Thank you for joining us this morning on a hugely significant and unfortunately so timely topic.

If the entities that hold our data can't be trusted to protect it, then the government needs to have the right tools to not only go after the hackers and thieves, but also the companies that treat our financial lives with such abandon…

I also urge that the Justice Department proceed vigorously and promptly with a criminal investigation.

I will push for a measure that I propose that would provide such authority, expanded FTC powers.

The FTC has a duty to investigate and discipline Google or any other company for any illegal actions that may have unfairly disadvantaged competitors and limited consumer choice.

I just would inform the Committee that the full Committee is contemplating hearings mid-October on the topic that we're discussing.

It's critical that we address these issues to prevent future data breaches.

The hearing will come to order. Good afternoon, and welcome to today's hearing on FTC Stakeholder Perspectives: Reform Proposals to Improve Fairness, Innovation, and Consumer Welfare.

Now, I do believe, as has been pointed out, that we reached bipartisan agreement that the law is not working.

What I am positive of is that this proposal that we have before us certainly is better than socialized medicine.

Simply put, the Affordable Care Act is not affordable. It is failing the people, the very people it promised to help.

While its inclusion in the debate surrounding the Affordable Care Act has led many to believe this is a Republican-only idea, it is not.

I am very proud today to not only introduce but to strongly support Steve Censky as the next Deputy Secretary of USDA.

He is currently Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, serving from 2014 to the present under then-Governor Mike Pence and now Governor Eric Holcomb.

Agriculture has not just been Steve's profession. It has been his passion and way of life from his childhood on.

Well, and 4 years later our friends across the aisle simply raised taxes, and there was a lot of blood on the ground.

My comfort level in not only writing the next farm bill but in that farm bill being successfully implemented by USDA is much greater with Steve partnering with Secretary Perdue.

Instead, we are focused squarely on helping the middle class.