releases: http://luetkemeyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=364759
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| http://luetkemeyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=364759 | Blaine's Bulletin: Preserving Your Privacy | 2013-12-27 | 2013 | 2013-12 | Republican | House | MO | Blaine Luetkemeyer | L000569 | luetkemeyer.house.gov | legacy | As I reflect on 2013, one of the issues that seemed to be of great concern to the people of the 3rd District was the government’s ever-growing presence in the private lives of American citizens. And over the course of the last 12 months, I have sought to work on your behalf to protect your privacy form the prying eyes of government. share: f t As I reflect on 2013, one of the issues that seemed to be of great concern to the people of the 3rd District was the government’s ever-growing presence in the private lives of American citizens. And over the course of the last 12 months, I have sought to work on your behalf to protect your privacy form the prying eyes of government. The first test we faced came earlier this spring when I met personally with U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) Inspector General Patrick O’Carroll, Jr. That meeting confirmed there was a violation of normal agency protocol when the agency requested and received sensitive data for more than 100,000 Missouri driver’s licenses and concealed carry permits. The admission was a stark one and I appreciated the quick work of the Social Security Administration, especially after it was learned that the information provided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol in the fall of 2011 was unreadable on the SSA investigator’s computer and the data was destroyed. It was not long after, however, that we faced another privacy challenge that resurfaced amidst a national scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service. In May, the IRS confessed that it was targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status while rubberstamping similar requests from liberal groups. At the same time, it seemed clear to me the IRS was refusing to look at similar liberal groups like the Humane Society of the United States. For three years, the IRS had stonewalled my attempts to get to the bottom of constituent concerns that HSUS was involved in political and lobbying activities that were in direct violation of its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status that prohibits such activities. We are still waiting for answers on that issue and we have received assurances the IRS is finally investigating the issue. More recently, I have sponsored and co-sponsored legislation dealing with the protection of your privacy. For example, I am the lead sponsor of the Protecting Education Privacy Act (PEPA) that would strengthen federal student privacy policy and keep student records by rolling back regulatory changes made by the current administration. This legislation will keep parents minds at ease because they will have the ultimate control over whether or not third parties can access their children’s information. I also have recently co-sponsored the USA FREEDOM Act that aims to reign in the dragnet collection of data by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies. The bill specifically would ensure that different authorities cannot be used to support bulk collection of information of American citizens and it increases transparency of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), among other things. Finally, I am also co-sponsoring the NSA Inspector General Act that calls for the creation of an Inspector General (IG) of the NSA and requires that both the IG and the NSA Director be appointed by the president with the consent of the U.S. Senate. The American people are guaranteed a right to privacy and in recent years, it has become clear that those rights have been violated and continue to be under attack. This is unacceptable and I have spent the better part of the last year working to protect Americans from their government’s prying eyes. As we look ahead to 2014, I will continue to support legislation that will protect your privacy and restore perhaps some of your faith and trust in the American government. With that said, I want to wish you a very Happy New Year. CONTACT US: As always, for those of you with Internet access, I encourage you to visit my official website. For those without access to the Internet, I encourage you to call my offices in Jefferson City (573-635-7232) Washington, Mo. (636-239-2276), or Wentzville (636-327-7055) with your questions and concerns. If you want even greater access to what I am working on, please visit my YouTube site, Facebook page, and keep up-to-date with Twitter. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |