Transcripts For CSPAN2 Social 20240706

We will call the subcommittee to order. Welcome to todays hearing on Social Security administrations role in combating Identity Fraud. When the Social Security administration began issuing numbers in 1936 they were used track workers earnings and the Social Security Program Changed dramatically and we now have a Social Security number is part of the american identity. Ssn are used for a number of reasons, required by law, others not. If you want to buy a home, a credit card you need a Social Security number but after countless data breaches is clear Social Security numbers are far from safe and far from a secret. There were a data breaches including Social Security numbers so it should come as no surprise the Social Security number is still an attractive partner for postures and Identity Theft is a real threat to millions of americans. And that includes our children and our seniors. In 2021 roughly 1. 25 million were the victims of Identity Fraud which cost American Families realtime, really real worry to resolve this crime. The last thing somebody needs when theyre trying to protect themselves for a model of Identity Fraud is safe but unfortunately resulting an issue related to a stolen Social Security number and the long complex for the placing additional burdens on veterans and time for fraudsters to misuse the Social Security number is the creator and issue arent sure of Social Security numbers, the administration is uniquely positioned to not only combat Social Security fraud also through Social Security numbers that have been, from our usual Identity Fraud. The Social Security policy is to always make things easy. Today we will have an opportunity to hear firsthand how difficult it is to resolve issues related to loss Social Security numbers for stolen Social Security numbers and discuss the ways the Social Security administration and make it easier for americans to protect themselves from our and of is your house you call police. Theyll tell you to wait a few weeks and hope your situation improves, instead they send an officer to respond. It is not always how victims are treated. The American People deserve a similar response from Governor Services when they are victims of Identity Theft lab partner Ranking Member larson is the Social Security identity that require the Social Security administration to provide a single point of contact for individuals whose numbers have been misused resolve these as possible. We also had a chance to hear from both Social Security administration s office of Inspector General ongoing efforts at the agency to combat Identity Fraud ways these can be improved. The agencys records are valuable and type fraud tools to protect Social Security numbers with other verify identity data such as name, date of birth and date of death and these records have been leveraged to protect fraud and share index data with other state agencies by partnering with the private sector to establish consentbased Social Security verification number or ecb sp. As well here today more the ssa and congress can do to improve the effectiveness of these efforts. Identity theft is a serious issue and we all have a responsibility to do a better job of protecting americans from this threat to restore public trust. I want to thank our witnesses for joining us today im looking forward to your testimony im pleased to recognize the Ranking Member from connecticut to star wars or his Opening Statement. You mister chairman and im honored to join with you in terms of putting forward this legislation. As you indicated identity is vitally important to the American People ask is Social Security soft. The missions number one insurance plan. The nations number one program with respect to making sure that our elderly state of poverty in our stay off of poverty. More veterans of course rely on Social Security disability and they do the va. Yet as important as Identity Theft is it is we must take it serious, is also important we find Social Security appropriately and Social Security administration is the most effective and Efficient Agency we have the federal government. In insurance parlance may operate at whats called a 99 percent loss ratio i come from insurance capital. That means they are able to operate their agency and serve the more than 66 million americans went under one percent administrative cost. They dont need to become. They need to be enhanced, especially in this area of Identity Fraud as well. I think its incumbent upon us not only to strengthen the Social Security administration so theyre capable of doing their job, especially after the devastation we once asked him across the country and the nation as with an agency. Theres noother federal agency , non that operates and administers what it has to do with under one percent. That is incredible. We should be striving to make a model of what Social Security does they in terms of getting because they certainly as we all would agree on to our constituents can do better so mister chairman iwanted to do this at the start. I have a car for everybody, is going to have your picture on it there is i will have them pass it out, will republicans intend to give these progress and what it is i hope that we can join together because most thing identity is with regard to Social Security is enhanced. And Social Security has not been enhanced since Richard Nixon was the president of the United States in 1921. There have been no improvements so when you get your car, and mister chairman delivery, your cards in my car but everyone is going to get these. I will tell you just how many Social Security recipients you have in your district. Then it will break down to those children in your district regarding Social Security. To those veterans that are getting Social Security almostimportantly and something we dont talk about as , is how this is an engine recovery mister chairman you have 161,374 Social Security recipients in georges her monthly your gets 270 million coming into the district. Thats incredible. I have 147 652 Social Security recipients who get 270 billion monthly. We have not improved or enhanced that in 52 years. Gallon of milk costs . 92 in 1971 obviously everybody on this committee knows what happened in terms of prices. And when you have that what were living in now in terms of what political scientists and historians are calling a poly crisis when you look at whats happening globally, just in the area of lets say , the supply chain issues, the ensuing global inflation and then that a global war that in essence what the ukraine were amounts to you look at the pressure, who is the group thatimpacts the most . Seniors, how so . Everybody knows this but we dont talk about it enough. More than slightly over 1. 2 Million People who perished in the standard, 855,000 are over the age of 65. Of the people that are impacted the most on inflation, those are people on fixed incomes. Those are the 66 Million People on Social Security. They need our and 80th now. Not only in terms of protecting identity that most the theft of not having their congress do what it should do. 5 million of our fellow americans get below Poverty Level checks having worked all their lives and pay into the system that only congress can change. Ms. Larson, about a minute over year and we all appreciate and share my passion. Sorry i haveovertime. This is an important topicand an important program. I apologize misterchairman and ideals that. And of all points that you made are worthy of intense debate and discussion today we do not want to miss an opportunity to focus on an important topic which is identity from now i will introduce our witnesses, mister sean braun is Deputy Commissioner for assistance and chief Information Officer at theSocial Security administration. David wexler is going to director at december 1 coalition. Margaret hayward is a private citizen and multiple three ranges your personal experience trying to resolve an issue related to her daughters Social Security number. I also like to take a moment to recognize her husband a who are here joining us as well. Ive have you here and look forward to the commentary from the back rowback there. Mister robert roach, to see you again as president of the alliance of americans that Mister Jeffrey brown is Inspector General at the office for Inspector General at the Social Security Administration Welcome to you all of you foryour time today. Your statement has been a part of the record. You are now recognized for five minutes. Thank you mister chairman, Ranking Member larson and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for reminding me to address the Social Security administrations role in, in effect ing Information Officer essay. Today i will talk about her efforts to enable our resulting from criminals tried to misuse those for their own gain. All of us play a role in finding a solution to this issue and i really appreciate the subcommittees many years of work on this important issue. The Social Security act of 1935 did not mandate the use of access and split it authorized the creation of a recordkeeping system for address wage reports. We designed the access and allow employers to identify or individual earnings to help us track earnings determined allegedly for benefits and pay today, almost 90 years later the ss and remains the core of our recordkeeping is essential to carrying out our mission. Over many decades, use of the ssm for nonprogram purposes has spread is now use the ssn to exchange informationabout individuals. Data aggregators sell large volumes of personal information including