[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 144 (Thursday, October 21, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H10617-H10618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                PRIVACY

  (Mr. MARKEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, there is a terrible travesty about to be 
visited upon the American people. A deal between the Republican 
leadership and the White House has been perpetrated.

[[Page H10618]]

 It will lead to the compromise of every single American's privacy.
  Every check they have ever written, every insurance exam for their 
family, their medical records, the checks they have written out for the 
last 20 or 30 years, they can all be now sold to anyone who wants to 
buy them, every secret in their family. This is a deal that the 
Republican leadership and the White House have signed off on.
  If they have their income tax form done for them by H&R Block, there 
is a law that says they cannot reveal it. But if they use their income 
tax form to apply for a mortgage, under this new law, they can sell 
their income tax form. They can give out that information to anyone.
  But if they want to complain to Prudential or to Bank One, do not try 
to call the CEO. He has got an unlisted number at home. He is concerned 
about his privacy. He does not want them to bother him.
  But they do not give a hoot about the ordinary American's privacy.

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