[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 96 (Thursday, July 20, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8012-S8031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHILDREN'S SAFETY AND VIOLENT CRIME REDUCTION ACT OF 2006
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will now proceed to the
consideration of H.R. 4472, which the clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 4472) to protect children, to secure the
safety of judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and
their family members, to reduce and prevent gang violence,
and for other purposes.
Amendment No. 4686
(Purpose: In the Nature of a substitute)
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). Under the previous order, the
Hatch amendment at the desk is agreed to.
The amendment (No. 4686) was agreed to, as follows:
(The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of
Amendments")
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah is recognized.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for granting
unanimous consent to pass the most comprehensive child crimes and
protection bill in our Nation's history--H.R. 4472, the Adam Walsh
Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.
This bill started in the House of Representatives by a courageous and
ambitious Congressman from Florida, Mark Foley. Mark is with us in the
Senate Chamber today, and I want to thank him, again, for getting this
ball rolling and for fighting like a champion on behalf of our
children. I appreciate his tenacity and enthusiasm--we would not be
here without his devotion and hard work.
I also thank Senator Biden, who joined me in sponsoring the original
Senate version of this bill. Senator Biden and I have worked together
on so many bills, none more important than what we are accomplishing
today for our children. Senators Frist, Specter, and Reid thank you for
making this bill priority and for getting this bill through.
The bill we are about to pass, the Adam Walsh Child Safety and
Protection Act, represents a collaboration between the House and Senate
to include the strong provisions of S. 1086, the Sex Offender
Registration and Notification Act, and H.R. 4472, The Child Safety Act.
It creates a National Sex Offender Registry with uniform standards for
the registration of sex offenders, including a lifetime registration
requirement for the most serious offenders. This is critical to sew
together the patch-work quilt of 50 different State attempts to
identity and keep track of sex offenders.
The Adam Walsh Act establishes strong Federal penalties for sex
offenders who fail to register, or fail to update their information,
including up to 10 years in prison for non-compliance.
The Adam Walsh Act imposes tough penalties for the most serious
crimes against children, including a 30 year mandatory penalty for
raping a child and no less than 10 years in prison for a sex
trafficking offense. In fact, this bill creates a series of assured
penalties for crimes of violence against children, including penalties
for murder, kidnapping, maiming, and using a dangerous weapon against a
child. And the bill allows for the death penalty in the most serious
cases of child abuse, including the murder of a child in sexual
exploitation and kidnapping offenses.
The bottom line here is that sex offenders have run rampant in this
country and now Congress and the people are ready to respond with
legislation that will curtail the ability of sex offenders to operate
freely. It is our hope that programs like NBC Dateline's ``To Catch a
Predator'' series will no longer have enough material to fill an hour
or even a minute. Now, it seems, they can go to any city in this
country and catch dozens of predators willing to go on-line to hunt
children.
[[Page S8013]]
Laws regarding registration for sex offenders have not been
consistent from State to State now all States will lock arms and
present a unified front in the battle to protect children. Web sites
that have been weak in the past, due to weak laws and haphazard
updating and based on inaccurate information, will now be accurate,
updated and useful for finding sex offenders.
There are more than a half-million registered sex offenders in the
United States. Those are the ones we know. Undoubtedly there are more.
That number is going to go up. Over 100,000 of those sex offenders are
registered but missing. That number is going to go down. We are going
to get tough on these people. Some estimate it is as high as 150,000
sex offenders who are not complying. That is killing our children.
Another important part of this bill will help prevent the sexual
exploitation of children through the production of sexually explicit
material. Every day we hear new stories about how pornographers and
predators take advantage of new technology to exploit children in new
ways. It is very difficult for legislatures even to keep up, and when
we do pass new legislation, it is often stymied in the courts.
Federal law requires producers of some sexually explicit material to
keep records regarding the identity and age of performers and to make
those records available for inspection. The current statute, however,
was enacted before the Internet existed and covers only some sexually
explicit material. The provisions in the act before us brings key
definitions in the law up to date, extends the record keeping
requirement to more sexually explicit material, and makes refusal to
permit inspection of these records a crime.
I want to thank John Walsh, host of ``America's Most Wanted,'' and
his wife, Reve--who have waited nearly 25 years for this day. Next
Thursday, July 27, 2006, marks 25 years since the abduction and
subsequent murder of their son Adam--for whom this bill is named. And
on that 25th anniversary the President will sign into law legislation
that will help law enforcement do what John has been doing all along--
hunt down predators and criminals. I want to thank the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children for their tireless work and for
their assistance with crafting this legislation.
This is smart legislation and I am very proud of the Adam Walsh Act.
I am determined that Congress will play its part in protecting the
children of my home state of Utah and America. I have never been more
excited to see a bill signed into law.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I begin speaking to this legislation by
thanking my buddy. And I know that is a colloquial expression in this
formal place we work when I say ``my buddy,'' but Senator Hatch and I
have worked together for a long time. It is hard for me to believe we
have been here as long as we have. I have actually been here a couple
years longer than he has. We have our differences in philosophy. We
have never had any differences personally. We have never had any
differences in terms of our relationship.
The two things I am proudest of that we have both done is we have
both--and I say this somewhat self-serving, I acknowledge--we both
always hired staff that is respected. I do not think there has ever
been a time that Orrin has not had a staff and staff members who my
staff completely, totally trusted. I think it is fair to say that is
the case on Orrin's side as well.
That makes a gigantic difference because I think the work that Ken
Valentine, the fellow sitting to Orrin's right, did--a loner, Secret
Service guy from the administration, from the executive branch--and a
fellow I am very proud of, whom I will mention in a moment--the work
they did with John Walsh and others, to overcome the hurdles that get
thrown in the way of good legislation because everybody has their own
agenda.
Everybody knows that for Orrin and me--and I would add my friend from
North Dakota--that some of us have had this as sort of a--I have been
accused of this being a hobbyhorse for me, this, all the work we have
done for so long on dealing with child predators and abused women and
abused children. But what happens sometimes is that good legislation
gets stuck because other Senators, who do not have that as the same
priority--although they are for it--attach a lot of extraneous things
because there is something they feel is even more critical than the
legislation, and they see it, to use the Senate jargon, as a vehicle to
get their views heard and their legislation passed.
Well, as to the work that Dave Turk of my staff did and Ken Valentine
did in order to sort of clear the way for this, I think everyone who
has worked on this, including John Walsh, would acknowledge is
extraordinary.
So I want to personally--there are others, I am sure. There are
others. I do not mean, by mentioning these two individuals, to in any
way denigrate the incredible work done by so many others. But I think
sometimes the public wonders why we pay staff members--all of whom can
make a lot more money if they did something else--the kind of salaries
they get paid, in relative terms. It is because they are so good. They
are so dedicated. They are so talented.
In my experience of being here 33 years, I have found that when a
staff member, no less than a Senator, has an intellectual as well as an
emotional commitment to what they are doing, it is even more effective.
I know for my friend and staff member, Dave Turk, who is a father,
and for Ken Valentine, whom I have only gotten to know personally
recently, this is more than legislation, this is more than passing this
piece of legislation. This is the stuff of which your life's work is
viewed as being worthwhile.
I remember Jerry Brown, when he used to be the Governor of
California, once said when he was cutting pay--I am not making a
judgment of whether he should have or should not have--when cutting the
pay of State employees, he made a statement only Jerry Brown could
make, 20 years ago: Well, they have the psychic remuneration of living
in California. I do not know about that. But I can tell you that the
psychic remuneration for Orrin Hatch and Joe Biden and Ken Valentine
and Dave Turk, and many others who worked on this, makes this job
worthwhile.
The two things of which I am most proud that I have done in 33 years
are dealing with this issue in particular and culminating in this
legislation, the Adam Walsh Child Protection Safety Act, and the
Violence Against Women Act--which, I might add, one of only seven guys
who jumped out front in 1994 to get that done was also Orrin Hatch.
So, Senator Hatch, I thank you. We have been in the minority, the
majority, the minority; we have switched places back and forth, but it
has never changed our relationship, never changed how we have worked
with each other, and never changed the good work I think we and many
others can say we are proud to have participated in.
Mr. President, I wish to talk a few minutes about the actual act.
Congress has done a good deal over the last 25 years--and I might add,
starting with, God love him, our old and deceased friend, Senator
Thurmond from South Carolina--to protect kids. We created the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984. We enacted the crime
bill in 1994. We enacted the Amber Alert system in 2003.
But every time we have done something significant, the bad guys have
figured out a way to take advantage of it, to find a loophole, to find
an opening. And that is what this is about--and I wish he had floor
privileges because he could speak to it better than any of us--but this
is about, to paraphrase John Walsh, with whom I had dinner the other
night--this is about closing the door. This is about uniting 50 States
in common purpose and in league with one another to prevent these
lowlifes from slipping through the cracks. So we recognize that what we
have done in the past did not do all we wanted to do.
I might add one more thing. Joe Biden and Orrin Hatch come from
different sides of the political spectrum on a lot of things. But I can
assure you, not only is this tough, but the civil liberties of
Americans are not in jeopardy with this. This is not--this is not--a
case where in order to get bad guys we have had to in any way lessen
the constitutional protections made available
[[Page S8014]]
to good guys. So I think it is a proud piece of work.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as Senator
Hatch has indicated, estimates there are over 550,000 sex offenders
nationwide, and more than 20 percent of them are unaccounted for. I
would argue that there are a whole lot more than 550,000, who never get
caught up in the criminal web for a thousand different reasons that I
do not have time to explain. But at a minimum, this means there are as
many as 150,000 of these dangerous sex offenders out there, individuals
who have already committed crimes and may, unless we do something,
continue to jeopardize the most vulnerable among us.
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act takes direct aim at
this problem. Plain and simple, this legislation, I can say with
certainty, will save children's lives.
Sexual predators must be tracked, and our cops and our parents have a
right to know when these criminals are in their neighborhoods. That is
what we do here.
First--an important point--let's start at the beginning. This
legislation requires sex offenders to register prior to their release
from prison, to make sure we give them absolutely no opportunity to do
what happens now: fall through the cracks between the moment the prison
door opens and before they set up a residence.
We also make sure we are keeping tabs on everyone who poses a threat
to our kids. Advances in technology are a great thing, but many times
there is a dark side. The Internet, for example, puts the knowledge of
the world at a child's fingertips, but it can also be and is abused by
sexual predators causing kids harm. To steal a phrase from my son, who
is a Federal prosecutor, he told me: Dad, it used to be you could lock
your door or hold your child's hand at the mall and keep them out of
harm's way.
But today, in my son's words, with a click of a mouse, a predator can
enter your child's bedroom in a locked home and begin the pernicious
road to violating that child. That is why this legislation adds the
``use of the Internet to facilitate or commit a crime against a minor''
as an offense that could trigger registration.
And once someone is on a sex offender registry, we make sure they
can't go back into hiding in the shadows. Under this bill, child
predators would be required to periodically and in person check in with
the authorities.
They also would be required to update their photographs so law
enforcement and parents will know where these folks are and what they
look like now and not solely what they looked like years ago that is
unrecognizable now.
And if a registered offender fails to comply with any of these
requirements, he or she faces a felony of up to 10 years in prison. If
an unregistered sex offender commits a crime of violence, the offender
will face a 5-year mandatory prison sentence in addition to any other
sentence imposed.
A noncompliant sex offender will also face U.S. Marshals who have
been brought in under this bill to lend their expertise and manpower to
help track down these dangerous individuals.
John and I were talking about it at dinner. These guys saddle up, to
use his phrase. They are the most underrated, underestimated part of
American law enforcement. They do the job incredibly well. They want to
get in on this, and they are now part of this. We now have designated
their expertise and manpower to track down these individuals.
One of the biggest problems in our current sex offender registry
system happens when registered sex offenders travel from one State to
another.
Delaware has worked hard to keep track of the 3,123 sex offenders
registered to my State. But there are other States that are not so
advanced and whose systems are not so sophisticated.
This bill fully integrates and expands the State systems so that
communities nationwide will be warned when high-risk offenders come to
live among them. And we target resources under this bill at the worst
of the worst and provide Federal dollars to make sure States aren't
left holding the bag.
We also require the U.S. Department of Justice to create software to
share with States in order to allow for information to be shared
instantly and seamlessly among them. When a sex offender moves from New
Jersey to Delaware, for example, we have to be absolutely sure that
Delaware authorities know about it.
This bill also mandates a national sex offender Web site so that
parents can find out who is living in their neighborhoods. Parents will
now be able to search for information on sex offenders by geographic
radius and ZIP Code.
Do we have a silver bullet, a foolproof system here? I have been
around too long to know the answer to that question is no. What we do
have is a slew of commonsense ways for fixing our current problem.
As I mentioned earlier, it has taken us months and years to get to
the point of enacting this important bill into law. Again, I give
credit where credit is due, as has already been mentioned, to John and
Reve Walsh. I know we are not supposed to--and I will not--violate
Senate rules by pointing out who is where. But the fact is, if I were
sitting next to them in the gallery now, I suspect if I put my hand on
his arm, I would feel the tension in his arm.
This has to be a very bittersweet moment for John Walsh. For what are
we doing here today? We are naming a bill that will save the lives of
hopefully thousands of other young people after a beautiful young boy
who was victimized and killed.
The thing I find most amazing about John and Reve is, I don't know
how anybody who has lost a child can have the courage to do what they
have done. I know from my own experience, which I will not speak to,
there are certain circumstances I cannot walk into because it reminds
me of one of my children I lost.
I could never do what John and Reve did. I could never do what they
did. And we could have never done today what we are doing without them.
That is not hyperbole; that is the God's truth. We could never have
gotten this done without John and Reve Walsh.
It has to be one god-awful bitter moment, for the 27th of this month,
if I am not mistaken, will be the 25th anniversary.
A lot of people on this floor, including one of my colleagues I am
sitting with, have lost children. It doesn't matter whether it is 2
years past, 10 years, 25 years, or 50 years past. That part never
passes. I thank John and Reve for their courage, courage way beyond
anything I could possess.
