Newsletter - The Data Hub

Statement

Obamacare Data Hub: "They're Not Ready."
Last week, I co-chaired a joint subcommittee hearing examining concerns with the "data hub", the online information sharing apparatus established by the health care law. The system is due to become operational on October 1st, but our hearing made it clear they're not ready. I have little confidence that the personal data of millions of Americans will be secure. I intend to continue working on this important issue and will provide another update soon. Read more about the data hub here. A portion of the hearing can be viewed here.

SOME FAST FACTS ON THE OBAMACARE DATA HUB:
* A University of Minnesota professor called it the "largest consolidation of personal information in the history of the republic."
* The hub will transfer personal information on millions of Americans gathered from numerous government agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs.
* CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, who is responsible for the security of the data hub, admitted in our hearing that she had still not been briefed by either the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security on the nature of the threat of cyberattack.

Delaying Individual Mandate: "Fair Is Fair'
The House has passed bipartisan legislation to delay for one year implementation of the employer and individual mandates in the health care law. I voted for these two bills because I believe hardworking taxpayers should be given the same relief that big businesses are getting from the Obama Administration. Fair is fair. It becomes more apparent each day that the health care law is unworkable and not ready for implementation. The thousands of rules, regulations and mandates are only increasing the cost of health insurance and dramatically expanding the bureaucracy in our health care system. President Obama himself has signed 7 bills into law that repeal or defund parts of his health care law. We will continue working to delay and repeal the many unworkable provisions in this law so we can replace them with common sense solutions that make health care more affordable and accessible for all.

Student Success Act Passes House
The House has passed The Student Success Act, H.R. 5., which includes two amendments that I co-sponsored to protect students and strengthen local school districts. The first amendment empowers parents, teachers, and local school boards to make educational decisions by prohibiting the U.S. Department of Education from creating costly and burdensome regulations that are inconsistent with the specific intent of federal law. Education policy should be set by those that know the community best: parents, teachers and local school board members. The second amendment that I worked on ends the practice of interstate confidentiality agreements among schools and child sex abusers. It prevents school districts from avoiding negative publicity and litigation by facilitating the transfer of employees who have abused students to an out-of-state school district. In addition, the amendment ensures that schools comply with background checks required by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

Homeland Security Hearing with Giuliani and Leiter
I recently discussed homeland security policy with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Michael Leiter at a Homeland Security Committee Hearing on July 10, 2013.

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