[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 24, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H4533-H4535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER FRAUD PREVENTION ACT OF 2017

  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 624) 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. 624

       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 Number Fraud 
     Prevention Act of 2017''.

     SEC. 2. RESTRICTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS ON DOCUMENTS 
                   SENT BY MAIL.

       (a) Restriction.--An agency may not include the social 
     security account number of an individual on any document sent 
     by mail unless the head of the agency determines that the 
     inclusion of the social security account number on the 
     document is necessary.
       (b) Regulations.--Not later than 5 years after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the head of each CFO Act agency 
     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 where feasible; and
       (2) a requirement that social security account numbers not 
     be visible on the outside of any package sent by mail.
       (c) Report.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, and not later than the first, second, 
     third, fourth, and fifth-year anniversary of such date of 
     enactment, the head of each CFO Act agency shall submit to 
     the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on 
     Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 
     Representatives, the Committee on Finance and the Committee 
     on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, 
     and any other appropriate authorizing committees of the House 
     of Representatives and the Senate, a report on the 
     implementation of subsection (a) that includes the following:
       (1) The title and identification number of any document 
     used by the CFO Act agency during the previous year that 
     includes the complete social security account number of an 
     individual.
       (2) For the first report submitted, a plan that describes 
     how the CFO Act agency will comply with the requirements of 
     subsection (a).
       (3) For the final report submitted, the title and 
     identification number of each document used by the CFO Act 
     agency for which the head of the agency has determined, in 
     accordance with regulations issued pursuant to subsection 
     (b), that the inclusion of a social security account number 
     on such document is necessary, and the rationale for such 
     determination.
       (4) For any other report that is not the first or final 
     report submitted, an update on the implementation of the plan 
     described under paragraph (2).
       (d) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given that 
     term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code, but 
     includes an establishment in the legislative or judicial 
     branch of the Government (except the Senate, the House of 
     Representatives, and the Architect of the Capitol, and any 
     activities under the direction of the Architect of the 
     Capitol).
       (2) CFO act agency.--The term ``CFO Act agency'' means the 
     agencies listed in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 901(b) 
     of title 31, United States Code.
       (e) Effective Date.--Subsection (a) shall apply with 
     respect to any document sent by mail on or after the date 
     that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Ross) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ROSS. 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 material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 624, the Social Security 
Number Fraud Prevention Act of 2017, introduced by my good friend from 
California, Representative David Valadao.
  I want to start by thanking Chairman Brady and Subcommittee Chairman 
Johnson from the Ways and Means Committee for their assistance in 
getting this bill to the floor. Their work on addressing the 
unnecessary use of Social Security numbers is well appreciated by all 
Americans across the country and especially Members in this body.
  Mr. Speaker, we live in an interconnected world. Personal 
identifiers, such as Social Security numbers, are used for much more 
than just Social Security benefits. Social Security numbers are widely 
used to receive government services and to apply for services in the 
private sector, like opening bank accounts, credit cards, and even 
applying for college.
  The extent to which Social Security numbers are a de facto national 
identifier has heightened concerns about identity theft. In the wrong 
hands, a stolen Social Security number can be used for devastating 
effects.
  This bill helps move the government closer to the goal of minimizing 
unnecessary use of Social Security numbers. All entities in the Federal 
Government will be prohibited from sending a Social Security account 
number by mail, unless the head of the entity deems it necessary.
  The 24 major CFO Act agencies will also have to issue regulations 
specifying the circumstances under which inclusion of a Social Security 
number is deemed necessary. They will have to ensure numbers are 
redacted partially, where feasible, and to ensure no numbers are 
visible from the outside of a mail piece.
  Finally, agencies will be required to report to Congress on their 
progress in implementing the requirements of the law.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is very important. The Social Security 
Administration alone sends 223 million notices containing a full Social 
Security number every year. We must take care to properly safeguard the 
personally identifiable information of American citizens. The 
consequences of failure can be dire.
  In 2015, the Office of Personnel Management experienced a major data 
breach where the personally identifiable information for 22 million 
Americans was compromised.
  The Oversight Committee majority staff report recommended Federal 
agencies reduce the collection of Social Security numbers and other 
personally identifiable information.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is a step in the right direction. I urge my 
colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 624, the Social Security 
Number Fraud Prevention Act of 2017, as amended.
  Introduced by our colleague, Mr. Valadao from California, this bill 
is a commonsense step to addressing an enormously growing problem of 
identity theft and protecting the personal information of every 
American.
  Each year, 18 million Americans become victims of identity theft. 
That is 18 million. A leading cause of this problem is the unauthorized 
acquisition of Social Security numbers by criminals.
  H.R. 624 would address this issue by restricting the instances in 
which agencies may include the full Social Security numbers on 
documents sent through the mail. The bill would prohibit agencies from 
including those numbers on mailed correspondence unless the head of an 
agency himself or herself determines that inclusion is absolutely 
essential.
  Agencies would be required to issue regulations delineating the 
situations in which Social Security numbers are necessary, and would be 
instructed to partially redact numbers wherever feasible.