I have known John for many years. We go way back to 1984, working
together to create the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children along with Senator Hatch. He has been at it year after year,
pushing the Congress to do more.
John, you have been an inspiration. You continue to be. Don't
underestimate it. You have been doing it so long, don't underestimate
how many thousands of people take solace from what you do and what you
have done.
It has not been my style in 33 years to take the floor to speak in
such personal terms, but this is ultimately personal. It is the
ultimate, ultimate personal thing, your child.
Earlier this week I had a chance to sit down with Ed Smart whose
daughter Elizabeth--what a magnificently beautiful, poised, gracious
young woman--then 14 years, was abducted at gunpoint from her family in
Salt Lake City while her parents and four brothers slept. She was found
9 months later. The strength of that family's character, its resilience
is remarkable.
I have taken too much of the Senate's time. Let me again thank my
colleague from Utah. I also thank our committee chairman and all the
members of our committee. They also deserve a great deal of credit.
Other Senators, including my colleague on the floor, who has been
relentless, absolutely relentless, Senator Dorgan; he added a major,
important piece to this legislation. I thank him for that. Senator Bill
Nelson, Chuck Grassley, all contributed important parts to this bill.
They each took tragedies that happened in their States and used them as
a call to action.
Senators Frist and Reid--our majority and minority leaders--also
deserve all our thanks by ensuring that this important bill was treated
with the priority it deserved.
Congressman Foley has worked tirelessly on this bill in the House for
[[Page S8015]]
years, and Congressman Pomeroy was by his side. And Chairman
Sensenbrenner guided this bill through the House of Representatives.
I don't think there is one of us on this floor who wouldn't trade
away this bill for being able to bring back to life all those innocent
lives that were lost that allowed us, in a bizarre way, to produce this
legislation.
We cannot redeem the dead, but we can, in fact, protect the living. I
think this bill, with the many parts I didn't mention, including DNA
testing and a whole range of other things, is fair, decent, and
honorable. Most important, there is not a single thing we can do that
is more worthy of our effort than protecting our children. That is what
all of us on this floor--and many who are not--today are playing a part
in doing.
Again, I close by thanking John Walsh.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. DORGAN. Is there an order of speaking this evening, if I might
inquire of the manager.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we go back and
forth so long as we have people on both sides. So the distinguished
Senator from North Dakota will be allowed to speak next and then the
distinguished Senator from Virginia.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I will pick up where the Senator from
Delaware left off and the Senator from Utah, also thanking John Walsh
and his wife Reve for their tremendous contribution to our society but
in particular for this piece of legislation. We all have to deal in
life with tragedies, struggles. It is the measure of a person to see
how that individual responds.
Given the nature of the tragedy they experience, it could have easily
destroyed them. They took this horrific incident and turned it into a
tremendous good. As Senator Biden says, who knows personally, I can't
think of anything worse than losing a child. Losing a child in such an
incredibly tragic situation has to be more than you can possibly bear.
To take that emotion and channel it into a positive course for the
benefit of other children is an incredible legacy for Adam. I know John
and Reve do it for that reason, to build this incredible legacy. This
legacy is added to today by naming this bill the Adam Walsh Child
Protection and Safety Act.
Not only is this a great thing they are doing for society, they are a
great model for so many who experience tragedies every single day.
People can look at them and see how something that I am sure brought
them to their knees can be turned around to do so much good for so
many. So they are not only helping the children, helping those who are
victims of crime, but they are helping those who are victims of life's
tragedies that befall us all and giving them an inspiration to move
forward and turn tragedy into triumph. This is another triumph. It may
not even be the biggest triumph they have experienced, but it is
certainly a triumph and a positive thing to add to that legacy.
I rise to talk about two pieces of this bill I have been working on
and of which I am the author. One is called Project Safe Childhood. The
second is called the Schools SAFE Act. I introduced Project Safe
Childhood a couple months ago after learning of a program at the
Justice Department called Project Safe Childhood.
The Justice Department, in reviewing and seeing the incredible
proliferation of child exploitation crimes, basically being
proliferated through the Internet, took on a new program within the
Department. This new program was in response to what we see of sexual
predators on the Internet and with other types of sexual trafficking,
again, as a result of the Internet and other places. They developed a
program which is a very good program. It has five main purposes:
First, it seeks to integrate Federal, State, and local efforts and
investigate and prosecute child exploitation cases.
Second, the project allows major case coordination between the
Department of Justice and other appropriate Federal agencies.
Third, it increases Federal involvement in child exploitation cases
by providing additional investigative tools and additional penalties
that are available under Federal law that State and local governments
may not have.
Four, the project provides increased training for Federal, State, and
local law enforcement regarding the investigation and prosecution of
computer-facilitated crimes against children.
Finally, it promotes community and educational programs to raise
national awareness about the threat of online sexual predators and to
provide information to families on how to report violations.
As the father of six children, I can tell you that what Senator Biden
said about what parents used to feel they could do to protect
children--locking doors and being with them--has gotten a lot more
complex, with that fiber optic tube that runs into your house that
allows the entire world to come crashing into your home and allows sick
people to be able to prey on members of your family. We need to do more
to educate parents. This is like pointing a loaded gun at your child,
in many cases, and asking them to get on and play. This is a dangerous
tool.
Yes, there are wonderful things on the Internet. There is a
tremendous world of knowledge and adventure on the Internet. But as we
know, too often the major traffic on the Internet is not those
wonderful and informative sites. They are sites that prey on our
failings and weaknesses, prey on the unsuspecting, on the innocent, in
many cases. We as parents have to be better armed to deal with these
people who want to reach into our homes and corrupt members of our
families, corrupt everything that we are trying to teach them not to do
and, worse yet, potentially could opt them into behavior that could
risk, ultimately, their lives.
So this program is very important that the Justice Department is
engaged in. I contacted the Department and worked with them to develop
an authorization bill so we could provide a stable stream of funding
for Project Safe Childhood and expand the program in a way that the
Department on its own could not do.
For example, increasing penalties for registered sex offenders, child
sex trafficking and sexual abuse, and other child exploitation crimes,
which this does. It creates a children's safety online awareness
campaign and authorizes grants for child safety programs. So in
addition to what the Justice Department program does, we add those
provisions to help with better coordination between State, local, and
Federal prosecutors and investigators.
I had a meeting in the western district of Pennsylvania with our U.S.
attorney, Mary Beth Buchanan, and State and local officials. They were
talking about it--just the practical difficulties of assigning police
and investigators and detectives and prosecutors on a local level and
the support they need and the overlapping jurisdictional issues. So
this will help them be able to create seamless teams of people to go
after these child abusers, as well as to project into the community
information that is important to prevent these crimes from happening.
So I am grateful that Senators Specter, Hatch, and Leahy have worked
to include that provision in the bill. I think it will take us a step
forward in protecting our children from these predators and from
exploitation.
The second piece of legislation is called the Schools SAFE Act. We
spend a lot of time on the Senate floor talking about how we can
improve the quality of education. But it almost goes without saying
that when you drop your child off at school, at a bare minimum, you
expect that the people who interact with them at school will not harm
them. You would think that would be almost a given. But, unfortunately,
in our country today we actually have a very poor system of checking as
to whether people who are hired in schools are, in fact, safe for the
children with whom they interact.
Obviously, the vast majority of teachers and people who work in
schools are good and decent people and are there because they want to
help children, not because they want to harm children. But like
anything else, if you are someone who is a sexual predator, and you are
looking to harm children, what better place to go than a place where
there are children every single day you could possibly exploit.
[[Page S8016]]
So it is important that we have sufficient checks in place to make sure
that these predators are not in educational settings where they can
harm and corrupt our children.
The current state of play is basically a mishmash of different State
laws and different participation in a system created to help schools
access information about criminal background checks. Some States
require, for example, only a State background check, while other States
require an FBI background check. With these disparities, individuals
continue to find opportunities to evade safeguards that have been put
into place.
In Pennsylvania, an FBI background check is only required for
individuals applying to schools for work and have lived in the
Commonwealth for less than 2 years. So if you lived in the Commonwealth
for several years and you committed a crime someplace else,
Pennsylvania would not have the ability to check that out.
Beginning in 2007, Pennsylvania will require applicants who have
lived in the Commonwealth for more than 2 years to also undergo FBI
background checks.
So we are addressing that issue in Pennsylvania.
I think it just goes to show you that there is no good system out
there. What we need to do is allow States to access a database that was
established by Congress in 1998 in the National Crime Prevention and
Privacy Compact. This compact allows States to share background
information on individuals seeking employment in a school district.
This is an important thing to have all the States participating in. I
will not go through all of the problems, but there are all sorts of
memoranda and agreements and data-sharing information. As a result of
that, only roughly half of the States--26 States--participate in the
compact. Even States that have joined the compact don't always get
access to the information they need. This is a problem.
You could have a man from Pennsylvania who committed sex crimes in
Pennsylvania and moved to Nevada. Nevada is a compact State. Nevada
could do the compact based check of whether this person has committed
crimes against children and find nothing, because Pennsylvania does not
participate in the compact. So they could be hired in Nevada schools
without any knowledge of the individual's problems in Pennsylvania.
This is obviously a great threat to our children. So what this bill
does is give schools across our Nation an essential resource when
making hiring decisions. They will be able to access this database and
conduct fingerprint-based background checks on individuals who are
seeking work with or around children in schools. So this is another
important step in protecting our children, in addition to all of the
other provisions in this bill--protecting our children in this case in
our schools.
I thank, again, the chairman and ranking member for their tremendous
assistance to me in getting this legislation in the final package.
Again, I congratulate all who have been involved in this very important
legislation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 3 minutes be
yielded to the Senator from Georgia, and then we go back to the Senator
from North Dakota, and then to Senator Allen, and that would be it for
now.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Georgia is recognized.
Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I thank the Senators for their courtesy.
I thank Senator Hatch from Utah and his committee for incorporating in
this very important bill provisions known as Masha's law. I was
privileged to join, as an original cosponsor, with Senator Kerry on
Masha's law.
Masha is a young lady who, at an early age in Russia, was adopted by
an American citizen who became her custodian. He brought her to the
United States and, systematically and over a protracted period of time,
abused her and put her photographs over the Internet in enormous
numbers. Masha, fortunately, after a sustained period of time, was able
to escape his custody. A case was filed against him. He was indicted
and convicted and today is incarcerated in Massachusetts.
Masha is, fortunately, now living in a loving home in Georgia and has
a wonderful mother who is truly an angel of adoption in every way.
In researching this case, we found that young Masha, and many others
like her who have been abused in their lives, could not even recover
under the laws as they existed. What Masha's law does, and what is
incorporated in here, is it changes ``any minor'' to ``any person,'' so
that if a minor is depicted in photographs pornographically that are
distributed over the Internet, but by the time the abuser is caught,
the minor is an adult, they can still recover. They cannot now, and
that is ridiculous. It makes sure that recovery on the part of a minor
can take place when they become an adult, whether or not the guilty
person is incarcerated. It raises from $50,000 to $150,000 the penalty
for which that individual can be recompensated if, in fact, someone who
depicts that picture and puts it on the Internet and uses them is
caught and convicted. That compensation is to be paid to the
individual.
Although I don't think there is any price too high to cost an
individual who would take advantage of a minor, I think it is only
appropriate to triple that penalty and make sure that reaching the age
of adulthood does not exempt someone from recovery. It is a tribute to
continuing to do what this bill does, and that is look after the
protection of minors and ensure that those who violate them are caught
and punished and have to pay to the maximum extent.
I thank the Senator from Utah for allowing me the time, and I thank
the Senators from North Dakota and Virginia as well.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota is recognized.
Mr. DORGAN. First, let me say to the Senator from Utah, as well as to
my colleague, the Senator from Delaware, that their leadership has been
very important on this legislation. They will not know the names of
those whose lives are saved, but lives will be saved because this
legislation has passed. I very much appreciate their diligence and hard
work.
This is a piece of legislation about protecting children. I don't
know what is second place in the lives of many people, but I know what
is in first place, and that is the protection of children. They cannot
protect themselves. It is our responsibility as parents; it is our
responsibility in this country to do the things necessary to protect
our children. There are so many stories that it is almost hard to
begin, and you don't know where to stop.
My interest in this goes back some long ways. My colleagues have
described John Walsh and the tragic loss of his son Adam Walsh. Those
of us who have lost children understand that pain, but it must be
enormously compounded by the pain of someone who loses a child who has
been abducted.
My experience, especially with respect to North Dakota, a couple of
years ago was to learn one day that a wonderful young woman had been
abducted in a parking lot of a shopping center in Grand Forks, ND, a
young woman named Dru Sjodin, and, we later found, murdered.
There is a trial underway for someone charged with murder in that
case, but that case is like so many cases, it seems to me. It is the
case of Adam Walsh, it is the case of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, it
is the case of a 12-year-old girl named Polly Klaas. It is the case of
Sarah Michelle Lunde, age 13.
Pull back the curtain and then ask the question: Who is it abducting
these children? Who are the sexual predators killing these children?
This is not some mystery. We know the answer to this. The answer is,
in most cases, that these murders and these abductions are done by
those who have been in our criminal justice system and who have
abducted and murdered before.
I held a meeting in Fargo, ND, following the abduction of Dru Sjodin
and the introduction of legislation I call Dru's law. What brings me to
the floor of the Senate today is the components of Dru's law have been
included in this legislation. So, finally, it will become law.
The Senate has passed Dru's law twice on its own. We have not gotten
it
[[Page S8017]]
through the U.S. House. Now it will be through the U.S. House and
Senate as a part of this Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act,
and it will become law.
A meeting I held in Fargo, ND, to discuss Dru's law is a meeting at
which I showed this poster. This meeting was just over a year and a
quarter ago now. I held the meeting at the city hall in Fargo, ND.
