[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 87 (Thursday, June 29, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6729-S6730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION ACT

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will take a few moments to address 
legislation to create a national sex offender registry and to protect 
our children from sexual predators.
  On May 4, the Senate unanimously passed S. 1086, the Sex Offender 
Registration and Notification Act. This bill, which was introduced by 
our colleague, Senator Hatch, would create a national sex offender 
registry and would do what you would suspect, and that is protect our 
kids from these child predators.
  A similar bill has also passed the House of Representatives. Over the 
last several weeks, the House and Senate have been working diligently 
to bridge the differences between those two bills. I am pleased with 
the progress that has been made so far, but I am concerned that the 
time is running short in the legislative session.
  Because time is of the essence, I sent a letter to Chairman Specter 
and Chairman Sensenbrenner in the House asking them to have such 
legislation ready for signature by the President no later than July 27, 
2006. That is about a month from now. That particular date is in honor 
of the 25th anniversary of the tragic abduction and murder of Adam 
Walsh, the 6-year-old son of John and Reve Walsh, who are the founders 
of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
  I ask unanimous consent that the full text of the letter be printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


[[Page S6730]]


                                                      U.S. Senate,


                                Office of the Majority Leader,

                                    Washington, DC, June 27, 2006.
     Hon. Arlen Specter,
     Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,
     U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
     Hon. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.,
     Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,
     House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Specter and Chairman Sensenbrenner: Thank you 
     for your diligent efforts to bring the Senate and the House 
     of Representatives together on legislation to create a 
     national sex offender registry and protect children from 
     sexual predators. While I am pleased with the progress made 
     so far, I remain concerned that time may be running short in 
     this legislative session. So today, I urge you to join me in 
     setting a clear goal to have sexual predators legislation 
     ready for signature by the President no later than July 27, 
     2006--in honor of the 25th anniversary of the tragic 
     abduction and murder of Adam Walsh, the 6-year-old son of 
     John and Reve Walsh, who are the founders of the National 
     Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
       John and Reve have transformed the tragedy of Adam's death 
     into a lifelong commitment to protecting children from 
     abduction, abuse, and exploitation. They have been at the 
     forefront of most major child protection legislation passed 
     by Congress over the last quarter century--from the Missing 
     Children's Act in 1982, which improved law enforcement 
     information sharing in missing child cases, to the Protect 
     Act in 2003, which established a nationwide Amber Alert 
     network to coordinate rapid emergency responses to missing 
     child alerts. Their tireless dedication has been an 
     inspiration to parents of child victims and millions of 
     American families.
       I know we share a commitment to strengthen laws that 
     protect our children from sexual predators lurking in our 
     neighborhoods or enticing our children online. Currently, 
     there are more than 550,000 registered sex offenders in the 
     United States and at least 100,000 are missing from the 
     system. The loopholes in the current system allow some sexual 
     predators to evade law enforcement and put our children at 
     risk. In addition, we must do more to address an emerging 
     global crisis in child pornography, an estimated $20 billion 
     commercial industry fueled by the Internet. The Internet has 
     become an anonymous gateway for sexual predators to initiate 
     contact with children, win their confidence, and attempt to 
     victimize them. By passing legislation that establishes a 
     national sex offender registry, toughens criminal penalties 
     for sexual predators, and cracks down on child pornography, 
     we can take another step forward in making America safer.
       The Senate and the House have both passed bills addressing 
     these issues. It is time to bridge any remaining differences 
     and finish the job. We should not allow extraneous issues to 
     delay the bill.
       I look forward to working with you in the weeks ahead.
           Sincerely,
                                            William H. Frist, M.D.
                                                  Majority Leader.

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleague, 
Senator Reid, who is endorsing this July 27 date as a goal as well. The 
reason why it is important for us to speak to this now is that there 
are a number of issues out there that are unrelated to the sex offender 
registry bill, which are important issues in and of themselves, but in 
some ways they impede or lessen the likelihood that we are going to get 
this particular bill through.
  The registry is important. By creating a national registry, we are 
going to make it easier for law enforcement to act if they get a tip 
and to be able to identify and stop these offenders before they can 
commit repeat crimes and victimize more children.
  Many States, including my State of Tennessee, have registries, but 
that information is not shared with other States. Therefore, you have 
these sex offenders simply going from State to State. If a sex offender 
is registered in Florida and then moves to Tennessee, there is no way 
to track him today. Under the new law, Florida would have to notify 
Tennessee law enforcement that the sex offender is moving. It is a big 
problem.
  There are currently 550,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S. and 
at least 100,000 of them are missing from the system. Every day that we 
don't have this national sex offender registry, these missing sex 
predators are out there somewhere. We don't know where they are or 
whether or who they are victimizing.
  So there is a lot we can do. Now is the time for to us do it. The 
national sex offender registry will save the lives of thousands of 
children. By passing this legislation, we can take another major step 
forward to making the country safer. I thank Senator Hatch, and 
especially Senator Reid, for their leadership.
  I urge our colleagues in the Senate and in the House to act quickly 
and get this bill done by July 27. It is for law enforcement officers, 
it is for parents, and it is especially for our Nation's children.

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