U.S. Representative DeGette Fights For Veterans' Financial Security
Today, U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) announced her support for the Veterans ID Theft Protection Act of 2006 (H.R. 5487), legislation aimed at helping veterans whose personal data was stolen from the home of a Veterans Administration (VA) employee earlier this month.
"This is an outrageous, unacceptable privacy violation of the more than 425,0000 brave men and women here in Colorado who have served our country," said DeGette. "The revelation that the private and personal records of all of these veterans had been taken home by a VA employee and then were stolen is appalling. Our veterans and their families deserve better."
Earlier this week, VA Secretary James Nicholson announced that sensitive data collected by the government for approximately 26.5 million veterans -- names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth as well as some disability ratings -- was stolen from the home of a VA official who had removed this data from the VA and taken it home. A number of law enforcement agencies are working to recover this data.
"It was two weeks before the Bush Administration informed the FBI and 19 days before they made the theft public. That's 19 days that veterans were left in the dark and 19 days that the thieves could have wreaked havoc," said Rep. DeGette. "This is unacceptable."
Democrats are offering a bill to address this breach of privacy and are calling for a full investigation in the matter. H.R. 5487 would:
* Require the VA to provide six-months of free credit monitoring to veterans;
* Authorize up to $100 million in funding for credit monitoring; and
* Make certain the VA has all necessary negotiating powers to secure the best possible price for these credit monitoring services.
"This is yet another step in fulfilling our pledge to the veterans who have so ably served our nation." said DeGette.
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/co01_degette/va.html