Prior to the meeting, I searched the computer for a registry of sex
offenders to find out who was living within 1 mile of where we were
meeting at city hall in Fargo, ND, who had previously been convicted as
a sexual predator--who were they? I would share the names with the
folks who came to that meeting to say: Here is a registry in North
Dakota of sexual predators. There is no national registry; this is
North Dakota's registry.
This is a poster that I showed the folks who came to Fargo that day
as an example of someone who lived within a mile of where we were
having the meeting. His name is Joseph Duncan, first-degree rape. He
raped a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint, burned the victim with a
cigarette, made the victim believe he was going to be killed by firing
the gun twice on empty chambers; terminated from treatment; served a
lengthy prison sentence; paroled, then absconded; had a long history of
sexual aggression as a youth.
That is his sheet from the registry in North Dakota.
What I didn't know that day was that 1 month before the meeting I was
having in Fargo, this same man had been charged with molesting a 6-
year-old boy at a playground in Detroit Lakes, MN, just across the
border. Someone in Minnesota checking the registry of sexual predators
would not have found his name. He was just miles away living in Fargo,
ND, but, in fact, he went over to Detroit Lakes, MN, and was charged
with molesting a 6-year-old boy.
That is why we need a national registry. Strangely enough, in April
of last year, he appeared on those charges, and a county judge set the
bail at $15,000, and he was released after posting cash, promising to
stay in touch, and he absconded and that is it. The judge said he
didn't know he had this record.
Then 2 months later, this man we know now from intense media coverage
was arrested in Idaho for kidnaping 8-year-old Shasta Groene and her
brother, 9-year-old Dylan. The children had been missing for well over
a month--2 months actually--when the bound and bludgeoned bodies of
their mother, their older brother and their mother's boyfriend were
found at their rural home. This man is now charged with three
additional murders and the kidnaping of two children that he held and
sexually abused for a number of months.
Dylan's remains were later located, and Shasta Groene, the young
girl, was spotted in a Denny's restaurant by a sharp-eyed waitress who
called the police, and she was saved.
This case is an example of why there must be a national registry.
Dru's law, which I introduced, has three components. One is the
creation of a national registry of sex offenders. The underlying
legislation improves on that by not only requiring the national
registry but also standardizing the information that will be in the
national registry.
Second, Dru's law requires that when a violent, high-risk sex
offender is about to be released from incarceration, the local
authorities must be notified, the local States attorney must be
notified. There is such a high risk to the population of this high-risk
offender being released that perhaps there is cause to seek additional
civil incarceration, civil commitment, but they can't do that if they
don't know about the impending release.
In fact, when a high-risk offender is released from prison, they
can't just say: So long, good luck. That is exactly what happens in too
many cases.
Martha Stewart is thrown in jail. They put Martha in jail for 6
months, and when she gets out of Federal prison, she gets out of
Federal prison wearing an ankle bracelet, an electronic bracelet that
allows law enforcement to track her whereabouts.
I can give you an example of a very violent sex offender let out of
prison with no maintenance, no monitoring, no electronic bracelet,
just: So long, see you later; you served your time. Yes, we will see
them again when they create another violent crime, another rape,
another murder, another abduction. That is why I support passing this
kind of legislation.
This legislation is going to save lives. Again I ask the question,
and it is so fundamental: If we send Martha Stewart home with an
electronic bracelet on her ankle, we can't do that to violent sex
offenders when the psychiatrists at the institute of incarceration have
said, ``We believe this person to be at high risk for real offending''?
Nearly three-quarters of the violent sex offenders are going to
repeat that offense when released from prison. We know that from
statistics. Do we have an obligation to protect children? The answer
is, you bet we do, and it is long past the time. That is why this
legislation is so very important.
As I said when I started, there is so much here that is partisan in
this Chamber and the other Chamber, and there is so much that swirls
around all of us in politics that we don't like very much about today.
But there are times when we do things that will make a difference, and
we do things working together, Republicans and Democrats. This is one
of those moments of which we can be proud.
Senator Hatch and Senator Biden did a wonderful job. They mentioned
their staffs, and that is important. It is always the case that
politicians take the bows, but it is important to understand that staff
plays a very significant role in helping us write legislation, do the
research to get it correct and get it passed.
I thank my colleagues, and I especially say to the parents of Dru
Sjodin: I believe that in honor of her memory we have, in this
legislation, done something significant. Section 120 is the Dru Sjodin
national sex offender public Web site. We create the three elements in
Dru's law in this legislation, and I believe, in her memory, we will
save other lives.
There are many parents out there today who have lost children, some
to the horror of abduction by sexual predators. If this legislation
will--and I believe it will--prevent others from experiencing that
horror, and if this legislation will--and I believe it will--save
children, then we will have done significant work here tonight. It is
perhaps little noticed by some. We don't have on legislation of this
type perhaps filled Chambers and substantial attention to it, but while
it is perhaps little known publicly, what transpires here in the Senate
tonight will have a significant influence on the future of children in
this country.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chafee). The Senator from Utah.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
distinguished Senator from Virginia speak next, but also after him, the
distinguished Senator from Texas and then the distinguished Senator
from Washington, Ms. Cantwell.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I rise this evening in strong support of
the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. I commend
Senator Hatch for his steadfast leadership, his wisdom, and
perseverance in finally getting this measure to the floor for a vote.
It is long overdue.
I have always believed that one of the very top, most important
responsibilities of government at the Federal, State, or, for that
matter, the local level is the safety and security of our people,
particularly the most vulnerable people in our society--our children.
When I was Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I made the
protection of the people of Virginia, including our children, our top
priority. We worked with the legislature to abolish the lenient,
dishonest parole system in Virginia that was releasing criminals after
serving as little as one-fifth of their sentence. We instituted truth
in sentencing in Virginia, and by doing that, when you read in the
newspaper or see in the news that a felon has gotten a 20-year
sentence, he is serving 20 years, not 4 or 5 years to come back out and
prey upon innocent law-abiding citizens again.
Clearly, the abolition of parole, truth in sentencing, and longer
sentences for
[[Page S8018]]
felons has made Virginia safer. The crime rates are down, and there are
tens of thousands of people who will not be victims of crime.
I am going to talk about Adam Walsh, but there are a lot of other
victims of crimes. I remember when we were trying to get the
legislature and people behind the abolition of parole and truth in
sentencing, listening to the stories of loved ones, of parents who
would tell their stories, of people released early and where they have
preyed upon, killed, or raped again.
I will always remember a lady talking about being raped, and then
right after her, another woman was talking about being raped again, a
second time, by that same person. That rapist was released early.
I remember talking about a police officer with young children. The
police officer was killed on Father's Day in Richmond by someone
released early. The story of a young person working in the bakery in
Richmond who was killed by someone released early. The story of a
mother talking about a violent assault and then the smothering with a
pillow of her daughter, and then having to go back to the parole board
to recount why that criminal, that murderer, should not be released
once again.
Before I became Governor in Virginia, pedophiles were serving an
average of 3\1/2\ years in prison. Now, with the abolition of parole,
and truth in sentencing, their sentences are 26 years rather than 3\1/
2\ years. Not surprisingly, there are now fewer victims of crime in the
Commonwealth of Virginia. However, there continue to be child predators
who lurk in the shadows of our society.
Studies show that there are more than 550,000 registered sex
offenders in the United States, and there are an estimated 100,000 sex
offenders who are missing from the system. Loopholes in this current
system have allowed some sexual predators to evade law enforcement and
place our children at risk. That is why the national registry aspect of
this bill is so important.
Some may wonder, why is there such a focus on sex offenders? Why is
there such a focus on pedophiles and sex offenders and rapists? The
reason is, if you look at the statistics--and it is not unique to
Virginia; it is the way it is across this country--the highest
recidivist rate, or the highest repeat offender rate of any crime--even
higher than murderers, even higher than armed robbers--is sex
offenders. That is why it is so important we have the registry. When
someone is caught, first, they are getting a long sentence, and the
best way to protect people is having these sex offenders behind bars
rather than lurking in a parking garage or trying to lure young
children. That is why the focus on sexual predators is so important, in
that they have the highest repeat offender rate.
Now, these days, child predators have increased their ability to
inflict harm on our children by exploiting new communications
technologies, including the Internet. Please understand: I believe the
Internet is the greatest invention since the Gutenberg press for the
dissemination of information and ideas. It is a wonderful tool. And
ever since I have been in the Senate, I have been working to make sure
that avaricious State and local tax commissars don't impose 18-percent
taxes on the Internet in monthly charges. We don't want the Internet
monthly bills to look like a telephone bill. Ron Wyden from Oregon has
been a good ally on this.
But the Internet also can create new opportunities for criminals,
especially child predators. It is vitally important that we as parents
and as elected leaders take the necessary steps to make the Internet as
safe as possible for our children, as safe as possible for our children
when they are at home, as safe as possible for them at schools, as well
as in libraries.
I recently introduced a bill called the Internet Tax
Nondiscrimination Act. This bill makes permanent the Internet tax
moratorium, which is scheduled to expire next year. This measure also
increases the ability of parents to protect their children from
Internet predators. In fact, this is still law today. We want to keep
this going.
In our bill, we impose a responsibility on Internet service providers
to offer customers filtering technology. The ISPs, or Internet service
providers, need to limit access to material that would be harmful to
minors. This feature will create a powerful, and does create a
powerful, financial incentive for ISPs to provide the filtering
technology that parents need. Once parents are empowered with this
technology, I guarantee you they will use it to protect their young
sons and daughters. I am pleased the Senate Commerce Committee approved
this bill as part of the telecom reform bill on a vote of 19 to 3.
However, we as a legislative body have much more work to do,
especially when it comes to increasing penalties on Internet predators,
by giving law enforcement officials the tools they need to catch
Internet predators and convict them. This is a key reason I have signed
on as a cosponsor of the Adam Walsh Act. This legislation is vitally
needed. As I said, it should have been passed many years ago. This
legislation honors the memory of a 6-year-old boy named Adam Walsh who
was kidnapped and murdered nearly 25 years ago. This bill also
recognizes the tireless efforts of his parents, John and Reve Walsh,
who have been outstanding advocates for children all across America, in
making sure we have some common sense when we are combating violent
criminals.
The Adam Walsh Act--and I want to focus on one title--this bill in
title 7 includes what is called the Internet Safety Act, sets out
several provisions that will dramatically increase Internet safety,
including tough new penalties for child exploitation enterprises and
repeat sex offenders. This title also creates a new crime--and this is
important--a new crime for embedding words or digital images on to the
source code of a Web site with the intent to deceive a person into
viewing this obscenity. This is vitally important for all people. I
tell you, it is important for families and children. This section is
going to help stop pornographers from tricking children into visiting
their sites with words that are designed to attract innocent young
people.
The Internet safety provisions in this measure also fund Federal
prosecution resources, including 200 new Assistant U.S. Attorney
positions to help prosecute persons for offenses related to sexual
exploitation of children, and 45 more computer forensic examiners.
These are the experts who will be helpful within the regional computer
forensic laboratories in the Department of Justice. They include 10
more Internet Crimes Against Children task forces. These are also
important. There is some good work being done in Bedford County,
Virginia, in between Lynchburg and Roanoke. The sheriff, Mike Brown, in
Bedford County has instituted Operation Blue Ridge Thunder which works
on this, but the State and local folks can certainly use the assistance
and help of the forensic experts and U.S. attorneys. After all, a lot
of this is across State lines. All of these resources are absolutely
necessary for the investigation and the prosecution of child sex
offenses.
The Internet safety provisions in this bill also expand the civil
remedy available to children who have been sexually abused and
exploited.
This is vitally important, commonsense legislation that is going to
protect and, indeed, it is going to save lives. It is perfect that we
pass a bill named after Adam Walsh, a child who lost his life at age 6
to a child predator. It can be Adam Walsh, but to all the parents who
are out there who lost a young child to a sexual predator, it can be
their name put in here as well. The parents of Adam Walsh have
dedicated their lives to making sure there are not other parents
grieving with the loss of their son or their daughter. Adam's spirit
lives on and the inspiration for action is in this measure, action that
will save lives. More children will be able to grow up with the
innocence they deserve and the safety they deserve, thanks to the
efforts of Adam Walsh's parents and also the wisdom, on a bipartisan
basis, of the Senate not to dawdle, but to act. I commend the Senate
for acting, particularly those in the committee. I am honored to be a
cosponsor, and I look forward to the passage of this act, the signing
by the President, and the protection of children all across America.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas is recognized.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I too rise to support the Adam Walsh Child
[[Page S8019]]
Protection and Safety Act of 2006. This act represents landmark,
bipartisan legislation to protect the most vulnerable among us: our
children. Over the last several months, the House and the Senate met,
negotiated, and finally reached agreement on this important measure.
I want to note and, in doing so, commend the tremendous leadership
Chairman Specter and Senator Hatch, our immediate past chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, and their respective staffs, as well as the
House Judiciary Committee chairman, Jim Sensenbrenner and his staff,
for all their tireless dedication to this legislation. Many people have
devoted time and effort to see this bill through, ensuring that we do
everything within our power to protect our children.
The crimes of child abuse and child exploitation are astounding but,
unfortunately, all too prevalent. The recent wave of child abductions
in this country demonstrates the need for this type of response from
the Congress. There is only one way to deal with those who prey on
children: They must be caught sooner, punished longer, and watched
closer than they are today.
Before I came to the Senate, I was honored to serve as the chief law
enforcement officer of the State of Texas as Texas attorney general.
There, I instituted a new specialized unit known as the Texas Internet
Bureau which was designed to coordinate and direct efforts to fight
Internet crimes such as fraud, child pornography, and address privacy
concerns, among others. As others here have noted, the Internet is a
remarkable tool which has revolutionized the way we live, the way we
communicate, and the way we receive information. The problem is,
though, there is a dark underbelly to the Internet, and the Texas
Internet Bureau was designed to specifically identify Internet
predators who were then caught, prosecuted, convicted, and taken off
the streets. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with my
colleagues in the Senate to help continue on this important initiative
and to make it available to more and more of our children and, thus, to
make America a safer place for our children to grow up.
