Hank Johnson: “My amendment would amend the bill's definition of ``significant regulatory action'' to exclude any regulation or…”

“My amendment would amend the bill's definition of ``significant regulatory action'' to exclude any regulation or guidance that is intended to protect the privacy of Americans. With the increasing opportunities for governmental and private organizations to obtain, maintain, and disseminate sensitive, private information on citizens, it is critical that we not prevent or delay the implementation of government regulations designed to protect the privacy of this information for several reasons. First, the government routinely collects almost every type of personal information about individuals and stores it in its databases. It may maintain this information for stated periods of time or permanently, and the government may share it with State agencies under certain circumstances. The concern, Mr. Chairman, is that such information has itself become a commodity with financial value, subject to abuse by those who seek to sell it for financial gain or for criminal purposes, such as identity theft. Unfortunately, several Federal agencies, such as the Veterans Administration, have lost the personal information of millions of Americans. For example, in 2006, the personal information for more than 26 million veterans and 2.2 million current military servicemembers was stolen from a Department of Veterans Affairs employee's home after he had taken the data home without authorization.…”