mr. chairman , i am delighted to be able to cosponsor this amendment , and i thank the distinguished gentleman from michigan for presenting this amendment on identity theft , and i thank the chairman . 
i think the key element of the purpose of this amendment which we present today is to realize that children are vulnerable . 
documents have been lost , and now that we know that identity theft is as prolific , unfortunately , as katrina was and the rain and the floods , these children need protecting . 
so i would hope we could work together . 
i would like to work with the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner ) xz4003650 if this amendment could be accepted . 
as chair and founder of the children 's caucus , i am very concerned with the well being of our nation 's children . 
unfortunately , children have increasingly become targets for identity theft . 
sharp rises in incidents of fraud involving children 's social security numbers have been documented . 
crimes using this stolen data are typically credit card fraud or the issuance of fraudulent driver 's licenses . 
however , it is not too far fetched to think that the misappropriation of the personally identifiable information of a person who has not attained the age of 18 years could be used in a way that could bring about many of the offenses set forth in this act . 
the objective is to protect our children at all costs . 
my amendment would do just that by making it a crime to knowingly misappropriate the personal identification information of a minor in interstate or foreign commerce . 
the offense will be punishable by fines or imprisonment for not more than 10 years . 
identity thieves often target children for these types of crimes because they are much less likely to notice that someone else is using their identity . 
even infants have had their identities stolen by identity thieves . 
these crimes may be discovered only when bewildered parents get the bill . 
some children never learn that fraudulent activity has taken place in their name until they are refused a driver 's license because one has already been issued to their social security number . 
worse still , some apply for student loans only to learn that their credit has been ruined . 
sadly , the federal trade commission estimates that 9 percent of children in this situation learn that a member of their own family had actually perpetrated this fraud . 
fixing these credit reports can be very time-consuming and particularly expensive for young adults just entering the job market . 
victims now spend an average of 600 hours recovering from this crime , often over a period of years , at an average cost of $ 1 , 400 . 
these crimes against unsuspecting and defenseless children are among the most insidious that can be committed because they rob children of opportunity . 
instead , their entry to adulthood is a setback with massive debt , legal bills , and an extraordinary battle just to get a fair chance in life . 
this amendment provides stiff penalties to criminals who prey on a child 's future . 
i would like to thank mr. conyers for offering my amendment and therefore i join him as a cosponsor of this amendment . 
after being detained in a meeting on hurricane katrina , i was grateful that my amendment was able to be offered by mr. conyers , the ranking member . 
