[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 145 (Monday, September 26, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H5883-H5885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SOCIAL SECURITY FRAUD PREVENTION ACT OF 2016
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3779) to restrict the inclusion of Social Security account
numbers on documents sent by mail by the Federal Government, and for
other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3779
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Social Security Fraud
Prevention Act of 2016''.
SEC. 2. RESTRICTION OF SSNS ON DOCUMENTS SENT BY MAIL.
(a) In General.--No department or agency of the Federal
Government may include the social security account number of
any individual on any document sent by mail unless the head
of such department or agency determines that the inclusion of
such social security number on such document is necessary.
(b) Regulations.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the head of each department and
agency of the Federal Government shall issue regulations
specifying the circumstances under which inclusion of a
social security account number on a document sent by mail is
necessary. Such regulations shall include--
(1) instructions for the partial redaction of social
security account numbers whenever feasible; and
(2) a requirement that social security account numbers not
be visible on the outside of any package sent by mail.
(c) Effective Date.--This Act shall apply with respect to
documents sent by mail on or after the date that is 1 year
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Utah (Mr. Chaffetz) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah.
GENERAL LEAVE
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Utah?
There was no objection.
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3779, Social Security
Fraud Prevention Act of 2016. This was introduced by the gentleman from
California (Mr. Valadao).
Social Security numbers were first created for the sole purpose of
allowing the Federal Government to track the earnings history of
individuals to determine Social Security benefits. However, over the
course of time, both the Federal Government and the private sector
found these numbers to be valuable tools to keep track of individuals
for a wide variety of reasons, including tax reporting and credit
history. You can name how many different things where they require your
Social Security number in order to figure out and identify who you are.
{time} 1530
Because of these changes, Social Security numbers have become
incredibly important in today's high-tech society. In fact, they can be
used for a good deal of purposes in a positive way, but they can also
be used in a nefarious way to try to create a fictitious identification
for somebody.
They are necessary for applying to college, getting a credit card, or
opening a bank account. However, in the hands of the wrong people,
Social Security numbers can lead to identity theft, something that is
very destructive to those affected.
Troublingly, the sponsor of this bill, Mr. Valadao, reported an
interaction with one of his constituents who received a government
document with a Social Security number printed on the outside of the
envelope. It was on the outside of the envelope.
Mr. Speaker, this is totally and completely unacceptable. Given the
dangers associated with identity theft, the Federal Government must do
more to safeguard Social Security numbers.
Indeed, 2 weeks ago, my committee released a 231-page report
detailing the majority staff's investigative findings concerning a data
breach of personally identifiable information by the United States
Office of Personnel Management.
Mr. Speaker, this information included the Social Security numbers of
more than 20 million Americans. As a result, an Oversight and
Government Reform Committee report recommended Federal agencies reduce
the use of Social Security numbers in order to mitigate the risk of
identity theft.
What the bill does that Mr. Valadao has introduced, H.R. 3779, is
bring us closer to this goal by requiring Federal agencies to limit the
sending of Social Security numbers via mail and to completely ban
sending Social Security numbers in a way in which they can be seen on
the outside of any package.
Ultimately, this bill will protect Americans from having their Social
Security numbers needlessly revealed by the Federal Government.
[[Page H5884]]
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan piece of
legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3779, the Social
Security Fraud Prevention Act of 2016, as amended.
As my colleague, the gentleman from Utah, has noted, this bipartisan
legislation has been introduced by Representative David Valadao and
cosponsored by Mr. Swalwell, both from California.
This bill would strengthen efforts to prevent identity theft. In
particular, it would prohibit Federal agencies from including the
Social Security number of any individual on documents sent in the U.S.
mail, unless an agency head determines that it is absolutely necessary
to do so.
Also, through regulations, agencies would, in the future, specify the
precise circumstances under which they would need to include Social
Security numbers in printed and mailed documents inside the envelope.
This bill would also require agencies to partially redact Social
Security numbers, where feasible, and restrict the visibility of Social
Security numbers on the outside of any package sent by mail.
As reported by the Department of Justice, nearly 18 million Americans
are victims of identity theft per year. According to the 2016 Identity
Fraud Study conducted by the Javelin Strategy & Research firm, identity
theft has resulted in losses exceeding $112 billion over the last 6
years alone. That amounts to $35,600 stolen per minute over the last 6
years.
The Javelin study also indicates that, as the U.S. continues to
convert to chip-enabled credit card technology, identity thieves have
become increasingly reliant on the creation of fraudulent customer
accounts. This illicit practice is greatly enabled by the accessibility
and exposure of Social Security numbers.
Moreover, the announcement last week by Yahoo that the account
information of at least 500 million users had been stolen by hackers
back in 2014 is the latest example of the massive data breaches that we
are continuing to experience in both the private and public sectors.
In light of the complexity and frequency of these cyber attacks, it
is imperative that we take commonsense steps at the Federal level to
protect personally identifiable information, including Social Security
numbers, against misuse.
During our committee's investigation, as the chairman of the
Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the gentleman from Utah, has
noted, of the critical breaches of information technology systems at
the Office of Personnel Management in 2015, we discovered that the
agency had not encrypted the Social Security numbers of over 20 million
employees. We are similarly behind the curve when it comes to
safeguarding Social Security information sent by Federal agencies in
the mail.