                              {time}  1445

  Agencies would also be expressly prohibited from making Social 
Security numbers visible on the outside of any mailed packages.

[[Page H4534]]

  In recent years, many agencies have taken steps to reduce their use 
of Social Security numbers, and this bill would simply codify some of 
those practices agencies have already adopted. For instance, the Social 
Security Administration itself no longer prints Social Security numbers 
on its annual cost-of-living adjustment notices or benefit checks, and 
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is in the process of 
removing Social Security numbers from the Medicare cards issued to 
beneficiaries.
  These steps are critical to ensuring that the Federal Government 
adequately safeguards the personally identifiable information of 
individuals and does everything it can to protect Americans from 
identity theft.
  Although this bill helps provide a lot of protection, reducing the 
threat of identity theft by removing Social Security numbers from 
mailed items is not always as easy as it seems. Many agencies confront 
high costs when reprogramming outdated legacy information technology 
systems to allow mailings to be printed differently.
  Agencies across the Federal Government have been reluctant to retire 
those legacy IT systems because of funding constraints that limit IT 
investments, slow modernization, and force agencies to defer needed IT 
upgrades in favor of some more pressing, urgent problems.
  I would be remiss if I did not mention the important responsibility 
Congress has to fund these IT modernization efforts as it considers 
this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the Social Security Number Fraud Prevention Act is a 
good, bipartisan bill that is necessary to protect the American public. 
I urge my colleagues to support its passage, and I reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao), who is the author of this 
bill.
  Mr. VALADAO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill, 
H.R. 624, the Social Security Number Fraud Prevention Act, legislation 
to protect Americans--especially children, veterans, and the elderly--
from identity theft.
  Not long ago, I was approached by a constituent in my district who 
showed me a letter she had received from the Social Security 
Administration. The document she showed me contained the full Social 
Security number, name, and address clearly printed.
  Upon further investigation, we found that the Social Security 
Administration had also printed postcards which contained the full 
Social Security number of the intended recipient clearly visible on the 
exterior of the mailing. Even more concerning, the practice of printing 
Social Security numbers on government documents is not exclusive to the 
Social Security Administration, but occurs throughout every department 
of the Federal Government.
  In today's digital age, we hear more and more about the importance of 
protecting our identity. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing 
crimes in the United States. It threatens the financial security of 
millions of Americans as well as the economic stability of the United 
States as a whole. In fact, every 2 seconds, another American becomes 
the victim of identity fraud. Even worse, these crimes tend to impact 
vulnerable populations, such as children, the elderly, and veterans, 
the most.
  Despite these alarming statistics, there is a high prevalence of 
needlessly printed Social Security numbers on documents issued by the 
Federal Government. My legislation puts an end to this unacceptable 
practice and limits when the Federal Government can mail documents that 
contain an individual's full Social Security number.
  Social Security was established to provide older Americans financial 
security during their retirement years, not to jeopardize that security 
by negligently handling someone's personal information.
  My bill, the Social Security Number Fraud Prevention Act, would 
prevent the Federal Government from mailing documents that contain full 
Social Security numbers unless absolutely necessary. This requires 
Federal agencies to partially redact Social Security numbers on the 
documents whenever possible.
  Please join me in supporting this commonsense legislation that will 
help all Americans avoid falling victim to one of the fastest growing 
crimes in the United States.
  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Costa).
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for 
yielding, and I also want to take this time to thank the gentleman from 
Florida and my colleague and good friend, Congressman Valadao, for the 
introduction of this legislation, H.R. 624, which I support.
  Mr. Speaker, as we know, identity theft throughout the country is a 
very significant problem. It becomes even more compounded in this day 
of the internet when we have to deal with a whole host of issues that 
make the ability to steal one's identity even more easily done. This 
measure attempts to try to address a part of that challenge by dealing 
with the issue of Social Security numbers.
  We all know Social Security numbers are key information used to 
identify ourselves, and we know that if they fall into the wrong hands, 
they can be used to commit identity theft.
  I think all of us remember when, at some point in our age, we got our 
Social Security number and we memorized it, and it is something that is 
very important in our society today. But many thieves find these 
numbers are incredibly valuable because they are a link that can 
connect a person's information across a whole host of agencies, 
systems, and databases in this age of the internet.
  Criminals can use stolen Social Security numbers to file fraudulent 
tax returns, obtain loans, and commit other kinds of crimes. An 
estimated 13 million Americans experienced financial identity theft in 
2014 alone, resulting in over $16 billion--with a B--$16 billion lost 
to fraud.

