6-27-08

Congressman Cliff Stearns regarding the Senate Housing Bill requiring eBay, Amazon, Google, and All Credit Card Companies to Report Transactions to the Government.

“I was disappointed to hear about a new provision that was recently placed into the Senate version of the major housing bill moving through Congress – the Foreclosure Prevention Act. I voted against this bailout bill when it came to the House floor for a vote, and the presence of this new provision further validates my opposition.”

“Senator Dodd managed to place a problematic provision in the housing bill that would violate the privacy of small businesses. This troubling provision requires major payment systems such as Amazon and eBay’s PayPal to track and report information on virtually all electronic transactions to the federal government. This obviously affects small businesses that use these vital payment systems on a daily basis.”

“This provision was added without allowing for it to proceed through the proper debate channels. What is even more troubling is that this provision is not even germane to the legislation. A provision like this has no business being placed into an important housing bill, and the federal government has no business requiring our nation’s major payment systems to track these kinds of transactions.”

Filed under: Chip by Chip