Rep. Valadao Reintroduces the Social Security Fraud and Prevention Act in 115th Congress

Press Release

On Tuesday, January 24, 2017, Congressman David G. Valadao (CA-21) reintroduced his bipartisan legislation, the Social Security Fraud Prevention Act with lead Democrat cosponsor, Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA-15). The legislation, which was previously passed during the 114th Congress, works to protect Americans, especially children, veterans, and senior citizens from becoming victims of identity theft.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States. It threatens the financial security of millions of Americans, as well the economic stability of the United States as a whole. In fact, every two seconds, another American becomes a victim of identity fraud. Even worse, children, veterans, and seniors are especially vulnerable to such attacks.

Despite these alarming statistics, there is a high prevalence of unnecessarily printed Social Security numbers on documents issued by the federal government.

H.R. 624, the Social Security Fraud Prevention Act addresses concerns regarding the prevalence of Social Security Numbers on government-issued documents sent by mail. Specifically, the legislation aims to specify the circumstances under which inclusion of full SSNs are necessary and otherwise partially redact or completely remove the SSN from government-issued documents.

Congressman Valadao explained, "Our federal government should be working to protect our nation's veterans and children, not actively contributing to the occurrence of this crime." He went on, "I am proud to introduce this commonsense legislation to remove Social Security Numbers from government documents when they aren't necessary."

"Identity theft continues to rise at an alarming rate and remains one of the top reported consumer scams," said Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO), who introduced companion legislation in the Senate. "The Social Security Fraud and Prevention Act aims to mitigate the threat of identity theft by reducing the number of government-issued documents that contain full Social Security numbers. It strengthens protections against fraud for all Americans, and I thank Congressman Valadao for his leadership on this commonsense bill."

"The Social Security Fraud Prevention Act aims to protect many Americans' financial security, and I'm pleased to join Congressman Valadao in this important effort," said lead Democrat cosponsor, Representative Eric Swalwell (CA-15). "Identity theft is an ever-growing problem, affecting millions of Americans every year. This bill represents one commonsense, bipartisan way we can work to reduce it."

Original cosponsors of the legislation include Representatives Rick Allen (R-GA), Larry Bucshon (R-IN), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Steve Cohen (R-TN), Barbara Comstock (R-VA), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Val Demmings (D-FL), Jeff Denham (R-CA), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), David Joyce (R-OH), Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Jim Rennaci (R-OH), Kathleen Rice (D-NY), Martha Roby (R-AL), Ed Royce (R-CA), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and Dan Webster (R-FL).

Previously introduced in the 114th Congress by Congressman Valadao, the Social Security Fraud and Prevention Act was passed on September 26, 2016 and referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

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