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Lawmakers propose new Social Security card

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Two U.S. congressmen from Illinois have introduced a bill calling for new Social Security cards with security features to help combat fraud and identity theft.

U.S. Reps. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Peter Roskam, R-Ill., introduced a bill Tuesday that calls for issuing Social Security cards with photographs, fingerprints, bar codes and other security features, the Chicago Tribune said.

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Kirk said the proposed cards would be modeled after Common Access Cards distributed to active-duty military reserve members by the U.S. Defense Department.

"We think that a Social Security card should be hard to forge (and) that it should also make it easy to catch an identity-theft crime," Kirk said.

The Government Accountability Office said in 2005 employers reported 1.4 million false Social Security numbers and Roskam said identity theft amounts to $49 billion a year in losses.

The new cards would cost $8 to make compared to the 50 cents for current versions of the cards.

Current Social Security cards have no security features other than a signature.

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