The CLERK. Part 3 amendment offered by Mr. PAUL of Texas:
Page 50, line 13, at the end of paragraph (1)
add the following new sentence: “The Secretary
shall not use the social security account
numbers issued under title II of the
Social Security Act as the electronic personal
identifier, and shall not use any identifier
used in any other Federal program as
the electronic personal identifier.”
1998 Ron Paul 42:4
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Texas is recognized for 5 minutes.
1998 Ron Paul 42:5
Mr. PAUL.
Thank you, Mr. CHAIRMAN. I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks.
1998 Ron Paul 42:7
Mr. PAUL.
This
amendment is not a complex amendment. It merely states that Social Security
numbers cannot be used to identify
the individuals who will be participating
in this program.
1998 Ron Paul 42:8
This is a common practice, obviously,
today. The Social Security number
is used just for about everything. As a matter of fact, many Americans
think way too often.
1998 Ron Paul 42:9
There are 40 Federal programs now
that the Social Security number is
required. Not only that, the Federal
Government now has been mandating
the uses of the Social Security number
for similar purposes even on State programs
such as obtaining our driver’s license.
1998 Ron Paul 42:10
The concern that I have and that
many Americans have is that government
is too intrusive, wants too many
records and knows too much about everybody. The government and nongovernment
people can get your name
and they can get your Social Security
number and find out more about you
than you know about yourself, and
that is not the intent of our Constitution. It certainly is not the intent of
the Privacy Act.
1998 Ron Paul 42:11
The Privacy Act concerns were expressed
through this legislation in 1974
stating that, yes, we have overstepped
our bounds, there’s too much intrusiveness,
and we’re moving in the direction
of a national identification
card, something that is unknown and
should be unheard of in a free society.
1998 Ron Paul 42:12
We should not have an identity card
to carry our papers to get jobs, open
bank accounts, move about the country,
but we’re moving rapidly in that
direction. And this is a token effort to
make this point and require the government
to use some other identification
method for this program. It can be
done. There’s nothing sacred about the
Social Security number. The program
can be run without the use of Social
Security.
1998 Ron Paul 42:13
I would like to just read very briefly
some passages from the Privacy Act of
1974 to make you stop and
think about what we are doing.
1998 Ron Paul 42:14
“It shall be unlawful for any Federal,
State or local government agency to
deny any individual any right, benefit
or privilege provided by law because of
such individual’s refusal to disclose his
Social Security number.”
1998 Ron Paul 42:15
That isn’t the case. You don’t give your Social Security
number, you’re in big trouble in
this country. You can’t even get out
of the hospital if you’re born without a
Social Security number, and you can’t have your family
open up a savings account for the
child if you don’t have a Social Security
number. You’re not even allowed
to die at this time without a Social Security
number, because you need a Social
Security number on your death
certificate. Talk about cradle to grave observance by our government.
1998 Ron Paul 42:16
Adding from the Privacy Act:
“Any Federal, State or local government
agency which requests an individual
disclose his Social Security number
shall inform that individual whether
that disclosure is mandatory or voluntary,
by what statutory or other authority
such number is listed and what
uses will be made of it.”
We don’t have that happening. Numbers are just
demanded, and too many people have
complied with it, and we go along with
it, but more and more Americans are
getting upset with this monitoring of
everything that we do through the Social
Security number.
1998 Ron Paul 42:17
Every single government program is
now requiring it. Like I said, there are
40, 40 programs. Immigration, think
about how the immigration programs
are monitored through Social Security
number. There have been attempts to
use the Social Security number to
monitor people in their voting. We don’t need this. We do not need more
government surveillance in promoting
this kind of a program. The program
can survive, can work.
1998 Ron Paul 42:18
Some would argue, well, possibly,
just possibly, the efficiency of the program
may be diminished. That will be
the argument that I will probably hear. The efficiency of the program will be
diminished. Well, if this is the argument,
then you are saying that we are
here to protect the efficiency of the
State. I see an important role for us to
be here is to protect the privacy and
the civil liberties of the citizen. So we
are in conflict. Which should our role
be, to protect privacy and civil liberties,
or is it to protect the efficiency
of the State?
1998 Ron Paul 42:19
Well, it’s not difficult for me to figure
that out, and it’s not like I’m
saying this program wouldn’t exist, it’s just saying that we will put a small
amount of surveillance on this where
the government is not so casual in expanding
its role for the Social Security
number.
1998 Ron Paul 42:20
In the Privacy Act of 1974, in the
findings, they made a comment which I
think is very important.
“The
Congress finds...”
—and this is in
1974 when it was not really bad.—
“The Congress finds the opportunities for an
individual to secure employment, insurance
and credit and his right to due
process and other legal protections are
endangered by the misuse of certain information
systems.”
1998 Ron Paul 42:21
I ask you to support this
amendment. This is a positive amendment;
this is an amendment to protect
civil liberties of every American.
Note:
1998 Ron Paul Chapter 42
Ron Paul mentioned in 1998 Ron Paul Chapter 41
that he planned to introduce this amendment.
