Hearing of Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs

HEADLINE: HEARING OF SENATE COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
 
SUBJECT: THE GROWING PROBLEM OF IDENTITY THEFT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT
 
CHAIRED BY: SENATOR RICHARD C. SHELBY (R-AL)

WITNESSES:
 
HOWARD BEALES, II, DIRECTOR OF CONSUMER PROTECTION, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION BUREAU;
 
TIMOTHY CADDIGAN, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIVISION, U.S. SECRET SERVICE;
 
MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM, SENIOR AGENT IN CHARGE, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIVISION, U.S. SECRET SERVICE;
 
LINDA FOLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, IDENTIFY THEFT RESOURCE CENTER;
 
MICHAEL W. NAYLOR, DIRECTOR FO ADVOCACY, AARP;
 
STUART PRATT, PRESIDENT& CEO, CONSUMER DATA INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION,;
 
WILLIAM HUGH, VICE PRESIDENT OF CREDIT SERVICES, NEIMAN MARCUS GROUP;
 
JOHN HARRISON (U.S. ARMY, RET.), CONSUMER WITNESS

BODY:
SEN. MIKE CRAPO (R-ID): Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I too, want to thank you for holding this hearing. As I'm sure everyone here knows the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the issues that surround it are going to be central to the activity of this committee this year, and critical to our efforts to make sure the proper protection of our credit system in this country is accomplished. And a part of that is going to be addressing the question of identity theft. And I suspect, that that may be one of the easier parts that we address, because that may be one where we find the most consensus among us as to whether there is an issue, and how to approach it, but nonetheless it will be one of the more important aspects of what we do.

This last weekend, I happened to be in a hotel and late at night I was flipping through channels and it's interesting that Senator Johnson mentioned Sandra Bullock and The Net, because low and behold, there it was, on television.

And at the time, I wondered, you know I wonder if the media is picking up on the issue of identity theft, by either noticing what we're doing in Congress and following our lead, or whether we're following their lead and they're bringing the public attention to it, and then I wondered whether perhaps it was just a coincidence, but I doubt it.

The fact is, that across this country, whether it's here in Congress, or among the consuming public, or in financial institutions, identity theft is becoming an increasingly large issue. I think as we approach the issue, we want to make certain that we do it in the context of recognizing the value of our system of credit in this country today and not blaming our system of credit, but recognizing that the strength of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and what we have in America, in terms of the way we approach and manage credit, is a strong part of our system, that needs to be protected, and can be used as the system by which we achieve the objectives to protect against identity theft.

It seems to me that the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and our credit system in this country is a big part of the solution, not a part of the problem that we are facing here. And I look forward to working with the other members of the committee on this issue, I too am putting together an approach to this issue legislatively, and look forward to working with Senator Corzine and others, who are going to be addressing this, because it will be one piece of a very big part of our approach to the credit system of our country this year, that is critical to consumers, financial institutions and frankly to the strength of our economy. Thank you.