[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 24, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H3148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    VETERANS IDENTITY PROTECTION ACT

  (Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, many of us are talking about our 
veterans. And as we approach Memorial Day, it has been with great 
sorrow and great concern that we have noticed some of the headlines and 
the information on personal data of veterans being stolen. That is of 
tremendous concern to us, and I want to thank Chairman Buyer and the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee for their prompt actions in addressing this 
issue.
  I also would like to call to the attention of the House a piece of 
legislation that my colleague, Representative Simmons, and I are 
working on. It is the Veterans Identity Protection Act of 2006. We will 
be filing the bill on Friday. Mr. Simmons is a Vietnam veteran, and he 
understands the problems that veterans face every day.
  We know that veterans have placed their faith in the government to 
responsibly protect their personal information, and that that trust has 
been damaged. That is why the Blackburn-Simmons bill requires that more 
stringent controls be placed on the management of personal data. We 
also want to help those veterans monitor their credit to be certain 
that no one has stolen their identities.
  Government has an obligation to these men and women who have been 
breached in the loss of this information, and we want to be certain 
that that obligation is met. Mr. Speaker, I would commend the 
legislation to each of our colleagues and encourage them to join with 
us in supporting the veterans of this great Nation.

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