[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18560]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             IDENTITY THEFT

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I recently introduced bipartisan 
legislation with 19 colleagues called the Identity Theft Protection and 
Health Information Blackout Act of 2003. The legislation would protect 
Americans from identity theft and safeguard their private health 
information in the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
  My bill would black out and protect sensitive, private health-related 
information by returning control to consumers and giving them the final 
say over what is off-limits to financial institutions. There is simply 
no reason why health information should be used in granting credit or 
in deciding whether to offer someone a product or a financial service. 
It is long past time to make this information confidential. Rather than 
opt in or opt out, we should black out your private health information.
  Similarly, we are all aware of the identity theft epidemic in this 
country. The average identity theft victim spends nearly $1,400 and 175 
hours cleaning up his or her credit card record. In fact, ID theft has 
doubled in just the last year. It puts both businesses and the consumer 
at risk. This is not a business or consumer issue. It is one that we 
can come together on.
  Mr. Speaker, my bill would put identity thieves out of business and 
ensure that Americans' private health information is given the 
strongest protections under the law. I encourage my colleagues to 
cosponsor the Identity Theft Protection and Health Information Blackout 
Act to that end.

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