[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 133 (Thursday, October 10, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S10380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. Hatch and Mr. Biden):
  S. 3101. A bill to amend title IV of the Missing Children's 
Assistance Act to provide for increased funding for the National Center 
for Missing and Exploited Children, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Missing 
Children's Assistance Act of 2002, which doubles the funding for the 
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and reauthorizes the 
Center through fiscal year 2006. I am pleased to have Senators Hatch 
and Biden as cosponsors.
  Due to tragic circumstances, the importance of the National Center 
for Missing and Exploited Children, ``NCMEC'', has become even more 
pronounced over the past year. We have seen repeated media coverage of 
missing children from every corner of our nation, and parents and 
children alike have slept less easily. As a father and grandfather, I 
know that an abducted child is every parent's or grandparent's worst 
nightmare.
  The Justice Department estimates that between 3,000 and 4,000 
children are taken by strangers every year. This legislation will 
strengthen our efforts to return those children to their homes, and 
relieve their parents of unimaginable grief.
  The Center for Missing and Exploited Children assists parents, 
children, law enforcement, schools, and the community in their efforts 
to recover missing children. The professionals at NCMEC have 
disturbingly busy jobs, they have worked on more than 73,000 cases of 
missing and exploited children since NCMEC's founding in 1984, helping 
to recover more than 48,000 of them. They also raise awareness about 
preventing child abduction, molestation, and sexual exploitation.
  As part of its mission, NCMEC runs: 1. a 24-hour telephone hotline to 
take reports about missing children and clues that might lead to their 
recovery, 2. a national child pornography tipline, and 3. a program 
that assists families in the reunification process. NCMEC also helps 
runaway children, including through attempts to reduce child 
prostitution.
  NCMEC manages to do all of this good work with only a $10 million 
authorization, which expires after fiscal year 2003. We should act now 
both to extend its authorization and provide additional funds so that 
it can continue to help keep children safe and families intact around 
the nation.
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