  In 2007, to combat these issues, there was an Identity Theft Task 
Force that made recommendations to the administration on ways to 
eliminate the unnecessary collection, use, and display--the display, 
which this legislation attempts to address--of Social Security numbers.
  Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office released testimony on 
these efforts by the Federal Government to reduce the collection, use, 
and display of Social Security numbers. In conclusion, the GAO 
testified that, until the Office of Management and Budget adopts more 
effective practices for guiding agency Social Security number reduction 
efforts, overall governmentwide reduction will likely remain limited 
and difficult to measure, and the risk of Social Security numbers being 
exposed and used to commit identity theft will remain greater than it 
need be. Again, this legislation attempts to help address that.
  The Social Security Number Fraud Prevention Act would enact measures 
to help protect American citizens, especially children, veterans, and 
senior citizens, from identity theft and fraud. It does so by reducing 
the number of mailed documents the Federal Government sends to 
individuals that include full Social Security numbers.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from California an 
additional 1 minute.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia.
  In addition, it also takes steps to ensure that, if inclusion is 
necessary, the number is not visible from the outside of a mailing. I 
think, probably, many of us have received mail that, in fact, had our 
Social Security number there and identified.
  As I said at the outset, this is no silver bullet to stopping 
identity theft; it is a commonsense measure to reducing it.
  Social Security, as we all know, is a promise made to those who have 
worked hard throughout their lives to contribute to the system, to 
contribute to the American way of life. It also provides those seniors 
who are living on their Social Security the ability to have dignity and 
additional security during their golden years. As a result, Congress 
must do what it can to reduce the strains on the program, particularly 
from fraud and theft.
  For all of those reasons, I support this legislation, and I support 
Congressman Valadao's efforts and my

[[Page H4535]]

good friends from Florida and Virginia for bringing this commonsense 
measure to the floor.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis).
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from 
Florida, and I thank my colleague from Virginia for supporting this 
piece of legislation put forth by our friend and colleague from 
California, Congressman David Valadao.
  The Social Security Number Fraud Prevention Act is a bill that should 
gain unanimous support in this institution. 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 my home State of Illinois alone, 
in 2014, it was recognized that the FTC saw a 65 percent increase in 
identity theft. 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 criminals use to steal people's identities. This 
commonsense piece of legislation takes a very 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 bill, as you have heard today, would restrict the use of Social 
Security numbers on documents sent via mail by the Federal Government 
unless the head of a department or agency determines the inclusion of 
such number is necessary--which I can't think of a single instance 
where that would be necessary, but I guess we have to put that in there 
anyway. This seems like a no-brainer, but we in this institution have 
to pass a bill to make sure that it happens, which is why I am a proud 
cosponsor of this bill.
  I want to thank Congressman Valadao again. I also want to thank 
Congress' newest father, our colleague from California, Eric Swalwell, 
for being a cosponsor of this legislation, too. This bill will have a 
real impact on reducing identity theft in this country, and I want to 
commend, once again, everybody on the floor today for their support.
  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I think this is an important piece of legislation. This 
is one of the fastest growing crimes in our country: the diversion of 
Social Security checks and rebates. It is almost without any kind of 
corrective action. There are few prosecutions and even fewer 
convictions. So, if you are a criminal and you are looking for 
something that is relatively cost-free for you, this is the way to do 
it.
  This bill would provide some important protections to the American 
public. I would hope that we build on this.
  My friend from Florida and I serve on the Oversight and Government 
Reform Committee, and we have heard testimony about this crime as it 
has grown exponentially over the last 5 or 6 years. It is my hope that 
U.S. attorneys all across America will put more emphasis on this crime 
and use their resources to go after people who are predators of 
American taxpayers, especially many of our seniors who rely on these 
checks or these rebates to augment and supplement their income. So 
there are victims of this crime, and they are the American taxpayer.
  I think it is an important first step. I support the legislation, and 
I urge my colleagues to support it as well.

  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, we here have an obligation to provide for the common 
defense, and I would submit, Mr. Speaker, that includes that we provide 
to defend our citizenry from such crimes as identity theft. This bill 
is a step in the right direction.
  I want to thank my good friend from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for his 
efforts. I want to thank Mr. Valadao from California for sponsoring 
this bill.
  This is a bipartisan measure that will allow us to address the 
concerns of modern-day crimes of identity and of modern-day crimes of 
privacy. It is a bill that moves in the right direction. While it is 
not the panacea, it is a good first step to protecting our citizenry.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption by my colleagues, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Ross) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 624, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to restrict 
the inclusion of social security account numbers on Federal documents 
sent by mail, and for other purposes.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________