Mr. Speaker, the Social Security Fraud Prevention Act is a practical
piece of legislation that enjoys support on both sides of the aisle. It
has also received strong endorsements from organizations such as the
American Association of Retired Persons, or AARP, and the National
Retiree Legislative Network.
Publicly, I want to thank Mr. Valadao and Mr. Swalwell for their
leadership in this issue.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), of the 13th Congressional
District.
Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to
agree with my colleagues and recognize our colleague from California
(Mr. Valadao), for being the sponsor of this piece of legislation,
which obviously enjoys bipartisan support. I am a cosponsor of this
bill.
According to the Justice Department, identity theft affects nearly 18
million people, costing more than $15 billion in 2014 alone. This
represents roughly 7 percent of all Americans age 16 or older. In
Illinois alone, in 2014, it has been recognized that the FTC saw a 65
percent increase in identity theft.
Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics also shows us that women
are more likely to be victims of identity theft than men. In addition,
more than 14 percent of the victims are elderly.
We all know that Social Security numbers are the link to a key piece
of information that criminals use to steal people's identities. So this
legislation takes an important step to ensure that our Federal
agencies, our government, funded by the hardworking taxpayers of this
country, are not making this problem even worse.
This is a commonsense step. This is a commonsense piece of
legislation that many out there watching may look to us and say: Do you
mean this isn't already the law? Do you mean we are still allowing
agencies to send Social Security numbers?
We should have known this long ago. We should have stopped this long
ago. But it is commonsense colleagues like Congressman Valadao and
Congressman Swalwell, those fellow cosponsors, in a bipartisan way,
Republicans and Democrats, who said: You know what? Let's solve
this problem that should have been solved long ago. But now, we are
going to get to it because of the leadership from Congressman Valadao.
I am proud to cosponsor this legislation, which will have a real
impact on reducing identity theft in this country. I want to commend
each and every one of our colleagues who are supporting this measure.
Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I know that the gentleman from California, the lead
sponsor of this bill, has just arrived, and I want to publicly thank
him, as well as the gentleman from Illinois who just spoke. I
appreciate his leadership. He joined with Mr. Swalwell on our side of
the aisle. And I agree, this is a long time coming. It should have been
done years ago.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao), the prime sponsor of this
bill.
Mr. VALADAO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R.
3779, the Social Security Fraud Prevention Act.
This commonsense piece of legislation will help mitigate rising
instances of identity theft, which have become a significant problem
across our country. What is worse, these crimes tend to affect the
populations that need protection the most, including the elderly,
children, and veterans.
Recovering from having your identity being stolen is a burdensome and
expensive process. One way to reduce occurrences of this crime is to
prevent the Federal Government from mailing documents that contain the
full Social Security number of an American citizen, unless it is
absolutely necessary.
I realized the need for this legislation after I was approached by a
constituent in my district who showed me a letter she received from the
Social Security Administration that had her full Social Security number
printed on it, as well as her full name and address.
Upon further investigation, we found that the Social Security
Administration was also printing full Social Security numbers visible
on the outside of postcards. This is simply unacceptable.
Social Security was established to provide older Americans financial
security during their retirement years, not jeopardize their security
by handling someone's personal information poorly. Even more concerning
is that the problem is not exclusive to the Social Security
Administration but has become a government-wide problem.
My bill, H.R. 3779, would prevent the Federal Government from mailing
documents that contain full Social Security numbers, unless absolutely
necessary, and require the Federal agencies to partially redact Social
Security numbers on documents, whenever possible. Additionally, the
bill prevents Social Security numbers from ever being visible on the
outside of a piece of mail.
Please join me in supporting this commonsense piece of legislation
that will help Americans avoid falling victim to one of the fastest
growing crimes in the United States.
[[Page H5885]]
Mr. CHAFFETZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I want to thank and congratulate Mr. Valadao and others who have
worked on this bill. It is a commonsense piece of legislation. I urge
its adoption.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I was privileged to
introduce H.R. 3779, the Social Security Fraud Prevention Act, with my
friend from California, Congressman Valadao.
Identity theft is a major and growing problem in our nation. Almost
18 million Americans were victims of this crime in 2014, according to
the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Of those who lost money as a result
of their victimization, the average loss was over $1,300.
This is a serious, complicated problem from which no one is immune.
As in most complex issues, there is not just one solution. We must
attack it from a variety of angles.
For example, the government certainly shouldn't be making identity
theft more likely by making it easier for criminals to get people's
Social Security Numbers. Puffing aside the merits, the reality is that
Social Security Numbers right now are used in many ways to identify
people and secure accounts. Having someone's Social Security Number
thus can be very helpful in stealing someone's identity.
H.R. 3779 would make it more difficult to steal someone's Social
Security Number by prohibiting any federal agency or department from
including it on documents sent by mail unless it is determined to be
necessary. And, when it is included it would not be visible from the
outside of the envelope and would be partially redacted when possible.
This is a common sense, bipartisan bill that is one piece of a larger
comprehensive effort we need to successfully combat identity theft. I
thank Congressman Valadao for sponsoring it and working on it with me.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3779.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Chaffetz) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 3779, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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