I want to take a moment to highlight another very important
participant in these negotiations who has been noted and praised for
his efforts, but I think we can't say enough to recognize his
contribution. John Walsh has a long-standing commitment to fighting for
child victims and measures to protect children across this country. As
has been recounted, his son Adam Walsh was kidnapped from a mall in
Florida and murdered in 1981. Since that day, John Walsh has dedicated
his life to helping victims of crime, and he has been enormously
successful and influential in doing so. It is only appropriate that
this bill honors the inspiration he has given to us all in the life of
his son Adam Walsh in the process.
As many of you know, John Walsh is the host of ``America's Most
Wanted'' and has spent a lot of time and effort working on this bill.
This is not the first time he has invested his efforts and expertise in
helping Congress address child crime legislation. In the previous
Congress, we passed legislation that included the Code Adam Act, which
required Federal buildings to establish procedures for locating a child
who is missing in Federal buildings.
The title of this current bill appropriately honors Mr. Walsh's
efforts, and I am told the President will sign the bill, if we pass it,
on July 27, marking the 25th year since the day Adam was abducted.
I do not pretend to understand the pain and trauma the Walsh family
or others have had to endure as a result of these terrible crimes
against children. But I am eternally grateful for the way John Walsh
has used this pain and this trauma to improve the lives of other people
and to ensure we take every step within our power to protect our
children against like crimes committed against Adam Walsh.
I wish to take a second to highlight other important measures
contained in the bill which will enhance existing laws, enhance
investigative tools, criminal penalties, and child crime resources in a
variety of ways. This bill requires sex offenders to register and, in
the case of the most serious offenders, to do so for up to the length
of their entire lives. It requires them to report in person at least
once each year to update personal information and to take a new
photograph. It requires public posting for public access on the
Internet of information about sex offenders so it is widely available,
and so parents can take steps necessary to protect their children. It
forces States to comply with this program or, I should say, persuades
them to comply with the program by linking participation to Byrne grant
funding, and it punishes with imprisonment up to 10 years those who
fail to register, and if they commit a violent crime while
unregistered, they can be punished for up to 30 years consecutive to
any underlying conviction. It requires the Attorney General of the
United States to create Project Safe Childhood, which will integrate
Federal, State, and local efforts to prosecute the crime of child
exploitation. It increases punishments for any crime of violence
against a child, and authorizes grants to States to implement these
important programs, and provides them grants to do so.
It also includes many of the provisions of the Internet Safety Act
which I cosponsored with Senator Jon Kyl and others which, among other
things, creates a new crime outlawing child exploitation enterprises,
and would imprison for a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years those
who act in concert to commit at least three separate violations of
Federal child pornography, sex trafficking, or sexual abuse laws
against multiple child victims. It also enacts various other important
provisions, including making the failure to register as a sex offender
a deportable offense for aliens and preventing sex offenders from
taking advantage of our immigration laws.
This is one of those fine times in the U.S. Congress where we have
come together on a bipartisan basis to do something that rises above
partisanship and is enormously significant in terms of improving our
quality of life and protecting those who are most vulnerable among us.
This Congress continues to act on measures that benefit our Nation and
protect our children. It has long been said that societies are
ultimately judged on how they treat their elderly and their young. This
bill is an important step toward improving the safety of those who are
our youngest and most vulnerable.
Finally, Mr. President, I would like to specifically express my
gratitude to the many dedicated staff who worked tirelessly on this
bill for some time, including Matthew Johnson and Lynden Melmed from my
own staff. Additionally, I would like to thank the following staff:
Allen Hicks, Mike O'Neill, Matt Miner, Todd Braunstein,
Brett Tolman, Lisa Owings, Bruce Artim, Ken Valentine, Tom
Jipping, Dave Turk, Bradley Hayes, Joe Matal, Nicole
Gustafson, James Galyean, Amy Blankenship, Jane Treat, Sharon
Beth Kristal, Julie Katzman, Noah Bookbinder, Christine
Leonard, Lara Flint, Marianne Upton, Preet Baharara, Melanie
Looney, Anna Mitchell, Gabriel Adler, Alea Brown, Bradley
Schreiber, Mike Volkov, Sean McLaughlin, Bobby Vassar, and
Greg Barnes.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington is recognized.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the Adam Walsh
Child Protection and Safety Act. I thank the Senator from Utah for his
leadership on this legislation over the last several years, and I thank
his staff for their hard work and perseverance in pushing this
legislation to the Senate floor tonight.
Last June, the entire Nation was horrified by the kidnapping and
murders of the Groene family and the tragic crimes upon little Shasta
Groene.
Joseph Duncan was a convicted sex offender who beat Brenda Groene;
her 13-year-old son, Slade; and her boyfriend, Mark McKenzie to death.
Their bodies were found in their home in Idaho on May 16, 2005. The
killings captured the national headlines and prompted a massive search
for the two Groene children, 8-year-old Shasta and her 9-year-old
brother, Dylan.
Six weeks later, on July 2, restaurant workers in Idaho recognized
Shasta and called the police. Dylan's remains were found later in
western Montana.
This did not have to happen.
In 1980, Duncan was convicted of rape in Washington State. He was
sentenced to 20 years in prison and began his sentence in a treatment
program. After he was terminated from the program, he
[[Page S8020]]
served his sentence in prison until he was released on parole in 1994.
In 2000, he moved to Fargo, where he registered with the North Dakota
Sex Offender Registry, but before long he had moved again and both the
North Dakota and Washington State registries lost track of him.
In April of 2005, a Minnesota judge released Duncan on bail after he
had been charged with child molestation.
Duncan promptly skipped town.
Minnesota issued a warrant for his arrest that May because he had not
registered as a sex offender in that State, but by that time it was too
late.
On May 16, the Groene family was found dead and it wasn't until July
2 that Shasta was recovered.
Joseph Duncan was essentially lost by three States. He moved from
State to State to avoid capture.
No one knew where he was nor even how to look for him.
I say again, this did not have to happen.
There is no worse crime than a crime against a child, and one crime
against a child is too many. That is why I have cosponsored the Child
Protection Safety Act, because we need better information. We need a
better system to keep that information accurate, and we need better
standards to keep that system from breaking down when we need it most.
The Senate must pass this bipartisan legislation to improve the
national sex offender database, to link State tracking systems, and to
prevent sex offenders from escaping and moving to other States.
Today there is far too much disparity among State registration
requirements and notification obligations for sex offenders. Yes, there
is already a National Registry, but it is based on often outdated
listings from all 50 States. Worse, there are currently no incentives
for offenders to provide accurate information, which helps to undermine
the system.
Child sex offenders have exploited this stunning lack of uniformity,
and the consequences have been tragic. Twenty percent of the Nation's
560,000 sex offenders are ``lost'' because State offender registry
programs are not coordinated well enough.
We take these numbers very seriously in Washington State. In
Washington State we have over 19,000 registered sex offenders and
kidnaping offenders; more than 2,900 Washingtonians are currently
incarcerated for these sex crimes. But we must be tough on these
criminals because the national statistics are staggering.
One in five girls is estimated to be a victim of sexual assault. One
in ten boys is estimated to be a victim. Only 35 percent of these cases
are ever reported to the police. That is why this spring, Washington
State passed a tough law that is new in mandating that sex offenders
from other States must register with authorities within 3 days upon
moving to Washington State. The previous law had been 30 days.
We also established a minimum sentence for certain sex crimes and
tougher registration rules. Back in 1990 we were the first State to
enact a sexual predator involuntary commitment law that ensures
predators who are about to be released after serving their time can be
prevented from being released if mental health officials believe that
they will endanger the community.
This law has become a national model for other States to follow.
Today, these sexual predators are housed on McNeil Island where they
cannot hurt our children.
Here is what I know. Local law enforcement needs the tools and
information that this legislation will give them to defend our
children. It will help us close the gap between Federal and State sex
offender registration and notification programs. Every State needs to
update one another and the national registry in real time, and we need
to recognize that tough punishment today will prevent terrible costs
tomorrow.
We must keep our communities safe, and I know that is why the Senate
is going to act on this legislation tonight. The Adam Walsh Protection
and Safety Act creates this registry on a national level that is so
long overdue. It provides strong, practical tools for law enforcement
The new registry will expand the scope and duration of sex offender
registration and notification requirements. It will keep track of all
sex offender information--addresses, employment, vehicle, and other
related information. And, as my colleague from North Dakota talked
about, with his hard work, it also has a national sex offender Web site
registry, the new Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Web site, so that
every American can stay informed.
Now the public will be able to search for sex offender information by
geographic radius and zip code, and the bill also, as my colleague from
Texas just mentioned, increases the penalties for violent sex crimes
against America's children.
It requires that the sex offenders register prior to their release
from prison or supervised programs.
America needs this legislation. I am so proud of my colleagues in
joining in a bipartisan effort to give law enforcement the tools they
need to protect our families and our communities. Let's give them the
information and the resources they need to get tough with sex
offenders. Let's pass the Adam Walsh Child Protection Safety Act to not
only honor John Walsh and his family, but also for all those who have
been victims of this hideous crime, and to show that we are willing to
work together to be aggressive in taking action and helping to make
America safe for our children.
I will yield the floor.
Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I rise today to support the Adam Walsh
Child Protection Safety Act of 2006, H.R. 4472. I say that as an
Arkansan because I know people in Arkansas want to protect our
children. I say that as a former attorney general because I know we
worked with John Walsh and other people who dealt with missing and
exploited children all over the country. We tried to be as active as
possible in the attorney general's office in Arkansas. Thirdly, and
most important, I say it as a father because I want my children
protected like everybody else here and everybody around the country who
wants their children protected.
Senator Frist made a statement a few moments ago about child
predators on the Internet. It is a real problem. It is something we in
the Congress are trying to deal with in this legislation. It is
something we need to keep focused on even though we passed this
legislation. We need to keep focused on it so we can make sure that
what we have on the books works. I am very proud of the Senate tonight
for considering this. I am very proud of the Congress for the way they
have handled this and moved this through the process.
I also wish to say another word. There is a program around the
country called Code Adam. Actually, an Arkansas company started this--
Wal-Mart--several years ago, where they have a little blue sticker on
the door of every Wal-Mart. They do a Code Adam procedure in the store
if a child is reported missing in the store. I cannot tell you how many
children have been saved in Wal-Marts but also in other retail stores
that use Code Adam. Wal-Mart has given this idea to anybody who wants
to do it. It has worked and it has probably saved dozens, if not
hundreds, of children. It is named after Adam Walsh because he was
abducted and murdered several years ago.
Lastly, my friend, Colleen Nick, whom I met through my time in the
attorney general's office in Arkansas--her daughter Morgan Nick was
abducted from a ballfield in Alma, AR, several years ago when Morgan
was about 5 years old. Colleen has devoted her life to missing children
issues. So I am proud that this passed tonight for Morgan and Colleen
and the Nick family because I have talked to them and spent a lot of
time with the Nicks. I know the void it creates in a parent's life and
in a family's life when one of their children is missing and never
found.
Mr. President, I am very proud to support this legislation. I believe
it makes America better, stronger, and it puts some teeth in the law
that we need. It is something of which we can all be proud.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the
Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. I am proud to be a
cosponsor of this bill and am even prouder that we have been able to
work across party lines and in both Houses to come up with a bill that
we all can support and that will genuinely help protect our children
from sexual predators.
[[Page S8021]]
My commendations and heartfelt sympathy go out to John and Reve
Walsh, Mark Lunsford, and all the other parents and loved ones of
children who were taken so violently from those who loved them so
dearly. Without the tireless efforts of these folks, this bill might
not be on the floor here today, as we near the 25-year mark of the
disappearance and murder of Adam Walsh.
The urgency of passing this legislation is clear. The murders of
Jessica Lunsford, Sara Lunde, Tiffany Souers, and Jetseta Gage, who was
from my home State of Iowa, have been thoroughly covered in the news in
recent times. Each of these murders was committed by a repeat sex
offender. These cases should open our eyes to the necessity of passing
a bill that will protect children from monsters who commit these crimes
and ensure that those who do commit the crimes will receive tougher
penalties.
As I mentioned, Jetseta Marrie Gage was from my home State of Iowa. I
would like to take a moment to talk about the beautiful 10-year-old
girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered last year.
On March 24, 2005, Jetseta went missing from her home. Within 12
hours of her disappearance, even before a body had been found, law
enforcement officials took Roger Bentley into custody.
Bentley had been previously convicted for committing lascivious acts
with a minor. Unfortunately, this man only served a little over 1 year
in prison for his previous sex crime conviction. Two days later, due to
a tip received by a woman responding to the Amber Alert, Jetseta's body
was found stuffed in a cabinet in an abandoned mobile home. She had
been sexually molested and suffocated with a plastic bag. I can't help
but wonder whether Jetseta would still be alive today had her killer
received stricter penalties for his first offense. It breaks my heart
to hear about cases like this, but it is even more disheartening when
you know that it might have been prevented with adequate sentencing and
that hers is just one tragic story in a long list of horrific crimes
committed every year.
Child sex offenders are the most heinous of all criminals. I can
honestly tell you that I would just as soon lock up all the child
molesters and child pornography makers and murderers in this country
and throw away the key. As it should all of us, the thought of what
these predators do to our innocent children literally makes me sick to
my stomach. The thought that we might not do what we could to deter
them but also to prevent the same people from committing the same
crimes against other children is unacceptable. According to a study
funded by the Department of Justice, 5.3 percent of sex offenders were
rearrested within 3 years following their release for another sex
crime. Also, compared to non-sex offenders released from State prisons,
released sex offenders were four times more likely to be rearrested for
a sex crime. Even more troubling, according to several federally funded
studies, child molesters have an even higher rate of rearrest than
rapists.
Three years ago, we passed the PROTECT Act, a bill I worked on with
my colleagues to provide the judiciary with the necessary tools to
ensure that our children and grandchildren grow up in a safe community,
free from child predators. This bill complements the process we started
with the PROTECT Act, and adds much needed additional protections for
children and for our communities.
