WASHINGTON, DC - Legislation which would protect the privacy of American citizens and prevent a national identification number from being assigned by the federal government will be considered by the United States House of Representatives this week. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tx) will be offered as an amendment to HR6, the Higher Education Reauthorization Act.

As the legislation now stands, HR6 if passed would require the Secretary of Education to assign a unique identifying number to each participant in the higher education programs. Rep. Paul's amendment would prevent the Secretary of Education from using the Social Security Number for the purpose, as well as prohibit the use of any other existing identifying numbers to be used for this purpose.

This amendment is a version of a more general piece of legislation Rep. Paul has introduced, HR3261, the Privacy Protection Act. This legislation would not only restrict the use of Social Security Number to the original purpose of administering the Social Security System, but would also prohibit any two agencies of the federal government from using the same ID number for a US resident.

"The expanding use of the Social Security Number is a dangerous precedent with serious consequences for Americans everywhere," said Paul. "The number was originally used to administer Social Security benefits, but abuses of the number have grown and grown, effectively creating a national ID number that exposes innocent Americans to needless risk every day."

Using a SSN and one other piece of personal information, criminals can gain access to credit cards, bank accounts and other information. While eventually many of these scams are caught and the victim cleared, a great deal of damage is often done in the process.

"But the more important issue is one of constitutionality: the federal government simply does not have the authority to create this type of big-brother program. The question we need to be asking is this: Why does government feel like it needs to assign tracking numbers to Americans? Why does the federak government want to be able to track Americans from the cradle to the grave? This process is more indicative of fascist states, rather than societies which value individual liberty and privacy."

The amendment could come to a vote as early as Wednesday, April 29.