ssn is collected by businesses. Why did you send expanded so as incentives for pain from fraudulent ssns. One time it may have been helpful to use the ssn as secret information. Something that would only been on to the number was assigned. Is no longer the case and has not been the case for many decades. But the ssn was never will never be evidence of someones identity. It is a number associated with specific individuals with thesespecific individuals in our records. Over time ssn misuse and Identity Theft including cinematic identity have continued to persist. Identity fee these have our target children because of their history and their records may be used for years before anyone realizes someone has stolen your identity or misuse five. Not all this is acceptable. We understand thefrustration, the stress and economic hardships ssn misuse and identity that causes victims. As a matter of Practice Online offices who suspect as these have been stolen with uptodate information about steps into to minimize damage caused by the we also help to prevent Identity Theft by continuing to work with Government Agencies and external groups to raise awareness of theproblem. And we support our office of Inspector General office of investigation in their Law Enforcement efforts to stop Identity Theft. Awareness however is only part of the game. Even though we advise people to keep their ssn confidential, public and private dailies is the likelihood that ssns are secret. This is why ssas lawfully authorized electronic access and verification has become so important. Annually we perform over 2 billion automated verifications through more than 3500 Data Exchanges. Using Electronic Systems such as our Social Security Number Verification Service and the consent based Verification Service we are making it harder for identity needs to operate given the importance of our electronic ssn verification in defending against people on we are working to expand the ability of the federal benefits Program Using services with identityverification process. We intend to enable veterans programs to verify ssns throw other federal agencies using realtime verification request. We understand the significant challenges associated with Identity Theft within both government and private sectors. As long as the ssn remains accessing things about you the ssn itself will have commercial value it will continue to be targeted for misuse. Ssa will continue to do what we can to prevent and mitigate the effects of ssn misuse and Identity Theft. We stand ready to work with you and other governments and privateIndustry Partners as you consider ways to protect americans personal information. Thank you and ill be happy to answer any questions. Miss wexler you are now recognized for five minutes. Ranking member larson and members of the subcommittee you for your need to testify on ssns Identity Fraud. Im are here to discuss a key goal, preventing Identity Fraud through the use of ssa is ssn verification or pc has beazers, a service that congress directed ssa to establish. It will create a synthetic identity by combining real information which is a persons ssn with fabricated information using that to apply for credit and having a credit reportcreation of the credit bureau. The criminal will spend time building up the Credit Profile of this and identity. Later criminal a large crack, and ashes. Victims are the owners of the stolen Social Security numbers many large pool one year are victims of this fraud may only be uncovered years later 18yearold apply for student loan or credit card. Undoing synthetic identity causes you to burn on the individual and his parents. This fraud cost industry billions in losses every year more costly all recognizing this fraud is in the 2000 we use its existing Legal Authority to create users to verify whether our name is records of this written consent from the ssm roller process is too slow for our increasingly Digital Credit system in 2018 Congress Mandated ssa create an realtime version of the paperbased system and a speaking part of ssas Mission Commission was essential in action as it passed legislation that ultimately became a law the system allows Financial Institutions with consumers consent to verify whether a name for competition records. In response to that result to use this many of our Service Providers on the multiple institutions are coalition has worked closely with ssa 2018 wall was and i want to focus on the execution of this many improvements are necessary for the ability of the program. We cannot say this lightly, the decision is at risk of class changes are not made first ssa must extend the timeframe for covering the cost of the system along and users fully reimburse ssa and Leadership Foundation however we were recovered 38 million in the next threeyears , but not in the statute by substantially increasing user fees. There was a price increase last april and another one takes effect in july. Some users will be expected to pay more than 22 times what they originally paid for the exact same system discontinues is highly likely that current and potential users will be deterred. Some may stop altogether and some may submit transactions only for highrisk areas. That meansyour transaction costs as essays would increase the fees can remain users thats not viable. We asked congress to work with us to extend the Cost Recovery conferences in years. Second as essays and explore ways to provide further detail on an electrical. Is it possible to determine the result if there is synthetic Identity Fraud. Data shows 40 percent of the no match results are drawn while the rest are those or another denying issue. Enhancements to the body of this as an additional granularity all our protecting consumers privacy data are worth exploring. This is Significant Group the source of the system and attract more users finally ssa should consider house it can be used. Other duties in both public and private sector may find this is why we have a vested interest in ensuring these success could be on all of the government private collaboration. If it fails, only people that are criminals. Usually opportunity totestify forward your questions. We now look forward to hearing from you, you are recognized for five minutes. Ranking member larson and members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to share ourstory with you. Through no fault are on our indian dollars identity was put at risk whenshe was eight years old. This experience has been stressful during already horrible time and is other will never experience the audience last year my husband and i lost our child shortly after we relocated. When she was seven weeks old i realize we neverreceived her Social Security number. Tracks. Restrictions website and saw it about three weeks issued a yacht. I immediately called lighthearted as as a telephone number representative listened to my concerns increased need to be patient. He only didnt matter if she had not signed a number either way i could read the form requesting a car. I told him from the standpoint it didnt matter that she had already been issued a car or identity could be because the locals. According to that representative our only option was to request the car i cannot receive her Social Security number over the phone we could begin the process of protecting her identity. The only way to be assured her identity was protected was the signing number was not an option going anywhere with newborn waiting in the Government Office is no small fee this became challenging. We planned to go to the Social Security office right away after i called our daughter became ill and was in mister and into the hospital with rst three weeks later our childwas only durable to go to the office. We finally went to the ssa field office to complete our online request for hard to find hardliners Social Security number follow the same pattern once again suggested 90 patient and get and contrary to what the representative told me they would not provide us with our daughters assigned number. All we could do was finalize the request weight your child waiting is an acceptable course of action. When marcy was three months old replacement card arrived and we finally learned our daughters Social Security number. It was only then we were to engage in the process of monitoring and protecting her credit through each of the euros our original card remains unaccounted for and be in anyones hands. Social Security Administration personnel made what was already a stressful time more with inaccurate information. On top of the frustration we had to weigh the risk of bringing fragile the doctor and weigh the costs of protecting her way forward each interaction was the same. Pushing to be connected to the right resources. Any parents dont have the education, Work Experience to navigate complex system that i do until i fixed there are children who stand to lose everything. Before she was even on hold a vital piece of our daughters identity was compromised and she had no choice but to use that number for life. Mercy wont need the ssa thresholds receive a new number. Without that shewill be inconvenienced will also credit. A similar knowledgeable point of contact within the ssa recently with our case is to help us navigate this process would have an helpful. A new Social Security number for our daughter with me in a lifetime of credit and Identity Fraud sitting hours of time years of mistrust. Prior to our daughters birth i worked with a practitioner and when it comes to Health Prevention is somewhat more valuable to cds as a lysing philosophy Identity Protection is timeconsuming and exhausting. I am by the subcommittee focus on this important issue for you to continue your work to pass legislation that will get my family and so the others peace of mind. Thank you so much for allowing me to shareour story with you today. Mister roach you are now recognized for five minutes. On robert roach, id like to thank our Committee Chairman ferguson and Ranking Member larson my good friend and members of this committee ortestifying. In 2001 the alliance was a Grassroots Organization with the other and 38 states. 