The bill before us today includes parts of the Jetseta Gage
Prevention and Deterrence of Crimes Against Children Act, a bill that I
introduced last year to strengthen penalties for criminals who commit
sex offenses against children. It ensures that those who commit heinous
crimes against our children are appropriately punished and that anyone
thinking of committing similar crimes will think twice about the
repercussions. The bill increases penalties for sexual offenses against
children, including sexual abuse, murder, kidnapping, sex trafficking,
and various activities relating to the production and dissemination of
child pornography.
This bill goes far beyond these penalty increases, however. It
establishes sex offender registration and notification requirements,
essential to aid parents in monitoring their children's environments.
It strengthens child pornography prevention laws and sets up grants,
studies, and other programs for the safety of children and communities.
It delves into Internet crimes, an area that is becoming increasingly
important in light of the dangers posed to children and the lack of
knowledge on the part of parents, which hampers their ability to
protect their children. My good friend from Arizona, Mr. Kyl,
introduced the bill this section is based on and which I cosponsored.
As the elected representatives of the American people, our foremost
duty is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Child rapes and
murders are now being reported on our news programs on a regular basis.
We have the power to prevent so many of these crimes by creating
stronger deterrents and letting parents know where these sex offenders
lurk after they are released. When crimes are committed, the least we
can do is ensure that the rapists and murderers won't get the
opportunity to hurt another child.
It is a tragedy that it took so many stories like those of Adam
Walsh, Jetseta Gage, and Jessica Lunsford for a law of this nature to
be proposed. I strongly believe that a vote for this bill can save the
lives of children in the future. We have an obligation as legislators
to protect our citizenry. We have an obligation as adults to protect
our youth. We have an obligation as parents to protect our children. I
urge my colleagues to join me in doing just that by voting in favor of
this bill.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, the Congress will soon pass
important legislation that will better protect children around the
country from those who seek them harm. The Adam Walsh Child Protection
and Safety Act, H.R. 4472, named after the son of John and Reve Walsh
who was killed in Florida almost 25 years ago, is the toughest and most
comprehensive sex offender bill in recent years.
This legislation includes a number of changes to safeguard children,
including tougher sentences for crimes committed against children, a
publicly accessible national database of sex offenders, and a Federal
requirement for convicted sex offenders to register their locations
with law enforcement officials. The bill also includes a provision,
which I authored, to track released sex offenders.
Sadly, events of the recent past highlight the need for us to know
the location of convicted sexual offenders if they are released back
into our communities.
In my State of Florida, two young girls, Jessica Lunsford and Sarah
Lunde, were both murdered by convicted sex offenders within weeks of
each other in 2005.
Jessica Lunsford of Homosassa, FL, was a 9-year-old girl who was
abducted from her home, raped, and then buried alive by a convicted sex
offender who lived 150 feet from her home. Law enforcement had lost
track of him and they did not know that he worked at the school that
Jessica attended, despite his being a registered sex offender. A few
weeks later, 13-year-old Sarah Lunde of Ruskin, FL, was murdered by her
mother's ex-boyfriend. He is also a convicted sex offender.
In response to these tragic events, Florida enacted a law that
provides tougher sentences for child sex offenders and aids law
enforcement in effectively monitoring those sex offenders. The law
requires sex offenders, released back into our communities, to wear a
device to allow authorities to track them via a global positioning
system.
My provision in the Adam Walsh Act provides Jessica Lunsford and
Sarah Lunde grants to aid States and local government in purchasing
electronic monitoring systems, such as global positioning systems, that
will provide law enforcement with real time information on the
whereabouts of sex offenders released from prison to within 10 feet of
their location. Law enforcement will be able to restrict the movements
of sex offenders by programming these systems to alert authorities if a
sex offender goes to a park, amusement park, elementary school or other
areas determined to be off limits. The ankle bracelets used to monitor
their movements are tamperproof and will alert law enforcement in the
event that an offender has removed it so law enforcement can
immediately act to apprehend the offender.
[[Page S8022]]
The grants will provide a total of $15 million to State and local
government to help implement laws in order to get tougher on sex
offenders released back into their communities with electronic
monitoring technology. The bill will provide for $5 million in grants
for fiscal years 2007 through 2009. The bill then directs the Attorney
General to provide a report to Congress assessing the effectiveness of
the program and making recommendations as to future funding levels.
In the United States, there are an estimated 380,000 registered sex
offenders, although thousands have disappeared, according to
authorities. We have over 30,000 of these sex offenders in the State of
Florida. Laws, such as the one in Florida, and the Adam Walsh Act,
which will be passed by Congress, are necessary to protect our
children. I believe it is important that the Federal Government be
appropriately supportive of State and local governments that are
addressing this problem. To be effective, tough laws on sexual
predators of children must be properly funded, and I believe these
tough laws being passed by Federal and State legislatures are worth
properly funding when they will protect our children.
Children are our most important treasure and protecting them is one
of our most sacred responsibilities. I hope this bill will serve as a
living memorial to all the children and serve as some comfort to their
families. I hope the Jessica Lunsford and Sarah Lunde grants provided
in this bill will allow law enforcement to help prevent other families
from suffering similar tragedies.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, today the Senate passed the Adam Walsh
Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which will help prevent the
child exploitation by, among other things, creating a national system
for the registration of sex offenders. Included in this legislation is
a very important provision that I authored with Senator Isakson called
Masha's Law. Masha's Law is named after a very brave 13-year-old girl--
a Russian orphan who was adopted by a Pennsylvania man at the age of 5
and sexually exploited from the moment she was placed in his care.
Masha suffered unspeakable atrocities in the hands of her abusive
father, a man with a history of child exploitation. She continues to
suffer as photographs of this abuse, taken by her father and posted on
the Internet, are downloaded every day. Yet Masha does not cower in
fear. She is taking a stand. She is using her experiences to
demonstrate why the law must change. And it is because of her that we
are now closing unacceptable loopholes in our child exploitation laws.
Masha's photographs are among the most commonly downloaded images of
child pornography. Law enforcement estimates that 80 percent of child
pornography collections contain at least one of her photographs. In
fact, it was the high volume of images being distributed by this one
individual that raised suspicions and led law enforcement officials to
the home of Masha's adopted father. While he is currently in jail
accused of sexual abuse and facing Federal charges, the damage to Masha
continues every day as her pictures continue to be downloaded. Masha
has sought compensation through a little used provision in the Child
Abuse Victims' Rights Act of 1986 that provides statutory damages for
the victims of sexual exploitation. Nothing will ever compensate Masha
for the horrific experiences she has had, but the penalties provided in
current law are embarrassingly low--they are one-third of the penalty
for downloading music illegally.
According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, child
pornography has become a multibillion dollar Internet business. With
the increasingly sophisticated technology of digital media, child
pornography has become easier to produce, transfer, and purchase. We
are not doing enough to deter those who post and download child
pornography.
Masha's Law would do two things; first it would increase the civil
statutory damages available to a victim of child exploitation; and
second, it would ensure that victims of child pornography whose images
remain in circulation after they have turned 18 can still recover when
those images are downloaded. The injuries do not cease to exist simply
because the victim has turned 18. They continue and so should the
penalties.
These changes are long overdue. I am proud that the Senate has passed
this important legislation, and I am grateful to Masha for having the
courage to stand up and make her voice heard.
Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I am proud to be a cosponsor of the Adam
Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which provides law
enforcement officers with several important tools to protect our
children. In the past three decades, we have all seen and heard about
the many tragic cases of children being assaulted and killed by sex
offenders. These are absolutely horrifying events, and as legislators,
we have an obligation to do all we can to prevent such crimes in the
future. We need to improve and enhance sex offender registration and
tracking laws and increase penalties for those who violate them, which
this act will accomplish.
There are several prongs to this act, which is what will make it
successful. The core of this bill establishes a national sex offender
registry. Although each State has a registry, there are no uniform
standards. There is no easy way to access information from different
jurisdictions. This act creates a uniform Federal standard which
divides offenders into tiers, depending upon the offense for which they
were convicted. It establishes registration guidelines for each tier,
including how long a person would need to be registered and how often
he or she must come in for a personal verification of the registration
information. The act also creates community notification requirements
and will make it a felony for sex offenders to fail to register and
update their information on a regular basis. The Dru Sjodin National
Sex Offender Public Web site will allow the public to search for
information on sex offenders by ZIP Code and geographic radius.
All of these changes will help make our tracking laws more effective
and will allow parents and members of the local community to be
vigilant about the potential dangers of sex offenders in their
neighborhoods.
But before we can put a predator can appear on the registry, he needs
to be caught and prosecuted. The Adam Walsh Act includes urgently
needed resources to assist law enforcement in these endeavors. This act
establishes 10 new task forces dealing with Internet crimes against
children, 45 new computer forensic examiners to deal exclusively with
child sexual exploitation, and 200 new Federal prosecutors--all
designated to combat child sexual exploitation.
This act also tries to protect children from being victimized in the
first place. It provides grant money for educating parents and children
about those who use the Internet to prey upon children. It funds Big
Brothers and Big Sisters and includes my bill for the reauthorization
of the Police Athletic Leagues. These two programs provide kids with
supervision and role models and mentors who can help protect them from
predators. In addition, it mandates that potential foster and adoptive
parents go through a thorough criminal background check before a child
can be placed with them.
Also incorporated in this bill are aspects of the Internet Safety Act
which I proudly cosponsored. These include establishing new criminal
penalties to keep up with the constantly increasing level of depravity
among pedophiles--for example, the child exploitation enterprises
provision to prosecute the ``molestation on demand'' child pornographic
industry that has sprung up in recent years. Sexual predators of
children are among the worst kind of offenders, and it is only right
that there are sentencing enhancements for registered sex offenders who
reoffend.
This is a good piece of legislation. I am pleased so many of my
colleagues support it, and I look forward to its pending passage.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, in May, the Senate passed the Sex
Offender Registration and Notification Act to standardize and
strengthen registration and monitoring of sex offenders nationwide.
Since its passage, the House and Senate have worked closely to resolve
their differences and to improve the overall quality of the
legislation. The bill before us today contains difficult compromises,
but it has achieved that goal.
[[Page S8023]]
This legislation is critically important to safeguard victims of
sexual abuse from harm. It will help protect innocent people from
violent offenses. It recognizes the victims and all the suffering both
they and their families have endured.
With this legislation, we are recognizing the loss of Molly Bish from
Warren, MA. At 16, Molly was abducted from her position as a lifeguard,
and her family endured terrible uncertainty until her remains were
found 3 years later. Molly was a typical teenager who took great joy
from life. Her nickname was Tigger, because she was always on the move.
She is survived by her parents, John and Magi Bish; her sister,
Heather; and her brother, John, Jr., who work every day to keep
children safe, honoring her life and her legacy.
With this bill, we also remember with sadness another Massachusetts
resident, Alexandra Zapp. Ally was 30 years old when she was attacked
and murdered in a public restroom by a repeat sex offender in
Bridgewater, MA, in 2002. Ally's friends described her as a strong,
smart, and independent woman. She had worked at the USA Sailing
Association of Portsmouth, RI, where she was a keelboat training
coordinator. Ally is survived by her mother and sister, Andrea and
Caroline, and her father and stepmother, Ray and Linda. This
legislation is dedicated to her memory, along with the memories of
Molly Bish and the many other victims of terrible crimes.
Several changes have been made to this legislation as a result of our
work with the House. It is important to make sure that information on
offenders who pose a potential threat is available to the public at
large, and this bill provides for Internet listing and community
notification about such individuals.
At the same time, in order for the registry to be effective, it
should be targeted toward those who present the highest risk to our
communities. The current version takes a more sweeping approach toward
juvenile offenders by expanding their registration requirements. The
Senate bill allowed each State to determine whether a juvenile should
be included on the registry. This compromise allows some offenders over
14 to be included on registries, but only if they have been convicted
of very serious offenses. For juveniles, the public notification
provision in this bill is harsh given their low rate of recidivism,
which is less than 8 percent according to the most recent studies. For
this reason, it is especially important that the bill includes funding
for treatment of juvenile offenders. These provisions recognize that
juvenile offenders, who have much lower rates of recidivism and have
been shown to be much more amenable to treatment than their adult
counterparts, shouldn't be lumped together with adult offenders.
The bill also provides increased funding for programs to prevent
these offenses before they occur. It also authorizes funding for sex
offender treatment and management within the Federal prison system.
These provisions will be helpful in reducing the future risks to
society by convicted sex offenders. If Congress is serious about
addressing this problem, it must commit itself to fully funding the
legislation.
All States currently have registration requirements for sex
offenders, but this bill will create a system of national tracking and
accountability that preserves the ability of individual States to
provide additional procedures to assure the accuracy and usefulness of
the registries.
Massachusetts has a system that works. We are already doing most of
what this bill requires, but our system goes beyond these basic
requirements by providing individualized risk assessments of each sex
offender who goes on the registry. These individual assessments,
combined with hearings allowing offenders to challenge their
classification, help ensure that States like Massachusetts can provide
the highest quality of information on potential threats to the
community while respecting the tremendous impact that community
notification can have on offenders' lives. I am pleased that this
legislation respects the right of individual States to innovate in this
area and does not penalize States who go the extra mile to improve
their registries.
For this reason, section 125 of the compromise is very important.
Each State will face challenges in the implementation of these new
Federal requirements, and States should not be penalized if exact
compliance with the act's requirements would place the State in
violation of its constitution or an interpretation of the State's
constitution by its highest court.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has concluded that offenders
are entitled to procedural due process before being classified at a
particular risk level and before personal information about them is
disseminated to the public. Massachusetts has been vigilant in
implementing a comprehensive and effective sex offender registry, and
it should not lose much needed Federal funding where there is a
demonstrated inability to comply with certain provisions of this new
Federal law.
