[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 67 (Thursday, May 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S5217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   VOTING RIGHTS ACT REAUTHORIZATION

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today for the second week in a row the 
Senate Judiciary Committee's agenda included a proposed amendment to 
the Constitution, to its fundamental purpose and to our rights as 
Americans. I understand that Republicans are trying to keep to a 
political timetable for raising divisive matters in the runup to the 
November elections.
  I know that in election years they love to wave the flag amendment, 
rather than work on veterans health care or protecting veterans' 
privacy. We have just witnessed the largest theft of private 
information from the Government ever, the loss of information on more 
than 26 million American veterans. Compounding the incompetence was the 
misguided decision by the Veterans' Administration for secrecy in 
trying to cover this up for the last 3 weeks. This follows on the heels 
of last year's debacle of a billion-dollar shortfall in VA's budget for 
veterans health care, after repeated denials. It all adds up to a 
``heckuva bad job'' for America's veterans.
  The President should call Secretary Nicholson into the woodshed for a 
serious shakeup in how the VA is run. In the meantime, Secretary 
Nicholson needs to answer why this information was left vulnerable to 
such a breach, why such a delay in notification was allowed to occur, 
and what specific steps he is taking to ensure such a breach does not 
happen again. The Nation's veterans--who have been willing to make the 
ultimate sacrifice for their country--deserve to have the best tools 
available to protect themselves and their families from identity theft.
  Rather than work on our privacy and identity theft legislation, 
including the Specter-Leahy Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 
2005, or the Kerry-Salazar legislation to provide credit checks and 
monitoring to those veterans whose private information was compromised, 
we are being directed to another divisive debate on a proposed 
constitutional amendment.
  In that regard, I noticed that earlier this week, the White House 
Press Secretary was asked about this constitutional amendment and had 
no knowledge of it existing. I would like to include that exchange in 
the Record:

       Question. [C]ould you tell us if the President also 
     supports the proposed amendment to protect the United States 
     flag from public desecration?
       Mr. Snow. Do we have a flag desecration--I apologize; this 
     is something that, believe it or not, in the last two weeks 
     has not come up. So I'm afraid----
       Question. Flag burning.
       Mr. Snow [continuing]. Flag burning. I'll just have to get 
     back [to you].

  The White House Press Secretary has yet to become familiar with the 
talking points on how much more important this is than national 
security, the war in Iraq, unprecedented gas prices, the lack of a 
Federal budget, the penalties on seniors who may now wish to sign up 
for Medicare drug prescription, comprehensive immigration reform, 
emergency supplemental appropriations, preparations for the hurricane 
season, preparations for a possible avian flu pandemic, privacy 
legislation, and completing our work on reauthorizing the Voting Rights 
Act.

                          ____________________