66 million americans one every five households require lifetime guarantee benefits that are essential to all who rely on including seniors, people with disability and subsistence workers. All americans are concerned about Identity Theft last month was one of the oldest americans celebration a retiree townhall. During that event specifically to address the issues of fraud and the efforts ssa is making to increase awareness around Identity Theft. We want it done on a bipartisan basis based on this is not a white plot of this is not a black problem this is not a hispanic problem or asian problem this is an american problem. We anticipate and we hope that the United Congress will pass a bill 2100 act or something similar and Work Together to fix the problem for all americans and all their families. We are in desperate times and we put out faith and hope in the good people we said to congress to help us fix our problems. Thank you for your testimony. I look forward to continuing the conversation mr. Brown you are recognized for five minutes. Good afternoon tim ferguson, Ranking Member larsen and members of the subcommittee, i commend you for holding this important hearing today on the Social Security administrations role in combating Identity Fraud. Social security touches the lives of every american about 175 Million People work and pay Social Security taxes and nearly 57 million receive Social Security benefit each month. As we heard in earlier testimony it was originally intended to track earnings but has become the de facto national identifier. This has given rise to individuals using other peoples assets for legal purposes. As the chairman said in his opening remarks, the ssn has become linchpin to Identity Theft, one of the Fastest Growing crimes in america affecting millions each year. The office of Inspector General or oig plays a vital role in combating ssn misuse and Identity Theft be. Throughout our history ssn misuse has been a priority in our oversight effort. Oig has established a Multidisciplinary Team of professionals that develop and implement innovative approaches to combat Identity Theft and scams. This is donethrough audit , criminal investigation and prosecution, Civil Enforcement and Public Outreach and education. I would like to briefly touch on these approaches. The audit found among other things instances where fraudsters improperly use the fsn in older adults and diseased children. Since the covid19 pandemic uses rely heavily on eservices increasing the need for oversight. We found the bad actors exploited some of excess a public systems to potentially commit Identity Fraud. These instances underscore the need for ssa to thoroughly evaluate its systems for potential vulnerabilities to ensure users are who they claim to be an systems arent misuse. Many of the cases office of investigation has successfully conducted involved ssn misuse including synthetic Identity Theft. Synthetic Identity Theft is a unique form of fraud that combines the ssns of real people with fraudulent information such as false names and dates of birth to create new identities. Its one of the most difficult forms of fraud to detect because fraudsters built the credit over time using a fake profile for making fraudulent charges and abandoning the identity. And one of our joint investigations individuals were charged with using approximately 700 synthetic identities between january 2017 and august 2020 and to open Bank Accounts and credit cards and create shell companies. The pandemic resulted in criminal signing ways such as the case i just mentioned fraudulently take advantage of the infusion of trillions of dollars in federal funding. Identity theft is a Common Thread running through many investigations related to the misuse of pandemic relief funds. Since the start of the pandemic oig is engaged with other Law Enforcement agencies and we have been involved in over 150 investigations related to pandemic relief programs funds and scams. For over a decade the American Public has been plagued by scammers impersonating Government Agencies with the goal of stealing money or personal information including ssns. Safeguarding the public from financial fraud and scams is a top priority for the oig we hold the National Slam the scam date each year this campaign amplifies our outreach efforts and content encourages the public to hang out or ignore suspicious calls or messages in other words, to slam the scam. We thank the members of congress for helping to educate your constituents themselves. From Social Security related and other government imposter scams. In conclusion, i want to think that subcommittee for inviting me here today to highlight the efforts and preventing misuse of ssns. We are pleased to recognize the chairman of the full committee calling from missouri jason smith mr. Smith you are now recognized for five minutes for Opening Statement thank you for joining us today. Thank you chairman ferguson Ranking Member larsen thank you all for the opportunity to share a few remarks on an important topic that affects every american. We all know someone whos had to go through the ordeal of Identity Theft. One of the reasons i wanted to hold this hearing was after learning about everything our former colleague governor kristi noem had to deal with after congress publicly disclosed the Social Security numbers of her, her husband, all of her children and her soninlaw. I asked the governor to share with the committee about her experience, the difficulties since her familys numbers were made available to the public and what reforms we should consider through our jurisdiction to help families find themselves in a similar unfortunate circumstance. I have with me a statement from governor noam expressing her appreciation for and interest in the committee holding todays hearing. Governor noam writes in part it is troublesome enough that identity thieves and fraudsters try to steal our personal information right out from under us. But the government should not be doing fraudsters favors by improperly disclosing these important numbers that provide Internet Access to ones identity. Furthermore, governments should also be a help and not a hindrance for those who Social Security numbers has been compromised while disclosing Social Security number four legitimate versus causes millions to take a pause, its even more alarming when a citizen cant trust their own government to keep their personally identifying information security. Unfortunately that is exactly what happened to me. And my family when congress exposed the Social Security numbers of me as well as that of my husband and my three children and her soninlaw to the entire will. Governor noam goes on to describe house of this disclosure occurred and how she found out in december 2020 my family and i provided our Social Security numbers to the white house as part of an official visit in my capacity as governor of south dakota. However, these records went unredacted in the National Archives and were provided to the United States congress, they were then needlessly and carelessly published without redaction for all those on the internet. I learned of the published disclosure of our private information through reports in the media. That is outrageous. It wasnt a call from the Social Security administration, or any of the governmental bodies who published our personal information for millions to see. Failing at each turn to safeguard the personal information entrusted to it instead i learned from the media and reporters who reached out about the disclosure. She also highlights the financial fallout from this experience that is already occurred and the burden on her family going forward. She writes my family has already had to spend time and money to protect ourselves from the governments careless disclosure of our personal information and already bad actors have tried to use that information to their advantage. It might be years before we experience the full impact of this disclosure but for the foreseeable future we must closely monitor every financial transaction we see. Realizing there might be ones out there we never see. Congress needs to take steps to not only better protect the Social Security numbers of american citizens make sure they are married aware of such a disclosure present additionally we must cut the bureaucracy and red tape one must go through when trying to navigate the cumbersome and difficult the situation of replacing their own or their child Social Security number once its compromise. I ask unanimous consent to insert the governors entire statement into the record. Without objection so ordered. Thank you mr. Chairman, i yelled back. Thank you. Thank you again to the witnesses for your testimony and we will now begin with the question answer session i will begin thank you again for being here today. Thank you for sharinyou text in about the difficulties you experienced in trying to solve this problem. Tell us a little bit about how a single point of contact would have been would have made this easier for you . A single point of