No State should be penalized and lose critical Federal funding for
law enforcement programs as long as reasonable efforts are under way to
implement procedures consistent with the purposes of the act. It is
essential that the Federal Government continue to collaborate and to
provide support for State and local governments, including the
prevention, intervention, and enforcement of antigang and antidrug
activities as a result of this bill.
At the same time, the new mandatory minimum sentences in the act
aren't justified by any empirical data or sound policy. Mandatory
minimums prevent prosecutors and judges from doing what they do best--
making individual determinations on sentencing, based on the
circumstances of individual cases. With more than 2 million Americans
in prison or jail--including 12 percent of all African-American men
between the ages of 20 and 34--no one can seriously argue that there is
an epidemic of leniency in Federal sentencing. This latest batch of
mandatory minimums undermines more than two decades of legislative work
devoted to striking a sensible balance between consistent sentencing
and the need to provide judges with the discretion to make sure each
sentence fits the crime.
Although it is important to have strong penalties for crimes against
children, I have major reservations about the broad expansion of the
death penalty in this compromised legislation. It is clear that
continued imposition of the death penalty will inevitably lead to the
wrongful execution of more and more people. Justice Marshall, in
particular, wrote powerfully on this issue. He believed that if our
citizens knew the truth about the death penalty, ``its disproportionate
imposition on racial minorities and the poor, its utter failure to
deter crime, and the continuing likelihood of executing the innocent,''
it would be rejected as morally reprehensible.
Last year, the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty for
juveniles--persons 17 years old or younger. The Court's ruling was
significant. It was long past time to erase that stain from our human
rights record. The basic injustice of the death penalty is obvious.
Experience shows that imposition of the death penalty inevitably leads
to wrongful executions. Many of us are concerned about the racial
disparities in the imposition of capital punishment and the wide
disparities in the State in its application. The unequal, unfair,
arbitray, and discriminatory use of the death penalty is completely
contrary to our Nation's commitment to fairness and equal justice for
all, and we need to do all we can to correct this fundamental flaw.
Finally, the national registry of substantiated cases of child abuse
in this bill should not be implemented until Congress has a full
understanding of its scope and effectiveness. The proposed registry
raises serious implementation challenges and could create an additional
and unnecessary burden for States. Not all States maintain the same
registry information, and most States maintain different rules on
disclosure. Tribal entities, which are included in this proposed
registry, currently maintain no registries at all.
I am concerned that this registry raises serious privacy concerns by
including information on cases without the opportunity for due process.
For this reason, it is important that the study on establishing data
collection standards be completed before such a
[[Page S8024]]
registry is established. Current standards for inclusion in child abuse
registries vary greatly, with some requiring credible evidence and
others requiring no standard other than the judgment of the case
worker.
During the most recent reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention
and Treatment Act, we improved current child abuse systems to ensure
that law enforcement has the information it needs to pursue and
prosecute cases.
A new provision was added to require States to ``disclose
confidential information to any Federal, State, or local government
entity, or any agent of such entity, which has a need for such
information in order to carry out its responsibilities under law to
protect children from abuse and neglect.'' Rather than developing
additional registries and reporting requirements, States need Federal
assistance to effectively carry out their roles and responsibilities
under CAPTA. I am concerned that this new registry will have limited
value in improving or standardizing State recordkeeping for child abuse
and neglect cases.
Despite these provisions, I commend the work that has been done on
this bill. Without further delay, it is important that we get this bill
to the President so that it can be signed on July 27th, the 25th
anniversary of the abduction of Adam Walsh, and to honor all of the
work his parents have done in his memory to protect children in
communities across the country.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, the foundation of democracy lies in a
government that reflects the voice of its citizens. The Constitution,
the beloved document that chartered our system of government, makes
this clear. ``We the people'', are the very first words of our
Constitution: ``We the people.'' This is no mistake, for our Founders
sought to create a government that would reflect the will of those who
send us here.
Voting is the underpinning of our democratic process. In an address
to Congress, President Lyndon B. Johnson said that, ``In a free land
where men move freely and act freely, the right to vote freely must
never be obstructed.'' With the act of casting one's ballot, each
citizen has ensured a place in the democratic process, fulfilling the
civic responsibility that each and every one of us must safeguard and
cherish. All citizens deserve this right, and all should utilize it.
Like so many worthwhile initiatives, safeguarding the freedoms of
democracy can sometimes exact a heavy toll. Wars have been fought on
our own soil to ensure these freedoms, and our country's history has
been blemished with the events of a less enlightened time. But even
through strife and toil, our democracy emerged intact, our Republic
strengthened by the sacrifices made by the citizens who fought for
equality and the right to vote.
I met yesterday with Mr. James Tolbert, President of the West
Virginia NAACP, and other members of the West Virginia NAACP
delegation. They were here in Washington D.C. as part of a national
effort to spearhead the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. I was
proud to assure them of both my cosponsorship of the measure and my
support for the reauthorization.
While the various reauthorizations of the Voting Rights Act have
forged the pathway to the polls for all Americans, the ability to vote
is but half of the process. Democracy works best when the people are
vigilant in protecting of their rights, and engage in the electoral
process. Our democracy is strongest when there is free and open access
to the polls for everyone, and when the people embrace the vote as both
a right and a responsibility.
Indeed, the decades that have followed the initial passage of the
Voting Rights Act have witnessed the progress of our Nation. To
continue in our efforts, we have only to look to past successes for
inspiration. To be ardent in the defense of our democracy is to
preserve it for the generations to come.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise to speak in strong support of
the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. This bill will
strengthen our power to keep America's children safe from sexual
predators and creates the National Sex Offender Registry, which will
keep track of all sex offender information nationwide. It will also
create the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Web site, so that
every American will have the ability to search for information on
potential sexual predators in their own community.
I have had a personal interest in children's welfare and child-safety
issues for many years, predating my time in the Senate, in fact. Before
being elected to this Chamber, I served as judge-executive of Jefferson
County, KY, from 1977 to 1984. Jefferson County contains Louisville, my
hometown, and the judge-executive position was the county's chief
executive.
In 1981, we hosted in Louisville the first-ever national conference
on rescuing missing and exploited children. Ernie Allen, who was on my
staff at the time and organized the conference, is today the head of
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And that
conference was keynoted by John Walsh. At the time, Mr. Walsh was not
yet the television fixture and hero to millions of parents he is today
but a private citizen whose 6-year-old son, Adam, had been tragically
kidnapped and murdered earlier that same year.
That event began a decades-long friendship between John and me,
centered around this issue. Together, we lobbied Congress--and I remind
you, I was not yet a Senator at this time--for legislation that would
create a nationwide organization to track missing kids. In 1984, our
efforts bore fruit, and President Ronald Reagan signed the bill
creating the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as a
public-private partnership.
I believe government must do all it can to support groups such as the
NCMEC and others and our law enforcement agencies in their efforts to
find missing children, return them to their families, and shield them
from sexual predators. The work these groups do is vital to protecting
families, and I applaud their dedication and compassion.
Passage of this bill will further the mission of comforting parents
everywhere and protecting our children. The National Sex Offender
Registry will contain up-to-date data on all sex offenders nationwide,
and there are harsh penalties for any offender who does not register.
The bill imposes tougher penalties for sex offenses and violent
crimes against children. It also allows for civil commitment procedures
for any sex offenders who demonstrate while incarcerated that they
cannot be trusted to be unleashed on society.
The bill addresses child exploitation over the Internet with
stringent Internet safety provisions. It also contains several worthy
programs, grants, and studies to address child and community safety.
I would especially like to note that the bill strengthens the
pornography recordkeeping and labeling requirements passed by Congress
in 1988 to protect children from exploitation by pornographers. These
provisions were originally part of S. 2140, the Protecting Children
from Sexual Exploitation Act of 2005, sponsored by my good friend from
Utah, Senator Hatch.
I was pleased to join him as a cosponsor of that bill and am doubly
pleased now to see these provisions included in this bill, which I feel
confident in saying will soon reach the President's desk and receive
his signature.
Finally, the portion of this legislation that parents may find the
most comforting is the creation of the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender
Public Web site. Parents will now have the power to search for sex
offenders in their own community. The good that can come from this
power to arm parents with the right information cannot be measured.
I ask my colleagues to join me in commending John Walsh for his
commitment to this important issue. His drive to see that the tragedy
that befell his own family does not fall on another has not diminished
in the 25 years I have known him. I am glad that we can honor John by
naming this important legislation after his beloved son.
Those who would prey on the weakest among us--our children deserve to
feel the full weight of the law brought down on them. It is hard to
imagine a crime that does more to destroy families or dreams of a
bright future. This legislation will ensure that kids, parents, and law
enforcement agencies have the tools they need to fight child predators
and sexual criminals. For that reason, I am proud to support its
passage.
[[Page S8025]]
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I rise today to comment on the Adam Walsh
Child Protection and Safety Act. This legislation will create a
national sex offender registry that will make it possible for law
enforcement and concerned citizens to track sexual predators. The bill
also includes tough penalties that will ensure that these individuals
will actually register. There currently are over 100,000 sex offenders
in this country who are required to register but are ``off the
system.'' They are not registered. The penalties in this bill should be
adequate to ensure that these individuals register. In addition to
allowing up to 10 years in prison for an offender who fails to
register, the bill also imposes a mandatory 5 years in prison for an
offender who has neglected his obligation to register and commits a
crime of violence.
I would like to focus my remarks on legislation that I have
introduced that has been incorporated in this final bill. I am
particularly pleased to see that the bill maintains the ChildHelp
National Registry of Cases of Child Abuse and Neglect. Section 663 of
the bill instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to
create a national registry of persons who have been found to have
abused or neglected a child. The information will be gathered from
State databases of child abuse or neglect. It will be made available to
State child-protective-services and law-enforcement agencies ``for
purposes of carrying out their responsibilities under the law to
protect children from abuse and neglect.'' The national database will
allow States to track the past history of parents and guardians who are
suspected of abusing their children. When child-abusing parents come to
the attention of authorities--when teachers begin to ask about bruises,
for example--these parents often will move to a different jurisdiction.
A national database would allow the State to which these parents move
to know the parents' history. It will let a child-protective-services
worker know, for example, whether he should prioritize investigation of
a particular case because the parent has been found to have committed
substantiated cases of abuse in the past in other States. Such a
database also would allow a State that is evaluating a prospective
foster parent or adoptive parent to learn about past incidents of child
abuse that the person has committed in other States.
I am also proud to see that the Internet SAFETY Act, which I
introduced with several colleagues earlier this year, has been
incorporated as title VII of this bill. This title includes the
following important provisions:
Section 701 makes it a criminal offense to operate a child
exploitation enterprise, which is defined as four or more persons who
act in concern to commit at least three separate violations of Federal
child pornography, sex trafficking, or sexual abuse laws against
multiple child victims. This offense is punished by imprisonment for 20
years up to life.
Section 702 provides that if an individual who is required to
register as a sex offender under Federal or State law commits specified
Federal offenses involving child pornography, sex trafficking, or
sexual abuse against a minor victim, the offender shall be imprisoned
for 10 years in addition to any penalty imposed for the current
offense.
Section 703 makes it a criminal offense to embed words or digital
images into the source code of a Web site in order to deceive people
into viewing obscenity on the Internet. Offenses targeting adults are
subject to up to 10 years imprisonment; offenses targeted at child
victims are subject to up to 20 years imprisonment.
Section 704 authorizes appropriations for the U.S. Attorney General
to hire 200 additional Assistant United States Attorneys across the
country to prosecute child pornography, sex trafficking, and sexual
abuse offenses targeted at children.
Section 705 authorizes appropriations for the hiring of 30 additional
computer forensic examiners within the Justice Department's Regional
Computer Forensic Laboratories, and 15 additional computer forensic
examiners within the Department of Homeland Security's Cyber Crimes
Center. The additional computer forensic examiners will be dedicated to
investigating crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children and
related offenses.
Section 706 authorizes the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention to create 10 additional Internet Crimes Against Children,
ICAC, Task Forces.
Finally, section 707 of the Internet SAFETY title expands the civil
remedies for sexual offenses by allowing the parents of a minor victim
to seek damages, and by allowing a minor victim to seek damages as an
adult.
Title II of today's bill also includes a number of penalty increases
and other improvements to Federal criminal sex offenses. Many of these
provisions appeared in the Internet SAFETY Act, as well as in the
Jetseta Gage Act, which was introduced by Senator Grassley in 2005 and
of which I was an original cosponsor. Section 211 suspends the statute
of limitations for all Federal felony offenses of sexual abuse, sex
trafficking, or child pornography. Other provisions of title II
increase penalties for coercion and enticement by sex offenders,
conduct relating to child prostitution, aggravated sexual abuse, sexual
abuse, abusive sexual contact, sexual abuse of children resulting in
death, and sex trafficking of children. Title II also makes sexual
abuse offenses resulting in death eligible for the capital punishment,
and expands the predicate offenses justifying mandatory repeat-offender
penalties for offenses involving child pornography and depictions of
the sexual exploitation of children. Finally, title II adds sex
trafficking of children to the set of repeat offenses that are subject
to mandatory life imprisonment.
Another provision that I have pursued during this Congress and that
is included in this final bill is section 212, which extends several of
the guarantees of the 2004 Crime Victims' Rights Act to Federal habeas
corpus review of State criminal convictions. Because such cases involve
Federal courts but State prosecutors, this extension is limited to
those provisions of CVRA that are enforced by a court--Congress cannot
compel State prosecutors to enforce a Federal statute. The victims'
rights extended by section 212 to Federal habeas proceedings are the
right to be present at proceedings, the right to be heard at
proceedings involving release, plea, sentencing, or parole, the right
to proceedings free from unreasonable delay, and the right to be
treated with fairness and with respect for the victim's dignity and
privacy.
