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 SecurityProgram 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 SecurityAdministration 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 SecurityNumber 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 t