From: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 21:13:29 -0700 (PDT)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: no subject!
In-Reply-To: <199807070635.IAA08822@basement.replay.com>
Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19980710170837.008f0990@popd.ix.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 08:35 AM 7/7/98 +0200, Anonymous wrote:
>Where is this?  Stalled.  Looks dead in the water.  Any further insights?

Dr. Ron Paul often introduces good bills that will never get anywhere,
because he's _not_ a mainstream Congressscritter.
He was a conservative Republican Congresscritter from Houston, 
quit the GOP in ~1986/1987, ran for President as a Libertarian, (lost),
and a couple of years ago decided to re-emerge as a Republican.

He's generally in favor of personal and economic freedom,
though he seems to believe that the US government owns the country
and therefore has the right to ban immigrants; I took the Ron Paul
bumper sticker off my car a few years after the election when he
endorsed Pat Buchanan for the Republican nomination instead of
the also-bad George Bush.  He's also rabidly against the U.N.,
and borders on Black-Helicopter paranoia on occasion :-)

He's willing to take a strong stand against the Republicrats 
when there are issues of principle, and therefore doesn't have a 
lot of support - often he and Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Socialist, 
are about the only members opposing a bill.  So no surprise if the bill dies.


>H.R.3261 
>SPONSOR: Rep Paul (introduced 02/25/98) 
>
>SUMMARY: 
>
>(AS INTRODUCED) 
>
>Privacy Protection Act of 1997 (sic) - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors
>and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act and the Internal
>Revenue Code to prohibit any Federal, State, or local government agency or
>instrumentality from using a social security account number or
>any derivative as the means of identifying any individual, except for
>specified social security and tax purposes. 
>
>Amends the Privacy Act of 1974 to prohibit any Federal, State, or local
>government agency or instrumentality from requesting an individual to
>disclose his social security account number on either a mandatory or a
>voluntary basis. 
>
>Prohibits any two Federal agencies or instrumentalities from implementing
>the same identifying number with respect to any individual, except as
>authorized under this Act. 
>
>
>----
>STATUS: Detailed Legislative Status 
>
>                                                 House Actions
>
>Feb 25, 98:
>     Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the
>Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, for a period to
>     be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
>consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
>     committee concerned. 
>     Mar 2, 98:
>          Referred to the Subcommittee on Government Management,
>Information and Technology.
>Feb 25, 98:
>     Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the
>Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, for a period to
>     be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
>consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
>     committee concerned.
>
>
>
>
>
				Thanks! 
					Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639