The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S6493-S6495 on June 26, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. DOMENICI:
S. 3565. A bill to designate Sandoval County, Valencia County, and Torrance County, New Mexico as the new Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area counties; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. DOMENICI. President, I rise today to introduce a bill that will significantly help my home State of New Mexico fight the war on drugs.
New Mexico has many serious drug problems. The proximity of my home State to Mexico makes it a convenient corridor for traffickers who smuggle narcotics into the United States. In a June 22 Albuquerque Journal article entitled ``N.M. Says It's Making Progress Against Meth Labs,'' State Police Sergeant Eric Burnham was quoted as saying, ``We've made it much tougher for them to get their main ingredients, and we've made it difficult to sustain large operations here in New Mexico . . . But methamphetamine use has stayed the same or even risen. Large quantities are coming in from Mexico--
they're being smuggled in and sold for cheap.'' In additional to our serious meth problems in New Mexico, cocaine seizures are on the rise, Mexican marijuana is prevalent, and Mexican black tar heroin is available throughout my home State.
However, New Mexico also has a significant tool in the war on drugs--
the Southwest border high-intensity drug trafficking area, HIDTA. In 1988, Congress established the HIDTA Program. In New Mexico, there are currently 13 counties that participate in the Southwest border HIDTA, with the missions of reducing drug availability through task forces aimed at disrupting or dismantling international and domestic drug trafficking organizations and helping coordinate drug trafficking investigative efforts among Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies.
Despite these efforts, drug abuse continues to affect many in my State, particularly in the Albuquerque Metropolitan area. The Southwest border HIDTA tells me that in this area, investigative links between narcotic trafficking groups are established frequently, often between Bernalillo County and surrounding counties that are not part of the Southwest border HIDTA and therefore don't have access to HIDTA tools and resources. The legislation I am filing today would rectify this situation by making the three surrounding counties, Sandoval, Torrance, and Valencia, part of the Southwest border HIDTA.
Mr. President, high-intensity drug trafficking areas have done a great deal in the war on drugs in the past 18 years. With the bill I am introducing today, HIDTA will be able to do even more.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 3565
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF HIGH INTENSITY DRUG TRAFFICKING
AREA.
The Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area for the State of New Mexico under the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program of the Office of National Drug Control Policy shall include Sandoval County, Valencia County, and Torrance County, New Mexico.
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By Mr. BENNETT (for himself and Mr. Carper):
S. 3568. A bill to protect information relating to consumers, to require notice of security breaches, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I rise today with my friend and colleague on the Banking Committee, the Senator from Delaware, Mr. Carper, to introduce legislation that I believe is of great importance to our economy and to American consumers. This legislation, The Data Security Act of 2006, will help protect individuals and businesses from the crimes of identity theft and account fraud, which are increasing at an alarming rate. These crimes impose higher costs on every consumer and business and can be financially debilitating to individuals whose personal information is stolen.
We are now living in the Information Age. Information drives our economy, from the design and production phase of new products or services to payment and delivery. Information technology and electronic networks have brought conveniences and efficiencies to both producers and consumers in our economy. Producers can better focus their products and services to potential customers, and consumers get the products they want with multiple payment options. Technology and, specifically, information technology makes this process ever more convenient and efficient.
All of the conveniences and efficiencies of the information age which benefit our evolving economy and its consumers have also brought new challenges. Criminals have also entered the information age and are now targeting and using information technology to steal from many of us.
Information databases and electronic information networks that contain sensitive personal information and sensitive financial account information are increasingly targets of sophisticated hackers, organized crime rings, identity thieves, and other criminals. When an individual has his identity or account information stolen from one of these sources and criminals use his or her legitimate name and credit history to create fraudulent accounts, or fraudulently access an existing account, by the time it is discovered, it is often too late to prevent that consumer from the need to invest significant time and effort to clear his or her name. These crimes also impose significant costs on financial institutions which are often liable for the loss of funds from the fraud. These costs are then passed on to all consumers through higher prices. We need to do more to prevent this type of fraud from happening in the first instance.
Currently, we are only partially protecting consumers from account fraud and identity theft. Criminals have shown they know how to exploit any weakness in information databases and networks, so we must do more to protect this information regardless of where it is located. Most of the recent data security breaches have occurred outside of financial institutions.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires financial institutions to protect the security and confidentiality of customer information. The Federal banking agencies have issued guidance under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requiring banks to investigate and provide notices to customers of breaches of data security involving customer information that could lead to account fraud or identity theft. Even with GLB and the associated regulations and guidance that have been implemented, many databases and information networks continue to be vulnerable because Federal law generally does not require entities that are not financial institutions to protect the security and confidentiality of sensitive information relating to consumers, or to investigate and provide notices to consumers of breaches that may lead to account fraud or identity theft.
I recognize that many States have enacted security breach notification statutes in an effort to protect their citizens and I commend them for their efforts, but these statutes impose different and sometimes conflicting requirements, thereby providing consumers with uneven protection and subjecting businesses to multiple and confusing standards.
Our credit granting system and financial payments system is a national one and not a state based system. Consumers generally benefit greatly because of our national system. Because of that fact, I believe we need a national uniform system governing data security and security breach notification for financial institutions and other entities that maintain or communicate financial account information or personally identifiable information that could be used by identity thieves.
The standards established as a result of the guidance issued by the Federal banking agencies under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act provide an appropriate model for Federal data security and security breach notification requirements and is, therefore, the model for the Data Security Act of 2006.
The Data Security Act of 2006 will provide a uniform national standard for data security and breach notification. Sensitive personal and account information must be protected, and in the event where that protection is breached and there is a risk to the individual of identity theft or account fraud, that individual must be notified so that he or she can take the appropriate steps to protect him or her self.
I encourage my colleagues to c1ose}y review this legislation and I hope we can act quickly here in the Senate to pass the Data Security Act of 2006. I thank my friend from Delaware, Senator Carper, for joining with me today to introduce this legislation.
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By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mr. Baucus):
S. 3569. A bill to implement the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement, to the Committee on Finance pursuant to section 2103(b)3 of Public Law 107-210.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am proud to introduce today with Senator Dorgan the Restitution for Victims of Crime Act of 2006.
This bill is needed to recover some of the mounting uncollected Federal criminal debt. The Federal Government is collecting just pennies on each dollar of Federal criminal debt that is owed. In my home State of Iowa for fiscal year 2005, for example, the Justice Department has an outstanding balance of nearly $82 million in uncollected criminal debt. Compared to other districts, Iowa's northern and southern districts have relatively small outstanding balances. Nationwide, over $41 billion remains outstanding.
The Restitution for Victims of Crime Act improves the procedures used to collect restitution. It also provides the authority to preserve assets to satisfy restitution orders. This bill gives our Federal criminal justice system the channels they need to not only successfully prosecute criminals but to recover the debts owed.
Both the Justice Department and the victims' rights community support this bill and recognize that it will significantly improve the current collection system.
This is an important bill and I am glad to join my good friend from North Dakota in introducing it.
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