contact would allow a certain amount of consistency obviously that that wouldve been so helpful i wouldnt have been jockeying around and started from scratch every time i was interacting with a representative or person employee in the office and having one person who could follow up with me and make sure i was doing what i should be doing make sure there wasnt anything that could be done to move things more quickly because as weve learned through the testimony today it sounds like the time you dont know your number is time you cant be protecting your child in my case. Is there a followup question you all virtually spent a lot of time on this. Personnel resources you and your family have had to expand on this, what do you think that cost is . Its impossible to quantify the amount of time we spent, the worry, freezing your credit, trying to navigate all the different elements between Social Security administration the three nongovernment Credit Bureaus and and the Actual Experience just trying to acquire a replacement card we had to squeeze in between School Pickups hospitalizations and woken up in the middle of the night occasionally worrying about this. And this isnt going to go away even after this hearing it will continue to be with us unless our daughter is able to get a Social Security number. When someone like ms. Haworth has a problem like this what do you think the cost of that is to the agency in terms of a dollar amount to help solve this problem . What kind of resources does it take . Our field offices and 800number we strive to provide empathetic professional service each person visits or calls. Each contact is handled with great care. I understand im looking for a number you think it cost 1000, 10,000, 20,000 in Agency Resources to address the problem . Im an it guy not the cfo. Why dont we go to mr. Brown, do you have a rough idea of the cost associated with resolving an average cost of resolving a particular case. Ms. Wexler, the Social Security administration as you noted in your testimony will be updating its Fee Structure on the ecb sv service. I think you mentioned youve got concerns about how this would impact usage, can you dive into that a little further until you us what you anticipate. Weaned think the new tiered structure will discourage use for both current users and possible users that are good not quite using the system. I want to give one example to help quantify this. One he is earning that initially was expected to pay 276,500 is about to be expected to pay 6. 25 million for the same service, box 22 fold increase over just two years. That discourages use. Theres no way about it it does not discourage use. Thats like netflix saying your 15 a month subscription is going up to 330. Our concerns as this tight timeframe for them to recover their costs is creating a vicious cycle it would be less users and then the cost would have to increase again so we want to work with ssa and congress to make sure that does not happen because that is in no ones interest. Mr. Brennan its my understanding the administration did not conduct an analysis of how increasing the fees of the system would affect utilization. How did you determine the initial Fee Structure and what considerations have been made for the subsequent Fee Structures . Thank you for the question. The Fee Structure is based on input from the coalition and Industry Partners who use the service and they are there expected volume of verifications. As well as guided by the statute that authorizes the program ecb sv and requires us to collect the cost for building and operating the system within a specific period of time. It seems like ms. Wechsler has an excellent point that if you increase fees so rapidly that its going to discourage use. Was that not taken into account when the new Fee Structure was put into place . We have extensive conversations and ongoing discussion with the coalition ms. Wechsler represents and our intent is to incentivize usage thereby increasing number of verifications and generally ignore these. We are open to further discussion with you about ways to resolve this challenge and we do want to make it an efficient and effective service. Mr. Ne obviously Social Security is a real problem i did spend on the same way for several years a real threat on the horizon is Artificial Intelligence, has your office been able to look at criminal activity around Artificial Intelligence and do you think your office and the administration is prepared to address fact via Artificial Intelligence in the future . Thats absolutely rapidly evolving technology that we are all trying to keep up with with and i think its important for the agency and the oig to monitor this very closely. Artificial intelligence has i think the opportunity to for tremendous benefit to the agency in helping to process claims and handle its workloads but there is also considerable risks if it gets in the hands of bad actors. Risks we cant even contemplate at this point. Theres been an incident a few years ago where it did appear that Artificial Intelligence was calling the Social Security Administration Try to process direct deposit changes on behalf of Social Security beneficiaries and we work with the agency to alert employees of this scam but like i said, its a rapidly evolving technology and we need to keep tabs on this very closely. Thank you. I now recognize Ranking Member mr. Larson you are recognized. Thank you mr. Chairman, i want to thank all of our witnesses also. Im sorry the chairman had to leave but i completely concur with him that that is a travesty what happened to governor gnome and we should be doing everything to make sure that Sensitive Data like that is always redacted and that is a shame. I want to thank the witnesses, especially mrs. Hayward. You are a model for what american citizen should be. In terms of contacting your family directly and seeking a resolution and making sure you are speaking out, as you indicated, the many mothers who perhaps arent in the same situation like you and have taken the time to figure out a ahow is it her situation cant be resolved more timely and given the individual security and the notion that this is being looked into . We regret the stress and confusion caused to ms. Hayward, we strive to provide a timely answers we are glad the replacement for the ssn card was issued after her field office visit and we would be happy to work with mrs. Hayward to identify if there are other ways we might improve our service. It seems to me like and i know there is difficulty in getting a new card but her testimony seemed to indicate that shes not gonna feel secure until they have been issued a new card. How long should it take . In the state of pennsylvania where mrs. Hayward lives i believe three weeks for the issuance of the card is still a case of one subprocesses through. Can we charge you to be personally responsible to make sure this matter gets looked into. As i said in my Opening Statement and everybody should know this as well, i think mr. Brown brought it up when you asked him a question, there are costs associated with all of this, arent there . And has the Social Security administration been funded appropriately . a¦ to make the technological, the chairman is completely right about Artificial Intelligence after all the hearings weve had on this and the capability that exists out there, we better get repaired real quick to deal with this and thats not going to be something that we say we can reshuffle the agency and they will be able to do this on their own that simply is not going to happen most importantly when we are talking about all of this. And ms. Wechsler you brought it up and i am empathetic to your concerns, what was the cost 38 million . The agency has got to be able to deal with the 10,000 baby boomers a day become eligible for Social Security. Thats 3,650,000 a year. It will be over 70,000 Social Security recipients within a couple years. So we are going to need to have to find Social Security we are not gonna be able to solve this problem by cutting Social Security and cutting benefits and cutting agencies so they can deal with this problem. In fact, i think we should look into especially as it relates to Artificial Intelligence what we have to do because we may have to take that as a whole separate entity but noting that this is the number one Insurance Program for the country and along with medicare and the military budget account for 70 of our overall budget this is an area where i believe we can work bipartisan way to solve the problem so no mother and hopefully because of your efforts, mrs. Hayward, that no other mother has to go through this process to further investigate technologically along with the humanization of our agencies as to how we could best operate. Thank you mr. Larson and i look forward to the bipartisan conversation as its related to this. Next i will call on mr. Carey you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman i want to thank all the witnesses for participating in this very important conversation regarding the role of Social Security administration and combating Identity Fraud. As many of our panelists have mentioned, but Social Security numbers become a common identifier for a range of purposes beyond of what was intended to tracking income. And Social Security benefits. Unfortunately, frequent use of the Social Security members has exposed americans to fraud and Identity Theft, which in turn causes unsuspecting americans become victims of fraud each year. The financial loss is often borne by the Financial Institution the owners of the stolen Social Security number is our true victims. There was a study done and we were talking about mrs. Hayward mentioned unmeasurable and terms of how much it cost on average we seen an estimate that 150 children were victims of Identity Fraud the average cost to the family trying to resolve the issue is 372. I just thought i would throw out those numbers become a recent constituent of mine in my district had a bank account hacked and her identity stolen. Constituent Social Security benefits were also stolen and now the fraudster has continually contacted ssa to try to get additional information. My team back in the district is working hard to potentially get the constituent back there stolen benefit, however, we need to prevent this from ever occurring again. My dear friend from georgia brought up in his opening testimony in 2021 an estimated 1. 