INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 4857 -- HON. ROBERT T. MATSUI (Extensions of
Remarks - July 19, 2000)
[Page: E1270]
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HON. ROBERT T. MATSUI
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, July 18, 2000
- Mr. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to join with Congressman
SHAW to introduce bipartisan legislation to help restrict the use of
individuals' Social Security Numbers by both the public sector and the private
sector. Our legislation builds upon a number of bills introduced by House
Democrats earlier this session. I'd like to thank Congressmen ED
MARKEY, GERRY KLECZKA, and BOB WISE for their contributions
on the privacy protection issue and for introducing exemplary legislation on
the topic this Congress.
- The Social Security number is almost as old as the program itself. Created
in 1936 to keep track of workers' earning records, the uses of the Social
Security number have since extended far beyond its original intent, to the
point where it is now commonly used as a personal identifier.
- Indeed, the Social Security number is increasingly used as the key to
unlocking some of people's most vital--and most private--financial
information. Its prevalence in today's society helps facilitate the host of
private and public transactions in which people engage every day. That same
prevalence, however, leaves people exceptionally vulnerable when their SSN's
fall into the hands of those who wish to exploit that information for their
own gain.
- While we should be aware of the contributions that the use of the SSN
makes to program administration and to business efficiency, we must be careful
that we do not allow some of our most fundamental rights--the right to privacy
and the right to control our personal information--to be abridged in the name
of expediency. Our legislation strikes the correct balance.
- Our bill would prohibit Federal, State, or local government entities from
selling lists of people's SSN's and would prohibit government entities from
displaying SSN's to the general public--for example, on drivers' licenses or
on government checks.
- Just as importantly, our bill would restrict private businesses' use of
the SSN. Just as the Clinton Administration proposed earlier this year, our
bill would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to ban the inappropriate
sale or purchase of Social Security numbers.
- Our bill also prohibits businesses from requiring that you disclose your
Social Security number in order to do business with them.
- Just as our bill enhances privacy protections, it also provides new
protections for Social Security beneficiaries who rely on representative
payees to manage their finances.
- Social Security beneficiaries who rely on representative payees to receive
their benefits and to complete financial transactions on their behalf
represent some of the most vulnerable members of our society. They are the
very young, the very sick, and the very old. They are individuals who live in
nursing homes and in State mental hospitals.
- Thus, when representative payees misuse the funds that have been entrusted
to their care, they are not simply defrauding the Social Security Trust
Funds--they are harming the very people that Social Security was designed to
help.
- Our bill would help prevent the misuse of beneficiaries' funds and would
make it easier for beneficiaries to be compensated in the event that their
funds are misappropriated. Our bill would require SSA to re-issue benefit
payments to beneficiaries in all cases in which ``fee-for-service''
representative payees have misused the funds entrusted to their care;
strengthen the requirements fee-for-service organizations must meet in order
to act as a representative payee; prohibit organizations from receiving fees
for serving as a representative payee for any month in which that organization
is found to have misused beneficiaries' funds; and finally, treat any misused
benefits as an overpayment to the representative payee and, therefore, allow
SSA to use the collection tools at its disposal to recover such overpayments.
- I want to thank my colleagues again for this bipartisan effort and I urge
my colleagues to join us as cosponsors of this important legislation.
END