Addressing the Hack of U.S. Treasury Payment Systems

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. HOULAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, but before then, I will hold this piece of paper up for just a little while because it is my anticipation that before I finish speaking, the internet will have transcribed this piece of paper and the data that is in it.

Mr. Speaker, what if I told you that, somewhere in the multiverse, there was a person, dare I say a villain, who was intent on accessing all the data of the world's most powerful nation and of all of her people. Imagine him sitting in his lair. Perhaps he is stroking a cat. In his mind's eye, he envisions the files of data that he and his minions will soon have access to. Perhaps he will have access to your Social Security number or perhaps your health information. Perhaps he will know about your financial status or what you buy. Perhaps he will unilaterally refuse payments to the defense programs, take a cut of his own from payments, or even will authorize contracts to only his very favorite people and his very favorite organizations.

He will also know deeper secrets that our government works so hard to make sure remain so, so that our citizens can be protected, and so will our adversaries have those same secrets, either intentionally or unintentionally.

You would probably really enjoy this scenario if it were the plot of the new 007 movie, but imagine if it wasn't just a plot and that it was, instead, a reality. This is, in fact, what president Elon Musk and his unelected, unvetted, and untrained minions are attempting to accomplish.

Elon Musk is not rooting around in our Treasury data so he can find fraud and waste. He does not care about curbing spending or getting the budget balanced. He is not trying to optimize our Nation's wealth or to help us all make smarter choices. He never cared about any of this, and he never will.

Yet, knowing this, Trump has, in fact, set him loose on the hunt for data. Make no mistake about it, he is attempting, if he has not already, to access this cache of information, both the personal and the national interest information of our entire people and our entire Nation that will forever be his and his minions' and at their disposal forever, should they be successful.

My guess is that by now, the internet has already translated this piece of paper into data because that is the way the internet works. That is not a read-only piece of data. You may have been able to read it, but in that space of time, my guarantee is that someone on the internet has not only translated it but is also now spinning it into different directions and thoughts.

This all should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans for all kinds of different reasons. It is a blatant and overt theft of information that is not theirs to have. Think of the power that that information will wield. It is a violation of our Constitution and of the checks and balances that we all grew up honoring, regardless of what party we associate ourselves with.

What is a person to do? A person has to think hard about how they feel about the means and ends. You may be one of those people who believes that this government needs to be held in check. I understand that you may have voted for this, but is this, in fact, the way that you want this to be accomplished?

You should be concerned that the law is being broken in your name. You may be one of the people in the middle who fears that your information will be used against you and just now is waking up and realizing that this may not be exactly what you want. You should also be outraged and concerned.

If you are one of those people who never signed up for this to begin with, I am truly sorry. We are in a situation right now where the House, Senate, and White House are all under Republican control. We need all of you, all three different kinds of you, to tell us to do our jobs.

What does doing our job look like? It looks like supporting this bill that is on the floor, the Taxpayer Data Protection Act. What it looks like is passing this bill on the floor with a resounding majority and making sure--a la ``Schoolhouse Rock!''--that it goes to the Senate as well and that it gets to the President's desk with a veto-proof majority.

What it looks like is stopping the executive orders and actions of the executive, Trump, so that this kind of thing cannot continue to happen. The legislative branch, us, but really specifically the Republican majority today are the only ones who can put a stop to this dangerous lawlessness, but they are not going to do that even though they will privately acknowledge how wrong it is, even though they privately hope that Musk and Trump will wear themselves out, even though they privately hope the courts will work, and even though they privately say it is read-only access and is not that much data.

Mr. Speaker, it is dangerous, unconstitutional, and illegal. I ask my friends to step up and speak up. Please continue to call your Congressmen, particularly your Republican ones.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source