25 million children were victims of Identity Fraud. As the users of Social Security numbers the ssa is an unique position to help combat the theft and misuse of the Social Security numbers. As ms. Wechsler mentioned the combat of Identity Theft aa establish electronic consent based verification system no Financial Institution can match consenting can match consenting consumers information with Social Security numbers to verify their identity. And running short on time. Mr. Brune, why is the ss and adhering so closely to their short timeframe to recuperate costs of implementing the ec esv . The appropriations law requires us to recoup all of our costs at a designated time frame. To combat Identity Theft and have ongoing call conversations with the coalition miss wexler represents will understand the impediments of usage and try to address them with your systems how many Data Exchange agreements does the ssa have with other state agencies . As i stated resting we have approximately 500 agreements and verifications where we verify ssn numbers and data associated. Let me ask a simple question if miss the word was worried and she says she has to worry about it and i believe her, 17 month old, is it possible that that card is lost in themail , and your daughter is how will . Nine months. Is possible to get a new Social Security number is just a card . She doesnt have to do not monitoring like i have to do with my military records, is something we can do . Of policy does allow for and according to our policy we would look at what options were available. In this case with miss hayward and if not a panacea to issue a new number. If the kid is nine months old wouldnt it be better to do that then all of a sudden your son all of a sudden you got to go back and find a yacht booked off in boca raton customer. We would be happy tolook into. I feel bad. Gentleman from new jersey youare now recognized for five minutes. Every member of this committee i listen to for five years and new folks support efforts the Social Security administration ive heard nothing different, maybe you have to seek your Social Security numbers. Ive never heard from somebody that supports that but i want to highlight how Social Security is americas greatest achievements we cannot let this hearing distract us. Some folks on this side of manufactured crisis that threatens americas entire economy we reached a debt limit we should not be talking about one or two or three more of thousands of costs over and over those in congress threatening to get Social Security i did read that correctly and didnt hear that correctly nor did you some house members want to force americans to retire later, work through illness, make Financial Stability hard as significant as this hearing is, you know this stuff already. We should be doing that we can day in and day out to preserve Social Security we talked about making public names for we were doing that 14 years ago what are we talking about itnow . But because its either the where the investigation, 14 democrats were made to be active murderers. And then no movements were made against them they were innocent people, it may be funny to you but its not funny to me, i want you to know were investigated by the same faults you want to investigate and youre right in doing it but whats good for what should be done all so i want to ask mister brooks question if i may my staff recently met with the afge Union Representing frontline workers. They shared that anguish and stress of being unable to help callers quickly with existing Staffing Levels just like we heard from the irs house members default on america act would double down by slashing Customer Service. Republicans plan to cut Customer Service staff clear and simple. How would further pots to Social Security administration have a budget impact, you know whats going on. People trying to get disabilities would be on a higher waiting period and people would be unable to get in touch with the Social Security office. For further pots. If we have a default, will the numbers that are existing , will they be able to assist beneficiaries in the of a default . Is july. Retirees would take the first bronze. Mister roach the Study Committee on the other side, and god bless them, plan lengthens the medicare weighting period from two years to five years. This denies severely disabled americans, theres a lot of those folks out there and who could tell me better . But for three years what the hack is that going to mean when those people are waiting for medicare copay . It means no one with disability will be able to qualify for health insurance, period. Its already two years too long to wait so 83 more years of anyone waiting urgently for Health Benefits will affect our country as well. There is a twoyear weight or getting disability benefits, correct . Can i finish it please . Very quickly. Ill finish the question. Okay. What do those three years weight mean . It means anyone waiting for urgency and Health Benefits that would be cruel and unacceptable to the country and we would be out of benefits for five years. Mister chairman i want to thank you for putting us together today. Absolutely and the good news we are all here to help solve the problem. With that the gentlemanfrom utah mister moore is recognized for five minutes. Thank you for being here to discuss this important opportunity to help protect our communities from fraud and these are important aspects of the subcommittee to be able to address this and if we can talk about these issues we can help avoid more things like what. Hayward family had to go through. Ms. Welter, Social Security administration is helping recover the cost of the ec st within these three years by raising rates. Theres always externalities and other intended consequences. For the users who do continue to use this system always costs be passed along to consumers. Thank you for the question. I agree as far as the cost of fraud is felt by everyone that uses Financial Products or services and thats why were here today is to try to solve that problem nichols costs not be as significant as they are the best way we can do that is to press the timeframe to recover the cost and make it as efficient and effective as possible and talk about other ways ec bst could be used and then really bring some predictability and sanity to the structure. Continuing on with that more important entities were permitted to use ec bst at the base of users contributed to user fees for fraud. This would limit some of the financing issues were seeing the program. The question is whether its appropriate to expand the number presented to use ec bst, the are legitimate uses for these entities in Different Industries like communications, healthcare, unit . Im so glad youre raising this point congressman, absolutely. Our world is increasingly digital and most sectors of the economy Financial Services i need to verify that the consumer is providing accurate identity information not trying to run a scam. Providers is a great example uses of this system. Residential land supports, others in the private sector and maybe theres a for the federal agencies to be using this. We think there is really strong reasons for it. I have an 18 month old at home to so i can only imagine what all you have to deal with doing what you do. Story i appreciate you being here today. Identity theft is one of the Fastest Growing crimes in 1 million kids are victims of identity every year following your disability experience addressing the issue for your child in your opinion what is unchanged being a growth Customer Service trying to address identity you talk about having a point person and candidly i have to question because this is something we need to make sure were doing acrossthe board. Our Government Agencies and we talk a lot about the irs, our congressional offices are working closely with our constituents to help them liaise. Weve been a big republicans and democrats have been supporters of increasing technology that they need to get into the 21st century in a lot of places. Theres things like that if you want to add to your testimony about ways to improve. For us the best way to improve would be to have a new Social Security numberfor our daughter. The ability to do that would mean a lot in this area. And with that the singular point of contact would provide us with the most uptodate information to exchange for time to see would be calling and helpful for our family in that situation. Mister brown, you mentioned the Social Security administrations oig is working to find ways to defend against identity that. Can you expand on the threats that are as a result of this . Congressman as i mentioned earlier there was an incident a few years ago that a price the oig of what appeared to be called to redirect direct deposits. Since then, were seeing this technology evolved rapidly including just in the last few months. In the media. Were playing catchup here. I think theres a lot of organizations are as we said earlier we need to get in front of itas best we can. We will recognize potential Ranking Member has elicited a order of personal privilege. Ive looked out into the audience and am pleased to see dear person who i think in the minds of many of us appear will get a direct shot at some point but weve been one today by elsie pascal was built pascals beloved wife and someone we admire and deeply respect. Thank you for joining us. Welcome and thank you for being here. Next we will recognize the gentleman from florida misters to be. The way correction request notices or the no match letters or letters for the Social Security administration to employers when their numbers do not match the records it was in the Clinton Administration in the first year 1. 