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Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., welcomed President Barack Obama's call for data breach legislation and pressed again for action on his own bill, the "Data Security Act," which would establish a national data security standard for retailers.

"I echo the President's call for Congress to come together to pass cybersecurity and data breach legislation this year. I have introduced four bills with bipartisan support that would go a long way in addressing several key challenges that all of us face online," Carper said in a statement. "This is an important opportunity for the government to lead by example."

The "Data Security Act," S. 1927, would establish a national standard for retailers, federal agencies and financial institutions for data security. NAFCU supports the legislation, which is expected to provide a Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act carve-out for institutions, including credit unions, which are already subject to a data security standard.

President Obama on Friday called for the deployment of chip-and-PIN security for credit and other payment cards and urged Congress to "act with urgency" on data breach legislation. He made the announcement during an event held at CFPB and attended by NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. Speaking before senior executives of financial institutions and large retailers, and representatives of consumer groups, the president also said the White House will convene a Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection later this year.

NAFCU was the first financial trade association to call for a national data security standard after the massive Target data breach last year. The association is also pushing Congress to establish a bipartisan working group to develop legislative recommendations to address ongoing retailer breaches.