FREEDOM AND PRIVACY RESTORATION ACT -- HON. RON PAUL (Extensions of
Remarks - January 06, 1999)
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HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1999
- Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Freedom and Privacy
Restoration Act of
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1999. This act forbids the federal government
from establishing any national ID cards or establishing any identifiers for
the purpose of investigating, monitoring, overseeing, or regulating private
transactions between American citizens. This legislation also explicitly
repeals those sections of the 1996 Immigration Act that established federal
standards for state drivers' licenses and those sections of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 that require the
Department of Health and Human Services to establish a uniform standard health
identifier.
- The Freedom and Privacy Restoration Act halts the greatest threat to
liberty today: the growth of the surveillance state. Unless Congress stops
authorizing the federal bureaucracy to stamp and number the American people
federal officials will soon have the power to arbitrarily prevent citizens
from opening a bank account, getting a job, traveling, or even seeking medical
treatment unless their ``papers are in order!''
- In addition to forbidding the federal government from creating national
identifiers, this legislation forbids the federal government from blackmailing
states into adopting uniform standard identifiers by withholding federal
funds. One of the most onerous practices of Congress is the use of federal
funds illegitimately taken from the American people to bribe states into
obeying federal dictates.
- Perhaps the most important part of the Freedom and Privacy Restoration Act
is the section prohibiting the use of the Social Security number as an
identifier. Although it has not received as much attention as some of the
other abuses this legislation addresses, the abuse of the Social Security
number may pose an even more immediate threat to American liberty. For all
intents and purposes, the Social Security number is already a national
identification number. Today, in the majority of states, no American can get a
job, open a bank account, get a drivers' license, or even receive a birth
certificate for one's child without presenting their Social Security number.
So widespread has the use of the Social Security number become that a member
of my staff had to produce a Social Security number in order to get a fishing
license! Even members of Congress must produce a Social Security number in
order to vote on legislation.
- One of the most disturbing abuses of the Social Security number is the
congressionally-authorized rule forcing parents to get a Social Security
number for their newborn children in order to claim them as dependents.
Forcing parents to register their children with the state is more like
something out of the nightmares of George Orwell than the dreams of a free
republic which inspired this nation's founders.
- Since the creation of the Social Security number in 1935, there have been
almost 40 congressionally-authorized uses of the Social Security number as an
identification number for non-Social Security programs! Many of these uses,
such as the requirement that employers report the Social Security number of
new employees to the ``new hires data base,'' have been enacted in the past
few years. In fact, just last year, 210 members of Congress voted to allow
states to force citizens to produce a Social Security number before they could
exercise their right to vote.
- Mr. Speaker, the section of this bill prohibiting the federal government
from using identifiers to monitor private transactions is necessary to stop
schemes such as the attempt to assign every American a ``unique health
identifier'' for every American--an identifier which could be used to create a
national database containing the medical history of all Americans. As an
OB/GYN with more than 30 years in private practice, I know well the importance
of preserving the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship. Oftentimes,
effective treatment depends on a patient's ability to place absolute trust in
his or her doctor. What will happen to that trust when patients know that any
and all information given to their doctor will be placed in a government
accessible data base?
- A more recent assault on privacy is a regulation proposed jointly by the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Federal Reserve, known as
``Know Your Customer.'' If this regulation takes effect in April 2000,
financial institutions will be required not only to identify their customers
but also their source of funds for all transactions, establish a ``profile''
and determine if the transaction is ``normal and expected.'' If a transaction
does not fit the profile, banks would have to report the transaction to
government regulators as ``suspicious.'' The unfunded mandate on financial
institutions will be passed on to customers who would have to pay higher ATM
and other fees and higher interest rates on loans for the privilege of being
spied on by government-inspired tellers.
- Many of my colleagues will claim that the federal government needs these
powers to protect against fraud or some other criminal activities. However,
monitoring the transactions of every American in order to catch those few who
are involved in some sort of illegal activity turns one of the great bulwarks
of our liberty, the presumption of innocence, on its head. The federal
government has no right to treat all Americans as criminals by spying on their
relationship with their doctors, employers, or bankers. In act, criminal law
enforcement is reserved to the state and local governments by the
Constitution's Tenth Amendment.
- Other members of Congress will claim that the federal government needs the
power to monitor Americans in order to allow the government to operate more
efficiently. I would remind my colleagues that in a constitutional republic
the people are never asked to sacrifice their liberties to make the job of
government officials a little bit easier. We are here to protect the freedom
of the American people, not to make privacy invasion more efficient.
- Mr. Speaker, while I do not question the sincerity of those members who
suggest that Congress can ensure citizens' rights are protected through
legislation restricting access to personalinformation, the fact is the only
solution is to forbid the federal government from using national identifiers.
Legislative ``privacy protections'' are inadequate to protect the liberty of
Americans for several reasons. First, federal laws have not stopped
unscrupulous government officials from accessing personal information. Did
laws stop the permanent violation of privacy by the IRS, or the FBI abuses by
the Clinton and Nixon administrations?
- Secondly, the federal government has been creating property interests in
private information for certain state-favored third parties. For example, a
little-noticed provision in the Patient Protection Act established a property
right for insurance companies to access personal health care information.
Congress also authorized private individuals to receive personal information
from government data bases in last year's copyright bill. The Clinton
Administration has even endorsed allowing law enforcement officials' access to
health care information, in complete disregard of the fifth amendment.
Obviously, ``private protection'' laws have proven greatly inadequate to
protect personal information when the government is the one providing or
seeking the information!
- The primary reason why any action short of the repeal of laws authorizing
privacy violation is insufficient is because the federal government lacks
constitutional authority to force citizens to adopt a universal identifier for
health care, employment, or any other reason. Any federal action that
oversteps constitutional limitations violates liberty because it ratifies the
principle that the federal government, not the Constitution, is the ultimate
judge of its own jurisdiction over the people. The only effective protection
of the rights of citizens is for Congress to follow Thomas Jefferson's advice
and ``bind (the federal government) down with the chains of the
Constitution.''
- Mr. Speaker, those members who are unpersuaded by the moral and
constitutional reasons for embracing the Freedom and Privacy Restoration Act
should consider the overwhelming opposition of the American people toward
national identifiers. My office has been inundated with calls from around the
country protesting the movement toward a national ID card and encouraging my
efforts to thwart this scheme. I have also received numerous complaints from
Texans upset that they have to produce a Social Security number in order to
receive a state drivers' license. Clearly, the American people want Congress
to stop invading their privacy. Congress risks provoking a voter backlash if
we fail to halt the growth of the surveillance state.
- In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I once again call on my colleagues to join me
in putting an end to the federal government's unconstitutional use of national
identifiers to monitor the actions of private citizens. National identifiers
are incompatible with a limited, constitutional government. I therefore, hope
my colleagues will join my efforts to protect the freedom of their
constituents by supporting the Freedom and Privacy Restoration Act of 1999.
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