7 million workers express on pattern missing wages reinstated which is thing no match letters were added by the Obama Administration one week after the program is required to disclose Social Security numbers they would have used potentially and into a felony missile demonstration resume practice though there was a pause during the early part of the pandemic these letters including attachments on instructions on how to register for an unused Business Services online to view Social Security number mismatches provided an estrogen to discontinue the process, not every no match letter means that there is fraud. Twinkling changes are made in a and doesnt notify the administration, someone is unaware of this match has no opportunity to correct the errors would receive no benefits reported wages in my administration discontinue this process appears to be relying on the Business Services online websites as we discontinue mailing letters to people 2021 and will continue to modernize our systems easier for you to do business with us. The website discontinued modernize, what gaps are still in the Business Service online and how accurate is the new system indetecting fraud and outliers. You for your question. The accurate collection of ways reports from employers are vital to our program. We work closely with Employer Community and payroll providers to continuously improve ourelectronic wage reporting. Our free Business Services Online System includes multiple tools for employers to reduce no matches before, during and after this wage report so instead of a letter after the fact in real time we are communicating with them as they register and also authenticate. We are sharing with them as quickly as possible where they have inaccurate data needs to be corrected. Would you be able to provide the committee specifics onthe program . Id be happy to get back to you. What impact has this had on illegal immigration . Wage reporting is one of the mechanisms but thats afterthefact. We support the department of Homeland Security with everify and that allows a verification at that time of request foremployment. With the no match letters, is the Social Security administration being proactive in contacting american dozens when there are no matches is the expectation of citizens correct in reaching out toyou . We work closely with the payroll provider and they are responsible for committee getting with their employees when a no matchoccurs. Is there any value in continuing the use of the no match letters in addition to Business Services for citizens who dont rely on technology . We think the rules available in Business Service online are largely used by the Employer Community. Our effective because of their timeliness and how quickly they provide a match or no match and that allows more immediate action to address this. So in the minute i have left how can we improve the Social Security administrations collaboration state authorities to ensure they have the necessary policy to protect these tools . We have many Data Exchanges with the state authority and continually work to provide verification that supports accuracy of federally administered programs. So what tools are lacking in your opinion from ssa currently . Are there Things Congress can do to ensure the protection of Identity Fraud and the Social Security number being fraudulently used that we currently dont have available. As you noted in your question mister brown has indicated Technology Evolves rapidly. Responding to those evolutions in technology requires continued focus on updating our system and policies. Those updates obviously require funding to be implemented. I think our verification is robust. They cover not only federal use of the ssn. We have extensive partnerships with state agencies and humanities on the payroll provider community. My time is expired mister chairman. Next to the lady from california missed sanchez are recognized for five minutes. Thank you chairman. This hearing revolves around the Social Security administrations role in combating identity and what can be limited to protect people from identity . I dont think anybody on this subcommittee would disagree with how serious this issue is how seriously we take our role as members of congress in finding a bipartisan solution to combat identity the Witnesses Today provided helpful suggestions on steps we can take in order to combat this but i will note for the record not one witness has suggested that we cut funding to the Social Security administration or to the recipients will receive Social Security as a solution , and Identity Theft. I want to point out because we are at risk of seeing massive cuts to the system that would be devastating. I want to turn my attention although the to the issue that is very high priority this seniors in my district. I interact with seniors went frequently, as often as i can while identity is important the issue they must raise 40 moving the cost of living adjustments to better reflect inflationso they can actually make ends meet. Sadly many of my republican colleagues dont want to do that. The committees most recent budget plan with the annual cost of living by using the change Consumer Price index which would result in a lower annual costofliving adjustment less money for seniors to lift off of. Mister roach what would be the impact of a lower cost of living to spend on retirees who relyon their Social Security . Ranking member larson indicated the cost of living adjustment over that time are way behind what it takes us to live. So do not increase it would be devastating for seniors and their families who rely on that care. It would be terrible again, it would bedevastating. Mister roach that same report calls for the privatizationof Social Security , diapering worker and employee contributions into the stock market how would privatizing Social Security benefits for recipients . Its a terrible idea. It would embolden the stock market and seniors would be hurting and youcant depend on the stock market to feed your family. As a result this organization launched fighting privatization ofSocial Security. It played into the system and we demand that we get the money back. We dont want that moneyat risk. If we were to follow the study groups guide to privatized Social Security government were to default whats the danger to the stock market retirees that their livingoff of . When i sat down remarks were made by a public official and itsalready agreed it would be devastating. Once we got up a little while ago yesterday and today have been prettymuch an example. Basically we would default, let me get real. We would be a third world country, thats what would happen. Thank you for your honest and frank opinion. Well Social Security is a Popular Program because americans know contents on it. Its a guaranteed benefit which you have said after a lifetime of hard work and paying into thesystem. Along with many of my colleagues on this committee believes the Program Needs to be strengthened for future generations. What are. Congress program to address, to extend the life of the Social Security Fund Increased benefits for recipients . The cpi that we talked about with advance the cost of living risk benefits, increased benefits for so that people are worried every day it would reflect the many Public Sector employees that dont have access to security and i believe that 2100 addresses all of those. And if you look at the, the 60,000 which would go to the wealthiest people in the country it would double the kitty so were asking them to receive funds they would have toborrow , we would list the, use the numbers and the system will pay for itself. Thank you for your testimony and i would yelled back. Next i recognized the gentleman from tennessee. Thank you to the witnesses for appearing. Unfortunately to you, as a means of prevention which recommend to something that they had their reports closed in order to prevent Social Security . Speaking personally thats something that we do in my household and after hearing my fellow panelists story im going to do it for my Young Children as well. Follow up on after what happened to you, to your daughter, you personally had you and your husbands credit reports frozen. At this time weve been focusing our attention on our daughter and children and learning what we can do to protect ourselves. As you understand it can be difficult for an independent citizen to know what the best practice should be cast ramifications for credits, taking a loan for buying yourself this time were still trying to do whats best course of action would be an ongoing we can provide the best information to follow. Back