Kustoff Bill, the Recovery of Stolen Checks Act, Passes Ways and Means Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman David Kustoff's (R-TN) bill, H.R. 1155, the Recovery of Stolen Checks Act, unanimously passed out of the House Committee on Ways and Means. This bipartisan legislation would give taxpayers who have their paper check from the U.S. Department of the Treasury lost or stolen in the mail the option to receive their payment electronically. 

The Recovery of Stolen Checks Act was introduced in the House of Representatives along with Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Terri Sewell (D-AL). 

Click here to watch Congressman Kustoff's remarks in committee or read them as prepared below. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word, and I appreciate you holding today’s markup to consider this important piece of legislation, the Recovery of Stolen Checks Act.

I also want to thank my colleagues, Representative Malliotakis and Representative Sewell, for joining me in introducing this bipartisan bill.

We all know that over the last several years, the number of government checks stolen from the mail has increased dramatically. It’s a problem in my district in West Tennessee and I know it's a problem in all of your districts throughout the country.

If I can, I would like to share a few data points. A report from the United States Postal Inspection Service found that between the years of 2019 and 2022, there was an 87% increase in theft from mailboxes.

According to FinCEN, which is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs, pertaining to check fraud doubled between 2021 and 2022. 

It is well past time that we get mail theft in the United States under control. I think we can all agree that Americans should be able to trust our postal system. And right now, they don’t - and unfortunately - I think for good reason.

We’ve got to do a better job of detecting, investigating, and prosecuting those who are behind these thefts – whether they’re rogue actors or part of an organized criminal ring.

It does start with Congress making sure that our law enforcement agents have the tools and resources that they need to do their job. We also have to ensure that taxpayers who are impacted by mail theft do in fact get timely relief.

We know that getting the IRS to simply issue a replacement check can take a long time. We all get those calls in our respective offices - frankly, our staff does a good job trying to work with the IRS - but it is very difficult. People wait too long to get the replacement check issued, and then many Americans find that that check is stolen as well.

So, due to the outdated IRS rules, taxpayers who have physical checks stolen have no other option to receive their payment. If your refund check was stolen at the local post office, which does happen, you have no choice but to request another physical check which will be mailed and processed by the same post office.

The current system that we have does not make any sense. That is why this bill, the Recovery of Stolen Checks Act, is pretty straightforward and common sense. It’ll give the victims of mail theft the option to receive their replacement payment through direct deposit. Which will be quicker and more secure instead of having to risk having another mailed check. 

Making this simple fix will expedite relief to affected taxpayers, it’ll keep government checks out of the hands of criminals, and ultimately, I believe it’ll make our government more efficient.

I urge my colleagues to support this important piece of bipartisan legislation.

And with that Mr. Chairman, I thank you and I yield back. 

 

Click here for the full text of the bill. 

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