[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 82 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H4726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             IDENTITY THEFT

  (Mr. PRICE of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, every year more than 3 million 
Americans have their identities stolen. That is one every 10 seconds. 
These incredible statistics show that identity theft both online and 
offline is not slowing down. Just this past week we learned of another 
incident where up to 40 million identities were compromised.
  The last Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation known as the 
FACT Act, and President Bush signed it into law. It helps you to 
protect your identity by providing a free credit report every year, 
requiring creditors who lent money in your name to a thief to help you 
clear your name, and creating a single place where a fraud alert can be 
put on your credit history and honored all across America.
  Congress has taken steps to strengthen identity theft laws, but the 
bad guys are still out there, and commonsense precautions are the key 
to help Americans from becoming victims.
  Mr. Speaker, people do not give the keys to their house to complete 
strangers, and that same lesson applies to identity theft. I urge all 
Americans to guard the keys to their identity as we in Congress 
continue to find aggressive solutions.

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