fraud and scams. As part of our work, we conducted many hearings, roundtables, meetings with private industry, law enforcement, and regulators to investigate the problem and find solutions. In July, we released a comprehensive staff report detailing the growth of financial fraud and scams in the U.S. Shockingly, or not so shockingly, we found that Americans lost well over $16 billion which was reported in these schemes in 2025 alone, and truly the toll was closer to well over $200 billion, as has been mentioned. Financial fraud picks no favorites. Scams affect everyone from veterans and small businesses to seniors to young people. Everybody is vulnerable. This report, however, included several recommendations to better address financial fraud and scams, including the passage of this bill, the GUARD Act. The important legislation addresses many of the issues we identified in equipping law enforcement with the tools necessary to combat sophisticated criminals. They are sophisticated. It also allows law enforcement to use innovative tools to trace and recover stolen funds and improves Federal reporting on fraud trends. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Nunn for his hard work to stop fraud and scams, and I thank Chairman Hill of the Financial Services Committee for his strong leadership as well. Mr. Speaker, I urge and thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their support.”