Congress could: prohibit companies from storing or selling your Social Security number without your written permission; set minimum security standards for companies that do store your Social Security number and require third party audits against that standard; prohibit companies from using your Social Security number as an identifier.

"There is an old saying in the acquisition world: you want it bad, you get it bad," said Tom Till, who led the Amtrak Reform Council, a group created by Congress to study the railroad's problems. "That's exactly what happened with Acela."