Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2025

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2853, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act. This bipartisan legislation will address the crisis of organized interstate criminal theft schemes that are costing the retail sector and consumers tens of billions of dollars a year but are often too complex for State law enforcement and prosecutors to address on their own.

In recent years, retailers have sounded the alarm about this crisis, expressing urgent concern that organized retail crime has become a significant threat both to public safety and to the viability of a retail sector already hard-hit by online commerce--threatening the viability of businesses of all sizes, from cargo brokers, shippers, big box stores, and online marketplaces to small, family-owned ma-and-pa retailers.

This is a problem that Members of Congress are hearing about all the time from our constituents. When we talk about the problem, we are talking about serious criminal enterprises that operate in a coordinated manner to commit large-scale theft of merchandise for resale or to defraud retailers and convert the proceeds directly into cash or cryptocurrency.

This legislation is not aimed at petty shoplifters or small, one-off episodes of theft. We are talking about a multibillion-dollar criminal industry that grows, evolves, and adapts rapidly to the latest technology, security improvements, and modified business practices. These kinds of operations are centrally coordinated, enabled by technology, and very difficult to stop by local police forces.

While organized retail theft endangers the physical safety of retail workers in every sector, this kind of crime hits small businesses especially hard. Family-owned businesses simply cannot afford to replace lost inventory, increase security, make unplanned repairs, and pay the higher insurance premiums that are associated with this criminal epidemic. Small businesses do not have the funds set aside to recruit new employees to replace those who quit because they fear for their safety.

Organized retail crime is centralized and sophisticated. Combating it requires a coordinated Federal law enforcement response. This legislation is a targeted, bipartisan effort to address organized, multi-State criminal networks. It is designed to improve coordination among existing partners, not to expand Federal authority beyond its current legislative scope.

To be clear, let's go through exactly what CORCA does. It creates an organized retail and supply chain coordination center to help local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies across America better analyze the problem and formulate more targeted and effective solutions. The information-sharing provisions are intended to help police forces work together, along with private-sector entities, to prosecute and disrupt the large criminal enterprises that are perpetrating networks of organized retail crime.

The law also authorizes prosecutors to aggregate thefts over a 12- month period to meet the $5,000 minimum threshold for Federal jurisdiction over certain crimes. It fixes some loopholes in money laundering statutes so that those using gift cards to launder the proceeds of their organized retail crime can no longer dodge money laundering charges.

Finally, the bill directs DHS and DOJ to review and make recommendations to Congress for strengthening grant programs for training and technical assistance.

Importantly, this legislation, which sunsets after 7 years unless it is extended, gives the Federal Government no new authorities. These new activities will take place entirely within existing legal frameworks. It leverages the strengths of local, State, and Federal law enforcement to foster a coordinated response across State lines and, indeed, international borders.

In an era in which the Department of Homeland Security often seems to have lost its way completely, this bill is intended to focus its agents on a staggeringly serious problem that demands their focused attention and expertise.

Some of my colleagues have raised concerns that the $5,000 threshold in this bill would trigger the involvement of the DOJ in what could be a local shoplifting case. In practice, however, longstanding DOJ policy advises Federal prosecutors to prioritize cases with much higher dollar amounts, leaving most retail theft cases to be charged by State authorities, which cannot effectively pursue cases across State lines. This policy disparity creates an enforcement gap that organized retail theft rings have learned to exploit. It is precisely this reason that gives rise to this legislation.

H.R. 2853 is focused on organized criminal enterprises engaged in cargo theft, gift card fraud, and other large-scale retail theft. These are not isolated incidents or opportunistic low-level offenses. They involve structured networks that move goods and money across jurisdictions, operating with a level of coordination that makes them difficult to detect and prosecute.

H.R. 2853 is a bipartisan effort to address a nationwide problem that indeed requires coordination across agencies, different levels of government, and private industry sectors. By strengthening information- sharing and aligning existing resources, this bill will help law enforcement agencies at every level of government more effectively identify, disrupt, and prosecute coordinated criminal enterprises.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. RASKIN. Lee), who represents the Third District of Nevada and has been such a great champion for this legislation and has educated a lot of the Congress about it, along with her colleague (Ms. Titus), who represents the First District.

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Mr. RASKIN. Titus), representing the First District of Nevada.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, let the word go out to all of the organized retail criminal conspiracies, outfits, operations, and racketeering enterprises across America and the world that we are going to have an Organized Retail and Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center. We are going to be working between the Federal Government and the State and local governments in order to crack down on this very serious threat to our small businesses, some bigger businesses, and to all of the consumers and the people of the country.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished former prosecutor and Congressman from North Carolina (Mr. Knott) for his leadership on this.

We are not powerless. There is definitely something that we can do to stop this. This is a clear and effective bipartisan solution before us.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of our colleagues to support H.R. 2853, and I am happy to yield back the balance of my time.

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