The bill also makes some technical improvements to the DNA
Fingerprint Act, which Senator Cornyn and I introduced last year and
which was enacted into law as an amendment to the reauthorization of
the Violence Against Women Act at the beginning of this year. Section
155 of today's bill modifies the authority granted to the Federal
Government by the DNA Fingerprint Act to collect DNA samples from
Federal arrestees. Under current law, the Federal Government may
collect a DNA sample from any person arrested for a Federal offense,
but the authority to collect DNA from persons convicted of a Federal
offense is limited to felonies and certain misdemeanors. Section 155
corrects this anomaly by including convictions in the Federal sample-
collection regulatory authority, thus allowing the Federal Government
to collect DNA from all persons convicted of a Federal crime. The 2006
Act also allows DNA to be collected from all arrestees, but in the case
of persons detained under Federal authority this authority is limited
to non-U.S. persons--i.e., foreign visitors who are neither U.S.
citizens nor permanent residents. Problems might arise in the case of
U.S. persons who are detained and facing Federal criminal charges, but
who were not arrested by Federal authorities. Examples include persons
who are being prosecuted federally but were arrested by the State
officers participating in a joint Federal-State task force, and persons
who turn themselves in to Federal authorities without being formally
arrested. Arguably, the 2006 act's arrest authority should extend to
such individuals--they are constructively arrested. Section 155
eliminates any ambiguity and possibility of litigation over these
matters by expressly granting the Federal Government the authority to
collect DNA samples from individuals facing Federal charges.
Finally, I would like to take a moment to recognize all of the staff
who worked so hard to see this bill through to completion. Please allow
me to
[[Page S8026]]
thank Ken Valentine and Tom Jipping of Senator Hatch's staff, Dave Turk
of Senator Biden's staff, Julie Katzman and Noah Bookbinder of Senator
Leahy's staff, Nicole Gustafson of Senator Grassley's staff, as well as
Chad Groover, who has since left Senator Grassley's office but who
played a critical role in developing many of the penalty enhancements
included in title II, Christine Leonard of Senator Kennedy's staff,
Lara Flint of Senator Feingold's staff, Nate Jones of Senator Kohl's
staff, Sharon Beth Kristal of Senator DeWine's staff, Reed O'Connor of
Senator Cornyn's staff, Jane Treat of Senator Coburn's staff, Greg
Smith of Senator Feinstein's staff, Marianne Upton of Senator Durbin's
staff, Bradley Hayes of Senator Sessions's staff, Bradley Schreiber of
Mr. Foley's staff, and last but not least in this group, Brooke Bacak
of my Republican Policy Committee staff.
I would especially like to thank Allen Hicks and Brandi White of
Senator Frist's staff, who were very helpful in securing the inclusion
of the Child-Abuse Registry in this bill, Matt Miner of Senator
Specter's staff, who played a critical role in negotiating the final
bill, and Mike Volkov, Sean McLaughlin, and Phil Kiko of Mr.
Sensenbrenner's staff. The bill that we have today would not exist were
it not for the professionalism, expertise, and dedication of the
Sensenbrenner staff. Often it is easy in Congress simply to pass any
bill dealing with a subject so that we can say that we have addressed
the problem. This is not such a bill. This is a strong, tough bill that
will make a difference in the safety and security of our Nation's
children. It is a bill of which we can all be proud, and Mr.
Sensenbrenner's staff deserves recognition for their contribution to
that result.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, back in May 2005, with the leadership of
Senator Specter, Senator Biden, Senator Kennedy, and others, the Senate
Judiciary Committee approved an important child safety bill, S. 1086.
The committee worked tirelessly to craft a prudent, bipartisan bill
that would assist States in their ongoing efforts to protect children
through tighter monitoring of known sex offenders. It was a good bill,
and it passed the full Senate in May of this year by unanimous consent.
Now, extensive bipartisan discussions with the House have produced a
revised version of the bill, which the Senate is voting on today. The
new bill is better in a few ways than the Senate-passed bill that we
produced and also, regrettably, takes some steps backward. While this
new bill is not the bill I would have written, I intend to support it
and expect that it will pass.
As a former prosecutor, and as a father and grandfather, I know that
there is no higher duty than to protect our society's children, to take
every step possible to prevent them from coming to harm, and to punish
those who attempt to or succeed in harming them. We have never debated
whether children should be protected. Of course they should. The only
debate is about how they should be protected, and how best to deploy
and utilize limited resources to deter and punish those who would prey
on them.
Over the last 30 years, I have worked closely with others to write
and enact legislation aimed specifically at protecting children and
assisting victims. In the last Congress, Senator Hatch and I joined to
introduce the PROTECT Act, which provided prosecutors and law
enforcement with tools necessary to combat child pornography and human
trafficking. The final legislation passed by Congress included a number
of provisions that I had either authored or supported, such as the
National AMBER Alert Network Act; the Protecting Our Children First
Act, which reauthorized funding for the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children; and legislation to amend the Violence Against Women
Act to provide transitional housing assistance grants for child victims
of domestic violence.
In addition, I am pleased that the Senate has acted on other
legislation for children and crime victims that I have sponsored. These
include the 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations
Authorization Act, which among other things included important grant
funds for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and established the
Violence Against Women Office in the Justice Department. In 2004, the
President signed into law the Justice For All Act, a package of
criminal justice reforms that, among other things, authorized funds to
reduce rape kit backlogs and enumerated crime victims' rights.
I am glad that this new consensus legislation to protect children
honors the efforts of John and Reve Walsh, who have worked so hard to
ensure that other families would not experience the tragedy that befell
their family. It has been my privilege to work for many years with the
Walshes and with the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, in which they have played such an instrumental role, to take
many important steps to keep children and families safe. I commend and
thank John Walsh once again for his passionate advocacy on behalf of
the Nation's children over many, many years.
I am also glad that members of both parties in both bodies ultimately
agreed with me and with the distinguished Senate Republican and
Democratic leaders that we should prioritize finishing and passing
legislation to protect children from sexual predators, without tying
this crucial legislation to other more difficult issues. The Senate has
passed court security legislation, for which I was a principal
cosponsor, as part of S. 2766, and we have been working to settle
differences between our legislation and the other body's court security
proposals. Court security legislation should pass this year, but it
would not have been right to endanger either the court security bills
or this crucial child protection legislation by tying them together.
Gang legislation is on a separate track entirely. It is just getting
started in the Senate. Passing legislation to protect children from
sexual predators has been my first priority. Seeking simultaneously to
resolve extensive differences over provisions in the gang bill and
other crime legislation could have caused us to miss this chance. It is
commendable that, in the end, both bodies chose to focus on passing sex
offender legislation and not to jeopardize this by tying this bill to
more controversial measures.
The gang bill is just now before the Judiciary Committee, which is
the appropriate place to start work on a complex and important piece of
criminal justice legislation. It is a new and very different version of
this bill. It will be important to hold a hearing on this bill to
listen to the Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers who
are combating gang violence on a regular basis, and from the
organizations that are working to keep kids out of gangs. Gang violence
is a disturbing and difficult menace in our communities, and as we
craft solutions to help address these issues we should strive to get it
right. We have done the right thing by finalizing this important child
protection legislation first, before turning to that and other
difficult tasks.
When S. 1086 was first introduced in May 2005, serious concerns were
raised by members of the Judiciary Committee, State attorneys general,
the Department of Justice, and others. Through an impressive,
bipartisan effort these concerns were largely addressed. I appreciate
that Senators, and now House Members, of both parties took these
concerns to heart and revised this bill in ways that will increase the
protection of children from the most dangerous sex offenders, while not
overwhelming the States with requirements that could hinder their own
efforts. I believe that this new bill takes a few unfortunate steps
back from the well thought out Senate version, but it still achieves
many of the crucial goals we identified. The resulting bill ensures
that each State will have an effective sex offender registry and that
all States will share registry information--all of which will help keep
our children safer.
I am glad that this bill addresses my concerns and that of many
others of both parties in the Senate in giving significant discretion
to the States in the handling of juvenile offenders. Juvenile justice
has always been a province of the States, and State legislatures,
prosecutors, and judges have developed significant expertise in
distinguishing which juvenile offenders represent a continuing threat
to society and which juveniles, with appropriate treatment and
monitoring, can turn
[[Page S8027]]
themselves around and become contributing members of society.
This bill correctly allows the States, in many cases, to use their
expertise--and they know more about these issues than we do here in
Washington--to decide which juveniles should be on sex offender
registries, to what extent, and for how long. It also appropriately
requires the States to include the most egregious juvenile offenders,
who do represent a threat to others, on their sex offender registries.
I think the bill goes too far in a few cases in limiting States'
discretion to determine which juveniles should be placed on registries
and to allow those juvenile offenders who have lived cleanly and turned
their lives around to get off of registries. But overall, this bill
strikes an acceptable balance on this issue, and I am glad that those
of us who were concerned about appropriate deference to the expertise
of the States spoke out and were heard to some extent.
This bill takes a good if small first step toward what should be one
of our most important priorities in keeping our children safe from sex
offenders: treatment. While the most dangerous sex offenders may be
predisposed to re-offend and should be treated accordingly, many
studies have shown that people who commit less serious sex offenses
often, with appropriate treatment, do not present a significant risk of
recidivism and can become responsible members of society. One of the
best ways to protect our children is to help as many low-risk offenders
as possible turn their lives around, so that our scant law enforcement
resources can be focused on those dangerous offenders who are a
demonstrable threat to our children. In addition to the Bureau of
Prisons Program included in S. 1086, the current bill includes a new
program directed specifically to the treatment of juvenile sex
offenders, who have been proven to be especially responsive to
treatment. This is a welcome addition to the bill, and one we should
build on in the future.
I want to direct the attention of my colleagues to title V of the
bill, which makes substantial amendments to section 2257 of title 18.
By way of background, Congress passed the original version of section
2257 in 1988, as a means to help ensure that minors were not being
exploited by the adult, hard-core pornography industry in violation of
the child exploitation laws. In 1989, the District Court for the
District of Columbia found that this original version violated the
first amendment. In 1990, Congress responded to the District Court
decision by significantly narrowing the scope of section 2257.
The House bill proposed an expansion of section 2257 beyond what was
held unconstitutional before the 1990 amendments, and beyond the
pornography industry and those who exploit children. The proposed
expansion of section 2257 gave rise to legitimate concerns, expressed
by groups as far-ranging as the Chamber of Commerce, the Motion Picture
Association of America, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the
American Library Association, and the American Conservative Union, that
its record-keeping and labeling requirements, and associated criminal
liability, might now affect an array of mainstream, legitimate, and
first-amendment-protected activities and industries. These industries
are leaders in protecting children employed in their industries and are
far removed from the problem that the legislation purportedly sought to
address. Subjecting them to the burdens of a recordkeeping and labeling
statute intended for the pornography industry would create substantial
burdens of compliance without any added benefit in the wholly
legitimate and vital cause of actually safeguarding the security and
welfare of children.
Because the focus of these requirements is adult pornography and the
protection of children, not mainstream visual depictions and activities
that do not threaten children, the new bill includes provisions
intended to limit the reach of these requirements to those who are
actually exploiting children. Most notably, section 2257A(h) enables
law-abiding, legitimate businesses, which create and commercially
distribute materials that are not, and do not appear to be, child
pornography, to certify to the Attorney General that, pursuant to
existing laws, labor agreements, or industry standards, they regularly
and in the normal course of business collect the name, date of birth,
and address of performers employed by them. This recognizes that such
legitimate, law-abiding industries in fact routinely collect the
information necessary to demonstrate their compliance with the child
protection laws and that for this reason they were never intended to be
the focus of this more extensive recordkeeping and labeling statute.
Businesses that so certify and thus exhibit their good faith can avoid
some of the more onerous requirements, and associated criminal
liability, rightfully placed on others whose compliance is more likely
to further the interest of protecting children.
By way of illustration, the motion picture industry currently
operates under a panoply of laws, both civil and criminal, as well as
regulations and labor agreements governing the employment of children
in any production. They check work permits, require parents or
guardians to be present at all times during production, and in some
cases even obtain court approval for the employment of the children in
films and television shows. It is fair to say that the film and
television industries are a leader among industries in safeguarding the
interests of children in the workplace. Yet in the absence of the
certification provision in section 2257A(h), these studios would be
subjected to the same extensive recordkeeping and labeling requirements
as a hard-core pornographer is under this bill, as would a host of
other legitimate entities throughout the distribution chain for
mainstream motion pictures and television shows.
The focus of the underlying statute should remain on helping
apprehend child predators and not on legitimate businesses that have no
role in harming children. Under section 2257A(h), motion picture
companies that certify to the Department of Justice that they collect
the name, date of birth, and address of all the performers employed by
them, for purposes of compliance with existing laws, such as filling
out an I-9 form or W-4s for tax purposes, or pursuant to labor
agreements or their normal business practices, will not be subject to
the more burdensome requirements of this statute. Establishing this
regime will have the additional benefit of allowing the Department of
Justice to focus their limited resources in areas where they should be
focused--pursuing those who harm children. This provision has been in
effect for 18 years and yet has not been used. It is my hope that the
Department of Justice, having obtained the amendments they sought, will
begin to enforce the law and focus on those who harm children, and not
on those legitimate businesses that do not.
Other exemptions in the bill exclude from the recordkeeping
requirements and annual certification regime providers of Internet
access, telecommunications, and online search tools, as well as online
hosting, storage, and transmission services, so long as the provider
does not select or alter the content. It is ironic that the broadest
exemptions are granted to the providers of various types of Internet
and telecommunications services, even though the advent of the Internet
is cited in the original version of this bill as greatly increasing the
ease of transporting, distributing, receiving, and advertising child
pornography in interstate commerce. Notwithstanding these exemptions,
nothing in this bill can or should be construed to impair the
enforcement of any other Federal criminal statute or to limit or expand
any law pertaining to intellectual property against these entities.
Regrettably, the core, bipartisan bill to strengthen State sex
offender registration programs was joined in both the House and the
Senate to unrelated provisions aimed at creating additional mandatory
minimum sentences. I agree with the U.S. Judicial Conference and the
vast majority of Federal judges and practitioners that harsh,
inflexible mandatory sentencing laws are a recipe for injustice. In its
letter dated March 7, 2006, regarding the House bill, the Judicial
Conference, headed by Chief Justice John Roberts, wrote that mandatory
minimum sentences undermine the sentencing guideline regime Congress
established under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 by preventing the
systemic development of guidelines that reduce unwarranted disparity
and provide proportionality and fairness in punishment.