to you, theres a difference in the process between freezing the credit of an adult who is a minor child. Is definitely my understanding. And its more complicated because its substantially more complicated for a minor child versus an adult. Can tell you because ive done a Little Research on what that looks like theres a lot of documents we provide. If i can mister brown as it relates to you and the oig , you talk about the scammers who target i guess individual persons, theyre both right. There are some better individuals, some that are provincial. The scammers are individuals or groups. Can you talk about the different types of groups that conduct this scanning . I can refer to that example from a few years ago. The Artificial Intelligence that was likely backed up by unknown individuals, not likely one individual and it was difficult to track the perpetrators down because it was all being done electronically over Internet Telephone systems and calls were being breachedfrom outside the United States. Its very difficult to identify the perpetrator or individual. Do you know or have an opinion where theyre coming from . I have to get back to you on a. Our investigative report is turned some up. You coordinate with different Law Enforcement agencies . We do. Early the fbi . Can you think of any prosecutions in the last five years for these scammers . Unfortunately my background was the office quiet so it would have been my portfolio. Idbe happy to get more information on the record. I would appreciate that if you could. Let me know if there have been any prosecutions because it would seem like the federal prosecutor, former us attorney that you have one or x number of successful prosecutions that it sends a strong deterrence effect to those who think about trying to perpetrate the same. A lot of times they will adapt and sometimes after the extension of time they seem to go away but before those investigations, and the notoriety they receive theres no doubt theres a deterrent. If you could could you follow up with me western mark mister chairman, my time is expired and i yield back. Before we go to the next member, the Ranking Member and i have commented several times on the Artificial Intelligence piece. To mister brown, mister brown specifically you keep going back to one incident youve been made aware of whats was a program calling in. Are you all doing anything right now to kind of survey where you might be in the process . Are you aware of one thing but is there a way to track this information from ai into thesystem . I think theres concern about this. Are you all doing anything to monitor that . Because we dont know what it is yet its hard to track where its coming from so we are looking to try to decipher where these potentially fraudulent calls are coming from but fraudsters have found ways to both with legitimate phone numbers redirect calls so it looks liketheyre coming from within the United States when theyre not. Theyre always one step ahead of us and were trying to catch uphere. Next gentleman from arizonais recognized for five minutes. To my friend the Ranking Member both of us have the fixation on the survival of Social Security so we see the actual mechanisms very differently. We did some of the last night on the floor and showed if you were to stabilize debt at 95 and 97 percent because the real problem is more in medicare, 24 percent tomorrow and at 20 percent tomorrow to stabilize us debt to 97 percent. That is the cbo and so you want to argue, go argue with cbo. Mister chairman that is my time. About two years ago we had a hearing in this room, even three or four years ago. He may have been in the chair there was part of the discussion was is there a way to actually have a revolution on how as were using a Social Security number or a national id number for medicaid, Social Security and so many other items to have the rotating encryption on . We had a Technology Expert come us just like, heres the number but underneath theres always a token of rotating. My fear is if im reading the materials or im sorry, when i ran back to the office i couldnt find it for a couple of years ago that it had some of the material in it. After any type of Research Project whether at the Social Security level, and as Technology Gets better and ai gets better, as data mining get better the fraudsters are getting better. Is there any way we could build a much more bulletproof system and you seem to have the mostexpertise on this. I appreciate the question congressman. I am not Technology Expert but i work with them and were happy to have these discussions agree as far as the storm reliance our country asked on Social Security numbers it mixes attractive target for fraudsters. Thats why we have so much focus on the dcse program but werehappy have more discussions about that. The amount of fraud in our medicaid system often using walking into an emergency room and using someone elses Social Security. This is a much greater scale that i fear we have our hands around and maybe the goal here should be not only identifying the problem because we seem to do this every couple of years but are we ready to bring some experts . Is there a way, i can carry around my bank account with me theres theres essentially bulletproof, is there a way we could provide that type of protection to the american taxpayers and this is everyone because we all have to live with these numbers. Our daughter is nine months. So theres a 9 to 10 month old boy we adopted so youre hearing your story come up and you see what you caused . To everyone on the panel and i will yield back mister chairman, is there discussion on whatwe could do to fix this . I would love us to be working on a fix instead of planning next years hearing to deal withthe same problem. Gentleman from new york mister akins. Thank you mister chairman. Its long been known by the board Social Security as a customerservice problem. It makes services for our constituents, every Congressional District varies. Next friday 25 billion in benefits are scheduled to be paid out. But were not to the nation as a whole lotof step. If theres a problem with fraud and abuse whether its an internal support, the extension is that resources, that money is needed to fix that. President biden proposed budget increases to improve Social Security services in coming fraud to nearly 2 billion. 224 million was to protect the program integrity. That programs integrity ensure that it completed its mission in a way that is effective because every single week 25 billion dollars in benefits are paid out, thats 100 alien dollars. Those are people who primarily depend on those resources to survive. Additionally they are net contributors tothe american economy. These people do not save for Social Security, they spent all life contributing to it and they want to experience a life of dignity. You want to talk about debt and deficits, both partiesare responsible. Whats not talk about as much is american debt is a form of treasury on. The greatest sickness adjustments in the world. When there is a global recession, thats what World Markets go by, 50 percent of the World Economy in american dollars. The full faith and credit of the United States should never be questioned. That is the Gold Standard by which people invest in american debt. Thats a problem. The way that you give it back is through Economic Growth. Any way to question, look back to the 1990s. The year 2000. Sustaining Economic Growth of four percent every angle year for eight years did not have budgetary deficits. 300 billion. We pay for 1 billion now in the national debt. Growth was only made possible by the investment that this congress may in the American People and the growth of the american economy. We said we have an inflation problem, no you didnt. Inflation 2 1 4 percent throughout the years. You cant continue to hold the American People hostage. 70 percent of american debt is owed to americans. They would love for us to default on our deck. They want to be the worlds least currency. Another issue which i dont understand that our friends on the other side on house ways and means prioritize who would behave that. Not the American People, not medicare. I just simply want to say and i for very clearly and its been valuable to me in terms of explaining more its an Extraordinary Program that less than 50 percent of seniors know was enacted in 1935. People are living longer, we should be celebrating. Thats what john larson act was so visionary and so valuable. I see my time is expired, i will yield back class we all agree that raising the debt ceiling is one of those things that should be done. House republicans have been the only ones in washington dc to raise the debt limit so far. With that i will yield to my colleague i. Also wanted that Ranking Member wasnt thank you for having this hearing is really important collaboratively, i care about politics, i care about solutions. You came here, each one of you came here to discuss this issue we have in front of us and we need to find a solution so thank you for that. In iowa our state has already received more official complaints of Identity Theft this year all of 2022. Were not even six months into the year. This is all real concern so miss wexler, im just curious. Do you have any idea ever seen such a long slot of Identity Theft starting this year compared two years past and by the way is this actually were more midwest . Thank you for the question. I am a fact that so many of your constituents are suffering from Identity Theft this year. We are seeing this nationally. In identity but also synthetic Identity