Political Quotes

“many of us are talking about our veterans. And as we approach Memorial Day, it has been with great sorrow and great concern that we have noticed some of the headlines and the information on personal data of veterans being stolen. That is of tremendous concern to us, and I want to thank Chairman Buyer and the Veterans' Affairs Committee for their prompt actions in addressing this issue. I also would like to call to the attention of the House a piece of legislation that my colleague, Representative Simmons, and I are working on. It is the Veterans Identity Protection Act of 2006. We will be filing the bill on Friday. Mr. Simmons is a Vietnam veteran, and he understands the problems that veterans face every day. We know that veterans have placed their faith in the government to responsibly protect their personal information, and that that trust has been damaged. That is why the Blackburn-Simmons bill requires that more stringent controls be placed on the management of personal data. We also want to help those veterans monitor their credit to be certain that no one has stolen their identities. Government has an obligation to these men and women who have been breached in the loss of this information, and we want to be certain that that obligation is met. Mr. Speaker, I would commend the legislation to each of our colleagues and encourage them to join with us in supporting the veterans of this great Nation. ____________________”