[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 115 (Thursday, July 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4932-S4935]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2594. Ms. SINEMA submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
her to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for
[[Page S4933]]
military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
TITLE __--IMPROVING DIGITAL IDENTITY
SEC. __01. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The lack of an easy, affordable, reliable, and secure
way for organizations, businesses, and government agencies to
identify whether an individual is who they claim to be online
creates an attack vector that is widely exploited by
adversaries in cyberspace and precludes many high-value
transactions from being available online.
(2) Incidents of identity theft and identity fraud continue
to rise in the United States, where more than 293,000,000
people were impacted by data breaches in 2021.
(3) Since 2017, losses resulting from identity fraud have
increased by 333 percent, and, in 2020, those losses totaled
$56,000,000,000.
(4) The Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network of the Department of the Treasury has stated that the
abuse of personally identifiable information and other
building blocks of identity is a key enabler behind much of
the fraud and cybercrime affecting the United States today.
(5) The inadequacy of current digital identity solutions
degrades security and privacy for all people in the United
States, and next generation solutions are needed that improve
security, privacy, equity, and accessibility.
(6) Government entities, as authoritative issuers of
identity in the United States, are uniquely positioned to
deliver critical components that address deficiencies in the
digital identity infrastructure of the United States and
augment private sector digital identity and authentication
solutions.
(7) State governments are particularly well-suited to play
a role in enhancing digital identity solutions used by both
the public and private sectors, given the role of State
governments as the issuers of driver's licenses and other
identity documents commonly used today.
(8) The public and private sectors should collaborate to
deliver solutions that promote confidence, privacy, choice,
equity, accessibility, and innovation. The private sector
drives much of the innovation around digital identity in the
United States and has an important role to play in delivering
digital identity solutions.
(9) The bipartisan Commission on Enhancing National
Cybersecurity has called for the Federal Government to
``create an interagency task force directed to find secure,
user-friendly, privacy-centric ways in which agencies can
serve as 1 authoritative source to validate identity
attributes in the broader identity market. This action would
enable Government agencies and the private sector to drive
significant risk out of new account openings and other high-
risk, high-value online services, and it would help all
citizens more easily and securely engage in transactions
online.''.
(10) It should be the policy of the Federal Government to
use the authorities and capabilities of the Federal
Government, in coordination with State, local, Tribal, and
territorial partners and private sector innovators, to
enhance the security, reliability, privacy, equity,
accessibility, and convenience of consent-based digital
identity solutions that support and protect transactions
between individuals, government entities, and businesses, and
that enable people in the United States to prove who they are
online.
SEC. __02. DEFINITIONS.
In this title:
(1) Appropriate notification entities.--The term
``appropriate notification entities'' means--
(A) the President;
(B) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation of the Senate; and
(C) the Committee on Oversight and Accountability of the
House of Representatives.
(2) Digital identity verification.--The term ``digital
identity verification'' means a process to verify the
identity or an identity attribute of an individual accessing
a service online.
(3) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the Task Force.
(4) Federal agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' has the
meaning given the term in section 102 of the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42
U.S.C. 5122).
(5) Identity attribute.--The term ``identity attribute''
means a data element associated with the identity of an
individual, including the name, address, date of birth, or
social security number of an individual.
(6) Identity credential.--The term ``identity credential''
means a document or other evidence of the identity of an
individual issued by a government agency that conveys the
identity of the individual, including a driver's license or
passport.
(7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Homeland Security.
(8) Task force.--The term ``Task Force'' means the
Improving Digital Identity Task Force established under
section __03(a).
SEC. __03. IMPROVING DIGITAL IDENTITY TASK FORCE.
(a) Establishment.--There is established in the Executive
Office of the President a task force to be known as the
``Improving Digital Identity Task Force''.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the Task Force shall be to
establish and coordinate a government-wide effort to develop
secure methods for Federal, State, local, Tribal, and
territorial agencies to improve access and enhance security
between physical and digital identity attributes and identity
credentials, particularly by promoting the development of
digital versions of existing physical identity credentials,
including driver's licenses, e-Passports, and birth
certificates, to--
(1) protect the privacy and security of individuals;
(2) support reliable, interoperable digital identity
verification in the public and private sectors; and
(3) in achieving paragraphs (1) and (2), place a particular
emphasis on--
(A) reducing identity theft and fraud;
(B) enabling trusted transactions; and
(C) ensuring equitable access to digital identity
verification.
(c) Director.--
(1) In general.--The Task Force shall have a Director, who
shall be appointed by the President.
(2) Position.--The Director shall serve at the pleasure of
the President.
(3) Pay and allowances.--The Director shall be compensated
at the rate of basic pay prescribed for level II of the
Executive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United
States Code.
(4) Qualifications.--The Director shall have substantive
technical expertise and managerial acumen that--
(A) is in the business of digital identity management,
information security, or benefits administration;
(B) is gained from not less than 1 organization; and
(C) includes specific expertise gained from academia,
advocacy organizations, or the private sector.
