mr. speaker , i rise today to support the gentleman from california 's amendment . 
the public , whether shoppers , investors , or medicare beneficiaries , should be confident that their personal information is secure , and it is obvious from recently revealed breaches that more must be done to protect consumer data . 
as chairman of the commerce , trade & amp ; consumer protection subcommittee , i have held many hearings on data breaches and consumer data security and showed broad support for a comprehensive federal notification requirement to consumers for these security breaches . 
according to the federal trade commission , 27.3 million americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years , and the social security number is one of the primary tools . 
private health insurers do not rely on the ss no. , and neither should our nation 's health provider for seniors and the disabled . 
a non-identifying , random , set of characters can be generated that would be less meaningful to an individual 's entire financial ... .. 
the gao is well-published on the risk of using ss nos. , and the facility with which the centers for medicare and medicaid services ( cms ) could assign an alternate number . 
i support the gentleman 's amendment and urge my colleagues to do so . 