Theft and fraud. Is the fastestgrowing type of Financial Crime in the us and synthetic Identity Fraud is one of the largest types of Identity Theft is not in the industry in other sectors with government benefits. You heard from some of my yellow analysts on again edie sc is such a critical tool for combating the draw we have to maximize the use of these investments. I agree, thank you for those comments i want to extrapolate on that a little bit. With ai, midwest happening in ai, i get worried that these things aredoubling so quickly. This is the biggest producer of whats happening, fishing packs and all this other stuff is this something that weve got problems and us . I know data breaches are more and more common that is certainly opportunity for Social Security numbers, volvo over. Is there other technology that is making it possible . Thats very likely. I sat on the science space and Technology Mission this year. Talk a lot about Artificial Intelligence and obviously its a safety issue. Arent you working with other agencies . Im thinking out loud what nist, doe. Im going is not the case always silos are all dressed the version, and miss wexler . Legal and across all public and private sector. On a larger scale, absolutely. That you see . The board xy and z. Congressman the Social Security administration are very collaborative with our federal partners with the Technology Community not only provisions of technology to the government to the nation. We coordinating with multiple executive Branch Agencies to both learn more about the emerging technologies identify positive use cases to help the governments mission. So we are congress. Ive read a few questions and i want to ask you what can we do . What do you see congress can do . If you could say, if you guys could do this, what would that be . Congressman, i would Say Technology advances with the threats that you have identified change to access the same funding is important metric to continue to enhance games. The Important Role you play in making sure ecsb was created to begin with insurance decisions. Thank you for. Thank you my dear friend and colleague michigan glad to have you back. You are now recognizedfor five minutes. Thank you so much mister chairman. It is good to be back i mentioned this at all times. Im not 100 percent it still works for me to talk which makes this legally shared experience. I do want to thank the witnesses were being here and i do agree that im glad this conversation is taking place. The notion that ms. Hayward and others have to deal with the reality of identity is something we seriously in whatever capacity, whatever policies we can try to it does appear there are ideas that we may need to invest in and need to hold these factors. But we also recognize that everything we do has to pass it on the agency address so im concerned as my colleagues expressed that any steps we eventually is available for the Social Security administration or any other body of garnet that the exact opposite of what were trying to address during this hearing. Acting Social Security is so that the most in the limit and grow, this is according to the acting commissioner enforce the agency to close is your office layoff only thousands of people who go to work every day finds the agencys mission more people. I think in terms of how the line represent indian, senior Social Security Mister Larson has provided data, my is one i Social Security six, both seniors but also a series of Social Security i am concerned that it madeb steps to address Identity Fraud but at the same time weaken the movie agency itself and the intersection to address it. If i could turning with mister roach asked her comment on how this is not something thats shared by all members on the other side of the isle the majority of the of the study they are a circle, how this impacts the loss of field offices, the lost boys go to work every day trying to innovation more responsible to those americans paying in the heart and not just on this issue of Identity Fraud all the challenges running the Largest Organization i have it for many of the people on a series if not this is, . I close my office in Arlington Virginia 10 miles away it wasnt being executed in a timely fashion was devastating to have to communicate and find the information on various issues to come through so it would be a to continue to do and expand those offices and the ability to communicate Social Security. We cut staff to otherwise answer the phone. That would be exacerbated by. I would add to that by saying that i also think the idea this often comes up for some criticized people who work in the Social Security administration or any other agency ofgovernment , your subject to all sorts of unfair characterizations these americans go to work every day. We got to hold them up, so is actually waiting for a test rest of Identity Fraud. But not on one hand to stop that on the other hand more people these problems with that again this is holding this i appreciate your comments, you will appreciate the fact that it was not too painful for either of us the gentleman from ohio doctor winthrop is recognized for five minutes. Ranking member larson for being here today. The fraud is very concerning. Identity is a serious problem in our country be the Social Security administration are losing their identities but maybe theres more these children. Chinas identities will house and they can go undiscovered for years until the child is old enough to work were five established credit and then it comes forward with insurance Social Security numbers all in the hands of the wrong sets the stage for future arches and problems before a child is old enough to walk about the trial Social Security section as was clear by this is causing this for families to obtain a new Social Security number after being victims of a Social Security number is a first not in the earth the city of a few months later the advice youre given as a parent child is a Social Security number for this reason unfortunately they were again box and it just is just shocking year of a child is the was compromise before she was more mobile unfortunately the story is not unique and no i want to ensure the address this and have the ability to protect their children from having their identities stolen and the etc. Its why i worked with my colleagues to introduce the Social Security child section. This bill allows Social Security administration to issue a number two to age 14 and under their Social Security number and hospitalized. After their Social Security number so were planning on reintroducing this act this week and invite members to join in the first and assist their families and their lives have been offended by a child. The administration has the responsibility to provide protection for our children like mrs. Hayward again. I think we can make it a dance in that. And you discuss how things may have been different for you and your family the Social Security administration would have the ability to issue your daughter Social Security number and it had been nice . Yes. From my understanding and what happens all, we have to wait until theres been some harm incurred. We have to have substantial proof of harm can take months, years, this evening days to learn about silly things happened a number is even though we didnt have of our yes this it would us more time to do what we needed to do to my passport, thats something feels the piece of mind that youre working with. You very much, i use back. I hope you get to asolution thats bipartisan. Thank you. Thank you for reintroducing that. Next the gentleman from illinois, the chair now recognizesfor five minutes. Let me thank you for giving me the opportunity to waive this hearing. Im not a number of the subcommittee i have such a vital interest in Social Security is so important to the district represents that i wanted to make sure i heard what i could hear and that i contributed whatever it is that i could contribute. Im very interested in fraud and in Social Security but im really more interested in Social Security that i am in fraud. And we want to eliminate as much of it as possible. Not only in terms of individuals attempting what we call in the community pimping system and we certainly dont want the Social Security system but we also want to be sure we go eliminate and leave out. I recall how Social Security came into being and people who were left out, im sure that the designers did not intend i grew up in Rural America and many other people i grew up with were farmers. They were sharecroppers. So they went many years without buying into Social Security. They were not allowed to pay in therefore reached retirementage , but even as they reach the age where the contributors and my father was one of those individuals so i know exactly when they were able to contribute and i also know exactly what his Social Security check was. He was 92 years old, this check was on hundred 36 a month and he was very proud and often times ways to better and you with attendance to pay. He would reach out without his money and always say to my wife im for your dinner and do the best he could. I thought if you only have 536, fortunately he was okay. We had children even with all that so he didnt ask to worry. I think we have to be careful and here with people wanting to raise rates and raise the retirement age and i think we need to be very gentle about that as well. I think one of the reasons Social Security has been so popular is that people know that they can depend on it. Social security at its core many people cost about 20,000 a year s credit