Congressman Bob Filner

Fighting for Veterans: Protecting Our Nation's Heroes from Identify Theft

You may have read about the theft of the personal information of 26.6 million veterans and up to 2.2 million active duty personnel from the home of an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on May 3, 2006. Apparently, the employee had permission to take home the hard drive with all personal information.

Fortunately, the FBI recovered the stolen laptop and information, and they do not think that any of the veterans’ data was copied. We can hope so. But this entire situation has been a disaster! In the last five years, reports have shown that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) has had problems with information security. How did the VA react to these reports? With indifference! To make matters worse, Congress and the public were not notified by the VA of the May 3^rd burglary until May 22^nd.

In response, I have called on VA Secretary Jim Nicholson to take full responsibility for this violation of our veterans' personal information. Also, I co-sponsored H.R. 5455, the “Veterans Identity Protection Act” which already has 123 Members of the House of Representatives as co-sponsors, and H.R. 5588, the “Comprehensive Veterans’ Data Protection and Identity Theft Act” which has 136 co-sponsors. These bills require that veterans are provided with free credit monitoring and credit reports.

Next, the VA Committee in the House of Representatives, of which I am the Democratic leader, immediately held a roundtable discussion with representatives of six major U.S. corporations to learn how these top companies handle information security. Present at this roundtable to learn were VA officials who are responsible for security at the VA. Then, working with my colleagues on the VA Committee, we scheduled six Committee hearings to get to the bottom of this mess. Legislation has emerged from these hearings that will prevent future breaches of security and will “make whole” all veterans and active duty members who suffer because of this theft.

My top priority is to push the VA to provide reimbursement for any costs to soldiers and veterans that the theft has caused or will cause. Instead of putting all responsibility on veterans by telling them to call their credit bureau if they have problems, which has been the response of the VA, I believe the VA must take action to fix any problem that occurs!

I am as angry as our nation’s veterans about this severe breach of trust. As your Representative in Congress, I am working hard to fix any problems our District 51^st veterans have because of the VA’s ineptitude!

Housing Crisis: Working to Keep San Diego Affordable

In late May, I joined Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla and first customer Kimberley Hall to announce the Chula Vista based Future Credit Union’s new Home Loan Payment Relief (HLPR) program.

Homes are very expensive throughout San Diego County and Chula Vista is no exception. The HLPR program aids residents with a household income at or below the area’s median income to receive a low-interest loan to purchase a home. The first person to benefit from this program was Kimberley Hall, who had difficulty getting a loan at other banks. With the help of First Future, who went every step of the way to commit $6 million to the HLPR program, Kimberley has now become the proud owner of her very own home.

This is a great opportunity to achieve the dream of buying a home. I hope that other credit unions will join with First Future to offer affordable loans to first time home buyers in Chula Vista and throughout San Diego County.

Another Victory for Veterans: Passage of the Honor Our Fallen Prisoners of War Act

Last month, my bill, the Honor Our Fallen Prisoners of War Act (H.R. 2369), which provides a posthumous Purple Heart to POWs who had previously been overlooked, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill is included in the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 5122).

Currently, POWs who die during their imprisonment of wounds inflicted by an “instrument of war” are eligible for posthumous Purple Heart recognition. However, those who die of starvation, disease, abuse or other causes during captivity are not. My bill corrects this injustice.

There should be no false distinction indicating more courage or more sacrifice by one group of POWs over others.

The Honor Our Fallen Prisoners of War Act has over 200 co-sponsors and broad bipartisan support. In addition, almost all of the major Veteran Service Organizations support the bill, including the American Ex-Prisoners of War and the Military Order of Purple Heart. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Boxer.

The inspiration for the bill came from Wilbert “Shorty” Estabrook, who was imprisoned during the Korean War for over three years, and Rick and Brenda Tavares. Brenda’s uncle, Corporal Melvin Morgan, died of starvation and beatings in 1950, at the age of 20, in Korea.