(5) Exclusivity.--The Director may not serve in any other
capacity within the Federal Government while serving as
Director.
(6) Term.--The term of the Director, including any official
acting in the role of the Director, shall terminate on the
date described in subsection (k).
(d) Membership.--
(1) Federal government representatives.--The Task Force
shall include the following individuals or the designees of
such individuals:
(A) The Secretary.
(B) The Secretary of the Treasury.
(C) The Director of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology.
(D) The Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network.
(E) The Commissioner of Social Security.
(F) The Secretary of State.
(G) The Administrator of General Services.
(H) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
(I) The Postmaster General of the United States Postal
Service.
(J) The National Cyber Director.
(K) The Attorney General.
(L) The Chair of the Federal Trade Commission.
(M) The heads of other Federal agencies or offices as the
President may designate or invite, as appropriate.
(2) State, local, tribal, and territorial government
representatives.--The Director shall appoint to the Task
Force 6 State, local, Tribal, or territorial government
officials who represent agencies that issue identity
credentials and who have--
(A) experience in identity technology and services;
(B) knowledge of the systems used to provide identity
credentials; or
(C) any other qualifications or competencies that may help
achieve balance or otherwise support the mission of the Task
Force.
(3) Nongovernmental experts.--
(A) In general.--The Director shall appoint to the Task
Force 5 nongovernmental experts.
(B) Specific appointments.--The experts appointed under
subparagraph (A) shall include the following:
(i) A member who is a privacy and civil liberties expert.
(ii) A member who is a technical expert in identity
verification.
(iii) A member who is a technical expert in cybersecurity
focusing on identity verification services.
(iv) A member who represents the identity verification
services industry.
(v) A member who represents a party that relies on
effective identity verification services to conduct business.
(e) Working Groups.--The Director shall organize the
members of the Task Force into appropriate working groups for
the purpose of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of
the Task Force, as appropriate.
(f) Meetings.--The Task Force shall--
(1) convene at the call of the Director; and
(2) provide an opportunity for public comment in accordance
with section 1009(a)(3) of title 5, United States Code.
(g) Duties.--In carrying out the purpose described in
subsection (b), the Task Force shall--
(1) identify Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial
agencies that issue identity
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credentials or hold identity attribute information of
individuals;
(2) assess restrictions with respect to the abilities of
the agencies described in paragraph (1) to verify identity or
attribute information for other agencies and nongovernmental
organizations;
(3) assess any necessary changes in statutes, regulations,
or policy to address any restrictions assessed under
paragraph (2);
(4) recommend a strategy, based on existing standards, to
enable agencies to provide services relating to digital
identity verification in a way that--
(A) is secure, protects privacy, and protects individuals
against unfair and misleading practices;
(B) prioritizes equity and accessibility;
(C) requires individual consent for the provision of
digital identify verification services by a Federal, State,
local, Tribal, or territorial agency;
(D) is interoperable among participating Federal, State,
local, Tribal, and territorial agencies, as appropriate and
in accordance with applicable laws; and
(E) prioritizes technical standards developed by voluntary
consensus standards bodies in accordance with section 12(d)
of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of
1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) and guidance under OMB Circular A-
119, entitled ``Federal Participation in the Development and
Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity
Assessment Activities'', or any successor thereto;
(5) recommend principles to promote policies for shared
identity proofing across public sector agencies, which may
include single sign-on or broadly accepted attestations;
(6) identify funding or other resources needed to support
the agencies described in paragraph (4) that provide digital
identity verification, including recommendations with respect
to the need for and the design of a Federal grant program to
implement the recommendations of the Task Force and
facilitate the development and upgrade of State, local,
Tribal, and territorial highly-secure interoperable systems
that enable digital identity verification;
(7) recommend funding models to provide digital identity
verification to private sector entities, which may include
fee-based funding models;
(8) determine if any additional steps are necessary with
respect to Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial
agencies to improve digital identity verification and
management processes for the purpose of enhancing the
security, reliability, privacy, accessibility, equity, and
convenience of digital identity solutions that support and
protect transactions between individuals, government
entities, and businesses; and
(9) undertake other activities necessary to assess and
address other matters relating to digital identity
verification, including with respect to--
(A) the potential exploitation of digital identity tools or
associated products and services by malign actors;
(B) privacy implications; and
(C) increasing access to foundational identity documents.
(h) Prohibition.--The Task Force may not implicitly or
explicitly recommend the creation of--
(1) a single identity credential provided or mandated by
the Federal Government for the purposes of verifying identity
or associated attributes;
(2) a unilateral central national identification registry
relating to digital identity verification; or
(3) a requirement that any individual be forced to use
digital identity verification for a given public purpose.
(i) Required Consultation.--The Task Force shall closely
consult with leaders of Federal, State, local, Tribal, and
territorial governments and nongovernmental leaders, which
shall include the following:
(1) The Secretary of Education.
(2) The heads of other Federal agencies and offices
determined appropriate by the Director.
(3) State, local, Tribal, and territorial government
officials focused on identity, such as information technology
officials and directors of State departments of motor
vehicles and vital records bureaus.
(4) Digital privacy experts.
(5) Civil liberties experts.
(6) Technology and cybersecurity experts.
(7) Users of identity verification services.
(8) Representatives with relevant expertise from academia
and advocacy organizations.
(9) Industry representatives with experience implementing
digital identity systems.
(10) Identity theft and fraud prevention experts, including
advocates for victims of identity theft and fraud.
(j) Reports.--
(1) Initial report.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit to the
appropriate notification entities a report on the activities
of the Task Force, including--
(A) recommendations on--
(i) implementing the strategy pursuant to subsection
(g)(4); and
(ii) methods to leverage digital driver's licenses,
distributed ledger technology, and other technologies; and
(B) summaries of the input and recommendations of the
leaders consulted under subsection (i).
(2) Interim reports.--
(A) In general.--The Director may submit to the appropriate
notification entities interim reports the Director determines
necessary to support the work of the Task Force and educate
the public.
(B) Mandatory report.--Not later than the date that is 18
months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director
shall submit to the appropriate notification entities an
interim report addressing--
(i) the matters described in paragraphs (1), (2), (4), and
(6) of subsection (g); and
(ii) any other matters the Director determines necessary to
support the work of the Task Force and educate the public.
(3) Final report.--Not later than 180 days before the date
described in subsection (k), the Director shall submit to the
appropriate notification entities a final report that
includes recommendations for the President and Congress
relating to any relevant matter within the scope of the
duties of the Task Force.
(4) Public availability.--The Task Force shall make the
reports required under this subsection publicly available on
a centralized website as an open Government data asset (as
defined in section 3502 of title 44, United States Code).
(k) Sunset.--The Task Force shall conclude business on the
date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. __04. SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS TO FEDERAL SYSTEMS.
(a) Guidance for Federal Agencies.--Not later than 180 days
after the date on which the Director submits the report
required under section __03(j)(1), the Director of the Office
of Management and Budget shall issue guidance to Federal
agencies for the purpose of implementing any recommendations
included in such report determined appropriate by the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
(b) Reports on Federal Agency Progress Toward Improving
Digital Identity Verification Capabilities.--
(1) Annual report on guidance implementation.--Not later
than 1 year after the date of the issuance of guidance under
subsection (a), and annually thereafter, the head of each
Federal agency shall submit to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget a report on the efforts of the Federal
agency to implement that guidance.
(2) Public report.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 45 days after the date of
the issuance of guidance under subsection (a), and annually
thereafter, the Director shall develop and make publicly
available a report that includes--
(i) a list of digital identity verification services
offered by Federal agencies;
(ii) the volume of digital identity verifications performed
by each Federal agency;
(iii) information relating to the effectiveness of digital
identity verification services by Federal agencies; and
(iv) recommendations to improve the effectiveness of
digital identity verification services by Federal agencies.
(B) Consultation.--In developing the first report required
under subparagraph (A), the Director shall consult the Task
Force.
(3) Congressional report on federal agency digital identity
capabilities.--
(A) Reform.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget, in coordination with the Director of
the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, shall
submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and
Accountability of the House of Representatives a report
relating to the implementation and effectiveness of the
digital identity capabilities of Federal agencies.
(B) Consultation.--In developing the report required under
subparagraph (A), the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget shall--
(i) consult with the Task Force; and
(ii) to the greatest extent practicable, include in the
report recommendations of the Task Force.
(C) Contents of report.--The report required under
subparagraph (A) shall include--
(i) an analysis, including metrics and milestones, for the
implementation by Federal agencies of--
(I) the guidelines published by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology in the document entitled ``Special
Publication 800-63'' (commonly referred to as the ``Digital
Identity Guidelines''), or any successor document; and
(II) if feasible, any additional requirements relating to
enhancing digital identity capabilities identified in the
document of the Office of Management and Budget entitled ``M-
19-17'' and issued on May 21, 2019, or any successor
document;
(ii) a review of measures taken to advance the equity,
accessibility, cybersecurity, and privacy of digital identity
verification services offered by Federal agencies; and
(iii) any other relevant data, information, or plans for
Federal agencies to improve the digital identity capabilities
of Federal agencies.
(c) Additional Reports.--On the first March 1 occurring
after the date described in subsection (b)(3)(A), and
annually thereafter, the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget, in consultation with the Director of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, shall include in the
report required under section 3553(c) of title 44, United
States Code--
(1) any additional and ongoing reporting on the matters
described in subsection (b)(3)(C); and
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(2) associated information collection mechanisms.
SEC. __05. GAO REPORT.
(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United
States shall submit to Congress a report on the estimated
potential savings, including estimated annual potential
savings, due to the increased adoption and widespread use of
digital identification, of--
(1) the Federal Government from averted fraud, including
benefit fraud; and
(2) the economy of the United States and consumers from
averted identity theft.
(b) Contents.--Among other variables the Comptroller
General of the United States determines relevant, the report
required under subsection (a) shall include multiple
scenarios with varying uptake rates to demonstrate a range of
possible outcomes.
______