[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 30 (Thursday, March 9, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    PASSAGE OF THE CHILDREN'S SAFETY AND VIOLENT CRIME REDUCTION ACT

  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of 
the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Indiana?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the House of Representatives passed 
the Child Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2005, and I am a 
strong supporter of the legislation. I hail its passage. But title VI 
of this legislation is drawn from a bill that I introduced in the first 
session of the 109th Congress.
  My legislation is known as the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 
2005. And as the title states, the intent of my legislation is to 
prevent American children from becoming victims of pornography. Every 
one of us knows that the fuel that fires the wicked hearts of child 
predators is child pornography and it must be confronted in America.
  Every day in this country, children are sadly exploited in 
pornographic enterprises, sometimes by those closest to them, believe 
it or not, in their homes; sometimes by commercial producers. In the 
home, children are forced to pose for pornographic pictures or act in 
pornographic videos, sometimes by family members and even friends and 
caretakers and other trusted individuals. Sadly, our resources in the 
law enforcement community inform us that these pictures and videos are 
posted on the Internet or surreptitiously spread to sexual predators. 
In the commercial arena and in Hollywood, as our cultures become more 
and more youth oriented and sex has become more and more prevalent, we 
must ensure that children are not being used in the production of 
prurient material and provide law enforcement with the tools to 
prosecute those who exploit children.
  A main tenet of my legislation is the language that will fix a 
technicality known as home pornographers, to get at the first problem 
that I just described. Home pornographers have used this loophole to 
evade Federal prosecution in child pornography cases. These individuals 
will use digital cameras, Polaroid cameras, video cameras to make 
pornographic images of children, download them and distribute them on 
the Internet. My legislation first and foremost makes it clear that 
Federal prosecutions of home pornographers may proceed in Federal Court 
because their activities impact on interstate commerce.
  Another element of my bill, which has become in many ways more 
controversial, is the addition of a new section of the criminal code, 
section 2257A, which adds a recordkeeping requirement that will force 
people in even in the entertainment industry to keep records of the 
names and ages of their subjects, along with proof of their 
identification, when they are engaged even in simulated sexual activity 
on screen. Anytime Hollywood uses a simulated sex act in a soap opera, 
a cable television show, a movie, or other production, a record must be 
kept to show that a child was not used even in the creation of a 
simulated sex act.
  Heretofore, the law has only required that such records be kept in 
the cases of hard-core pornography, where actual sex was being 
performed and recorded for entertainment value. But if a child is used 
in a simulated sex act, the impact of such abuse on that child is, in 
many ways, Mr. Speaker, just as real as it would be had the production 
involved actual sexual contact. Therefore, my bill requires these 
records be kept for simulated sex. Because by doing so, certain bad 
actors in the entertainment industry will be deterred from using 
children.
  Also, my bill goes a step further by requiring that records be kept 
even in the case of what is known as lascivious exhibition. Once again, 
no child should be used in either nude pictures or sexually explicit 
materials or even in activities that have a prurient interest. This is, 
again, the type of images that fuel the flames of the wicked hearts of 
child predators and should be stopped.
  Finally, the legislation expands the ability of investigators and 
prosecutors to pursue the people who are used to distribute child 
pornography. These distributors also will be required to follow these 
new recordkeeping provisions, and this will provide law enforcement 
with a powerful tool against them as well.
  Providing law enforcement with the tools to combat child pornography 
contained in my legislation is a much-needed and overdue step that must 
be taken to protect our children from those in society who have no 
decency and no shame.
  I also commend those legitimate producers of entertainment products 
in the United States of America, with whom we have had dialogue and 
with whom we have worked in the development of this legislation. It is 
not my purpose in any way, Mr. Speaker, to suggest that those that are 
involved in the legitimate entertainment industry in this country have 
anything to do with the illegitimate industry that is pornography in 
America. Nevertheless, it is important that even in Main Street 
Hollywood America, that we ensure that children are not used even in 
the creation of entertainment materials that simulate sex acts, and our 
legislation will create the recordkeeping to prevent just that.
  I hail the passage of the Child Pornography Prevention Act as a part 
of the Child Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act. It is time to 
protect our kids, and yesterday this Congress took a great step toward 
that goal in entertainment in America.

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