Mike Enzi: “I thank Senator Shelby and Senator Sarbanes for their work. They have put in a lot of time working through different…”

“I thank Senator Shelby and Senator Sarbanes for their work. They have put in a lot of time working through different changes in this to make it not only more acceptable but more useful. We appreciate that. I also want to give special mention to Senator Cantwell, the Senator from Washington, for her perseverance, for her tenaciousness, for her innovation, and for her flexibility. She did a marvelous job of working on this bill. It is extremely important to the Nation. This is an extremely critical part of fair credit. In today's world of digital transactions and online living, nobody is safe from the fastest growing crime in America known as identity theft. Last year alone, the Federal Trade Commission estimated that nearly 10 million Americans were victims of this crime, and each paid an average of $500 in order to repair the damage done by fraudsters and credit abusers. To these millions of American families, $500 means mortgages, car payments, student loans, child support, groceries. In the larger context, $500 per victim means American families and businesses lost more than $50 billion in recovery costs in 2003 alone. That is a $50 billion drag on our economy--an economy that is just starting to bounce back. With the number of identity theft cases increasing at an alarming rate, the economic costs will be even higher next year.”