[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 74 (Monday, May 1, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2651-S2652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. DAINES (for himself and Mr. Peters):
  S. 998. A bill to amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to protect personally 
identifiable information and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Finance.
  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, in recent years the American people have 
lost trust in the Federal government to keep our personally 
identifiable information, or PII, secure. In June of 2015 the Office of 
Personnel Management was infiltrated with a major cyber breach, 
affecting more than 22 million current and former federal employees,

[[Page S2652]]

including myself. In January of 2016, another nearly half a million 
Americans had their social security numbers stolen when the Internal 
Revenue Service was hacked.
  I spent 28 years in the private sector, 12 years with a global cloud 
computing company. We faced cyber threats daily, and our customers 
expected security of their data. We delivered and not once was our data 
compromised. And we certainly did not give it out voluntarily. When 
there is an opportunity to protect our PII, we need to act on it and 
begin to rebuild trust with the American people.
  In 1984, the public disclosure of certain manifest information was 
required of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The original intent 
was to increase competition, to facilitate better public analysis of 
import trends, and to allow port authorities and transportation 
companies to more easily identify potential customers and changes in 
their industries. However, in recent years, PII of relocating 
individuals, bringing their home goods back to the United States, has 
been released, enabling identity theft, credit card fraud, and unwanted 
solicitations.
  CBP does offer a process for consumers of shipping services to make 
their information confidential. However, these forms typical take two 
months to process and are often processed after the individual has 
moved.
  That is why I am introducing the Moving Americans Privacy Protection 
Act. This legislation will simply require CBP to remove personally 
identifiable information from vessel manifest sheets before making them 
available for public disclosure. I believe the default should be to 
protect peoples' privacy and automatically remove this personal 
information, rather than requiring citizens to make a request and hope 
the paperwork is processed in time.
  I want to thank Senator Peters for being an original cosponsor of 
this bill. I ask my Senate colleagues to join us in support of this 
important legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 998

       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 ``Moving Americans Privacy 
     Protection Act''.

     SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.

       Paragraph (2) of section 431(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930 
     (19 U.S.C. 1431(c)(2)) is amended to read as follows:
       ``(2)(A) The information listed in paragraph (1) shall not 
     be available for public disclosure if--
       ``(i) the Secretary of the Treasury makes an affirmative 
     finding on a shipment-by-shipment basis that disclosure is 
     likely to pose a threat of personal injury or property 
     damage; or
       ``(ii) the information is exempt under the provisions of 
     section 552(b)(1) of title 5 of the United States Code.
       ``(B) The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border 
     Protection shall ensure that any personally identifiable 
     information, including social security numbers, passport 
     numbers, and residential addresses, are removed from any 
     manifest signed, produced, delivered, or transmitted under 
     this section before the manifest is disclosed to the 
     public.''.

                          ____________________