HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, May 25, 1999
1999 Ron Paul 52:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce
H.J. Res. 55, the Mailbox Privacy Protection
Act, a joint resolution disapproving a Postal
Service Regulation which tramples on the privacy
of the two million Americans who rent
mailboxes from Commercial Mail Receiving
Agencies. Under this regulation, any American
currently renting, or planning to rent, a commercial
mailbox will have to provide the receiving
agency with personal information, including
two items of valid identification, one of
which must contain a photograph of the applicant
and one of which must contain a “serial
number — traceable to the bearer.” Of course,
in most cases that number will be today’s de
facto national ID number — the Social Security
number.
1999 Ron Paul 52:2 The receiving agency must then send the
information to the Post Office, which will maintain
the information in a database. Furthermore,
the Post Office authorizes the Commercial
Mail Receiving Agencies to collect and
maintain photocopies of the forms of identification
presented by the box renter. My colleagues
might be interested to know that the
Post Office is prohibited from doing this by the
Privacy Act of 1974. I hope my colleagues are
as outraged as I am by the Post Office’s mandating
that their competitors do what Congress
has forbidden the Post Office to do directly.
1999 Ron Paul 52:3 Thanks to the Post Office’s Federal
Government-granted monopoly on first-class delivery
service, Americans cannot receive mail without
dealing with the Postal Service. Therefore,
this regulation presents Americans who wish
to receive mail at a Commercial Mail Receiving
Agency with a choice: either provide the
federal government with your name, address,
photograph and social security number, or surrender
the right to receive communications
from one’s fellow citizens in one’s preferred
manner.
1999 Ron Paul 52:4 This regulation, ironically, was issued at the
same time the Post Office was issuing a
stamp honoring Ayn Rand, one of the twentieth
century’s greatest champions of liberty.
Another irony connected to this regulation is
that it comes at a time when the Post Office
is getting into an ever increasing number of
enterprises not directly related to mail delivery.
So, while the Postal Service uses its monopoly
on first-class mail to compete with the private
sector, it works to make life more difficult
for its competitors in the field of mail delivery.
1999 Ron Paul 52:5 This regulation also provides the Post Office
with a list of all those consumers who have
opted out of the Post Office’s mailbox service.
Mr. Speaker, what business in America would
not leap at the chance to get a list of their
competitor’s customer names, addresses, social
security numbers, and photographs? The
Post Office could even mail advertisements to
those who use private mail boxes explaining
how their privacy would not be invaded if they
used a government box.
1999 Ron Paul 52:6 Coincidentally, this regulation will also raise
the operating cost on the Post Office’s private
competitors for private mailbox services. Some
who have examined this bill estimate that it
could impose costs as high as $1 billion on
these small businesses during the initial six-month
compliance period. The long-term costs
of this rule are incalculable, but could conceivably
reach several billion dollars in the first
few years. This may force some of these businesses
into bankruptcy.
1999 Ron Paul 52:7 During the rule’s comment period, more
than 8,000 people formally denounced the
rule, while only 10 spoke generally favor of it.
However, those supporting this rule will claim
that the privacy of the majority of law-abiding
citizens who use commercial mailboxes must
be sacrificed in order to crack down on those
using commercial mailboxes for criminal activities.
However, I would once again remind my
colleagues that the Federal role in crime, even
if the crime is committed in “interstate commerce,”
is a limited one. The fact that some
people may use a mailbox to commit a crime
does not give the Federal Government the
right to treat every user of a commercial mailbox
as a criminal. Moreover, my office has received
a significant number of calls from battered
women who use these boxes to maintain
their geographic privacy.
1999 Ron Paul 52:8 I have introduced this joint resolution in
hopes that it will be considered under the expedited
procedures established in the Contract
with America Advancement Act of 1996. This
procedure allows Congress to overturn onerous
regulations such as the subject of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, the entire point of this procedure
to provide Congress with a means to stop federal
actions which pose an immediate threat to
the rights of Americans. Thanks to these
agency review provisions, Congress cannot
hide and blame these actions on the bureaucracy.
I challenge my colleagues to take full advantage
of this process and use it to stop this
outrageous rule.
1999 Ron Paul 52:9 In conclusion Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues
to join me in cosponsoring the Mailbox
Privacy Protection Act, which uses the
Agency Review Procedures of the Contract
with America Advancement Act to overturn
Post Office’s regulations requiring customers
of private mailboxes to give the Post Office
their name, address, photographs and social
security number. The Federal Government
should not force any American citizen to divulge
personal information as the price for receiving
mail. I further call on all my colleagues
to assist me in moving this bill under the expedited
procure established under the Congressional
Review Act.
Notes:
