Jim Renacci: “I thank Chairman Johnson for his leadership on the Subcommittee on Social Security and for his leadership on this…”

“I thank Chairman Johnson for his leadership on the Subcommittee on Social Security and for his leadership on this legislation. Identity theft is an issue that has become all too prevalent in recent years. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission received over 490,000 identity theft complaints in 2015. This represents a 47 percent increase compared to 2014. As a personal victim of identity theft, I understand the frustration, fear, and sense of helplessness of having your identity stolen. I also understand the worry that victims have that someone will use their identity to file other fraudulent claims. The Federal Government and Federal agencies have a responsibility to carefully protect every American's identifying information. That is why I was stunned to learn that the Social Security Administration provided a full Social Security number on over 230 million documents that it sent out in 2015. This represents 66 percent of all mailings. The volume of documents that contain Americans' full Social Security number puts Americans unnecessarily at risk of having their identity stolen.…”