[[Page S8028]]
Mandatory sentences also tie prosecutors' hands in these cases where
it is most important that they have the discretion to plea bargain,
especially considering how difficult it can be to prepare children
emotionally and psychologically to testify against their abusers.
When addressing this issue in committee last year, Senators from both
sides of the aisle agreed to limit the imposition of new mandatory
minimum sentences to the most serious and violent crimes against
children, rather than to myriad lesser crimes as was originally
proposed. The new bill backslides from this agreement to an unfortunate
extent. If we are going to establish mandatory minimum sentences, we
should at least proceed in a thoughtful and coherent way, with some
understanding of the range of offense conduct that may be covered and
the sorts of sentences that are being imposed under current law.
Instead, we simply pluck ever-higher numbers out of thin air. Congress
greatly increased the penalties for most sex offenses just 3 years ago,
in the PROTECT Act. Nothing has changed since then to warrant this new
round of arbitrary sentence inflation.
Another controversial measure included in the House-passed bill was a
proposal to strip Federal courts of jurisdiction to review
constitutional errors in sentencing that a State court has deemed
harmless. The Senate Judiciary Committee reviewed this jurisdiction-
stripping provision last year, during its consideration of the so-
called Streamlined Procedures Act, S. 1088. That bill--and this
provision in particular--was strongly opposed by a broad coalition of
organizations, including the United States Judicial Conference.
Following hearings, the committee specifically rejected this provision
by adopting a substitute amendment that stripped it out in its
entirety; the substitute then died in committee without further action.
To include such an extraneous and deeply flawed provision in the
current bill would have been wrong, and it is a credit to this bill
that it has been removed.
Another area of concern is a provision that was also included in the
Senate's comprehensive immigration bill. The provision prohibits the
approval of a visa application for the relative of a U.S. citizen or
legal resident based on the citizen or resident's conviction for any of
the sex offenses enumerated in the bill. This provision casts a wide
net, and in many cases will harshly and unnecessarily penalize people
seeking entry to the United States who have a family member in the
country, but where the citizen or resident poses no threat to the
individual seeking entry.
The bill gives the Secretary of DHS discretion to assess these
applications on a case-by-case basis and waive the denial, and I hope
this will turn out to be more than just an empty gesture. Given that
this bill greatly expands the crimes sufficient to deny an application,
I urge the Secretary to give thoughtful consideration to each case in
which a waiver is sought. In a case of a citizen who is on the path to
rehabilitation or whose crime was relatively minor, denial of a family
member's support would serve no rational purpose and would undermine
the goals of family unity. I hope the Secretary will actively use this
waiver authority to limit the broad reach of this provision to those
cases where a citizen or legal resident genuinely poses a threat to a
family member seeking entry.
This legislation requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services
to create a national registry of substantiated cases of child abuse and
neglect which would, when fully implemented over time, serve the
purpose of enabling child protective service agencies to identify an
adult's past child maltreatment history in other States, without having
to check every individual State child protective service central
registry. Improving the ability of child protective service agencies to
collect information on prior cases of child maltreatment by a named
adult is a worthy objective. However, to rush into the creation of such
a national registry, without deliberate consideration and evaluation
first of the wide variation in how State child abuse and neglect data
on substantiated cases identifies the perpetrator of the abuse or
neglect and the specifics of their maltreatment--what the bill calls
the nature of the substantiated case--would be reckless.
For that reason, the legislation also mandates the HHS Secretary to
conduct a study on the feasibility of establishing data collection
standards for a national child abuse and neglect registry. Clearly,
such a study should be completed before the Federal Government begins
to implement the creation of such a registry and to collect registry
information from the States. We need to know what we are working with
before we create a system which might give the public a false sense of
security or violate the due process rights of children and families
alike. Caution is advised in moving forward on this matter in order to
develop an information system which is both fair and reliable.
The legislation also requires the HHS Secretary to establish
standards for how, and to whom, this national registry information will
be disseminated. In view of the sensitivity of this registry, which is
to include information historically maintained only at the state or
local child protective service agency level, I urge the Secretary, in
consideration of these standards and before collecting any national
registry data, to be cognizant of past congressional concerns related
to the protection of legal rights of families, as reflected in 42
U.S.C. 5106(b)(2)(A)(xix), and for a fair appellate process for
individuals who disagree with a substantiated finding of abuse or
neglect, as reflected in 42 U.S.C. 5106(b)(2)(A)(xv)(2). Both of these
are provisions of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.
Significantly, the legislation does not provide any new financial or
technical assistance to States to improve or standardize their child
protective services substantiated case recordkeeping systems, or to
support States in the added burden of preparing for, and transferring
data to, a new national registry. Not all States maintain the same
registry information. Some States do not record registry entries by
name of perpetrator but rather by name of child; some States no longer
maintain registries at all. Most tribes, which are included in the
legislation, maintain no registries at all. Without this important
additional technical and financial assistance to the States, the
quality of the information collected would likely be uneven and at
times unreliable. This is a serious deficiency in the legislative
mandate for the creation of a national registry of child abuse and
neglect cases, one that I hope will be corrected through a targeted
appropriation that focuses on helping State child protective service
agencies upgrade their central registries or comparable systems of
case-specific data.
I am pleased that the bill includes my proposal to authorize grants
to Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America and the National Crime
Prevention Council. Big Brothers and Big Sisters provides valuable
mentoring services to young people across the country, and supporting
their mission is a valuable investment that will reap measurable
rewards. The National Crime Prevention Council helps communities across
the country understand and address the causes of crime. Grants to this
organization help communities become active in crime prevention at the
grassroots level, and encouraging their continued efforts is something
we should all strongly support.
I am also pleased that the sponsors of this bill agreed to
incorporate S. 2155, popularly known as Masha's Law. This legislation,
named after a Russian orphan who was sexually exploited by her adoptive
father, will increase the civil statutory damages available to victims
of child exploitation. It will also ensure that victims of child
pornography whose images remain in circulation after they have turned
18 can still recover when those images are downloaded.
I am also pleased that the bill includes authorization of $12 million
for grants to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, known as
RAINN, for operation of its National Sexual Assault Hotline and for the
other important work RAINN does to assist victims of sexual assault and
to help prevent and prosecute sexual assault. I want to congratulate
RAINN for recently logging the one-millionth call to its 24-hour
telephone hotline.
[[Page S8029]]
RAINN, in helping a million crime victims, has not only made their
lives better, but has also contributed greatly to the decrease in
sexual violence in this country. I am honored that RAINN's founder and
president, Scott Berkowitz, thanked me in connection with this
important milestone for having supported the establishment of the
National Sexual Assault Hotline.
Finally, I want to thank the Vermont Attorney General's Office and
other concerned Vermont officials for prompt and constructive comments
on multiple drafts of this legislation. Vermonters have worked hard to
produce and improve our State's sex offender registry program in
ongoing efforts to make it useful to law enforcement agencies and the
general public in providing information regarding individuals who have
proved a demonstrable threat to the public. In light of the mobility
inherent in American society, cooperation and coordination among the
various States improves the effectiveness of each State's registry, and
the Federal assistance this bill provides will enhance that cooperation
and coordination.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I will seek recognition in a moment, but
for the time being, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the
quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I support the pending legislation to pass
the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. This
legislation is named for Adam Walsh, a child who was abducted and
murdered. Adam's father, John Walsh, has diligently pursued efforts to
save other children from the fate which befell Adam by working to enact
Federal legislation which will establish a national registry for sex
offenders.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that
there are at least 100,000 sex offenders who are not accounted for by
law enforcement. John Walsh estimates the figure to be higher,
approximating 150,000.
Statistics show that sex offenders prey most often on juveniles; that
two-thirds of the sex offenders currently in State prisons are there
because they have victimized a child. Compared with other criminals,
sex offenders are four times more likely to be rearrested for a sex
crime. It is estimated that some 500,000 children are sexually abused
each year. According to Department of Justice statistics, child
molesters have been known to re-offend as late as 20 years after their
release from prisons.
There are currently State laws which require registration of sex
offenders, but unfortunately they have proved to be relatively
ineffective, which requires the Federal Government to act on the
national level.
I first met John Walsh after the disappearance of his son, Adam, some
25 years ago, when I was chairman of the Subcommittee on Juvenile
Justice, a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. At that
time, in conjunction with Senator Paula Hawkins of Florida, we took the
lead in establishing the Missing Children's Act of 1982, which has been
very successful in locating children, where, in a variety of ways--on
billboards, on milk cartons, on posters--missing children were
identified and publicized. Many missing children were recovered.
In the intervening 25 years, John Walsh has undertaken a national
crusade. He has been instrumental in advocating and persuading both the
House and the Senate to move ahead with this legislation. He has had
very strong support from the leadership of Senator Hatch, the former
chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Senator Hatch has promoted this
legislation, has initiated meetings, organized a meeting with John
Walsh in the last several days in the Office of the majority leader
where we organized plans to get this bill enacted so that it will be
ready for signing by the President on July 27th, which is the
anniversary of the abduction of Adam Walsh.
It has been a prodigious job to get this bill cleared on both sides,
not having anything added on to it, and many efforts were made so that
it would be enacted in time to mark the anniversary of the abduction of
Adam Walsh. For that timetable, Senator Hatch deserves a great deal of
credit.
As is well known, Senator Hatch chaired the Senate Judiciary
Committee for many years. His leadership is still a very key factor,
especially on this legislation.
I compliment my colleague, Senator Rick Santorum, as well as Senator
Kyl, Senator DeWine, Senator Talent, and others, for their support in
producing this bill, which will protect children with the assistance of
some 200 new Federal prosecutors, 45 new computer forensic experts to
prevent child pornography, 20 new Internet Crimes Against Children Task
Forces, and the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood Program
and new SMART Office, which are both dedicated to protecting children
from sex offenders.
A special note of commendation is due to Senator Santorum for his
work on two important components of the bill: First, on Project Safe
Childhood and second, on the Safe Schools Act. These provisions and
others will help stop sex offenders such as Brian McCutchen, who was
sentenced last year to 35 to 70 years in a Pennsylvania prison for
attempting to murder and rape an 8-year-old Philadelphia girl in a
public restroom. He was a repeat offender. He had been convicted of
assaulting a 9-year-old girl in a similar public restroom attack in
Manayunk, PA, in 2001. Had the provisions of the law been in place 2
years ago, the second crime might not have happened because the
community would have been on notice of McCutchen's first attack on a
little girl.
I know from my work as district attorney of Philadelphia the impact
of sex crimes on children. To be a victim of a crime is a horrible
experience for anyone, but to be a child and the victim of a sex crime
leaves an indelible imprint--hard to shake, hard to forget, traumatic,
and of gigantic importance in the balance of that child's life.
We are taking a very important step forward. I thank and commend John
Walsh for his leadership and again thank and commend Senator Hatch for
his leadership in the Senate on this important issue. I thank Chairman
Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, for his
cooperation and coordination, and also to the staffs.
I will single out especially Michael O'Neill, who is chief counsel
and staff director for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, as far as I know, other than the few
remarks I will make right now, I think Senator Frist is the only
speaker remaining on our sex offender bill.
I would feel bad if I did not mention a number of the staff people
who have helped us on this bill. My own staffer, Ken Valentine, who is
a Secret Service agent, has been serving as a detailee in my office and
has really carried the mail on this like few members of the Senate
staff I have ever known.
Tom Jipping, on my staff; Dave Turk, on Senator Biden's staff, had a
great deal to do with this, as well. Bradley Schreiber, with Mr.
Foley's staff; Mike O'Neill, of Senator Specter's staff; Mike Miners,
Senator Specter's chief counsel, crime counsel; Todd Braunstein, with
Senator Specter; Matt McPhillips, with Senator Specter; Julie Katzman,
with Senator Leahy; Bruce Cohen, Senator Leahy's chief of staff on the
Judiciary Committee; Noah Bookbinder, with Senator Leahy; Christine
Leonard, with Senator Kennedy. Senator Kennedy has played a significant
role here. He was willing to withdraw the hate crimes bill so that this
bill would pass readily through both bodies. I am very grateful to him.
Reed O'Connor of Senator Cornyn's staff; Nicole Gustafson of Senator
Grassley's staff; Sharon Beth Kristal, Senator DeWine's staff; Gabriel
Adler, of Senator Dorgan's staff; Joe Matal, from Senator Kyl's
staff; Avery Mann, from America's Most Wanted, who played a significant
role here; Bradley Hayes, from Senator Sessions' staff; Lara Flint,
from Senator Feingold's staff; Cindy Hayden, from Senator Sessions'
staff; Allen Hicks, of course, from Senator Frist's staff; and Brandi
White, from Senator Frist's staff.
[[Page S8030]]
Of course, I would like to mention Michelle Laxalt, who took a great
personal interest in this bill and from the outside helped us a great
deal. We want to thank the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, especially Ernie Allen, John Libonati, Robbie Callaway, and
Carolyn Atwell-Davis, who has carried so many balls for us here, and
Manus Cooney, who used to be chief of staff under me on the Judiciary
Committee.
And then I would like to pay respect to just some of the victims who
really helped with this bill: Elizabeth and Ed and Lois Smart; Linda
Walker, the mother of Dru Sjodin; Mark Lunsford; Erin Runnion; Marc
Klass; Polly Franks, Patty Wetterling; and last but not least--really,
really, we can never thank them enough, John and Reve Walsh.
So with that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Senate is about to take an important
step to improve the safety of our Nation's children. Very shortly, we
will pass the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, also known as
the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. I am proud to be a
cosponsor of this significant legislation.
The Senate passed an earlier version of this bill by unanimous
consent on May 4, nearly 2 months ago. Since then, Senators Specter and
Leahy have conducted bipartisan negotiations with the House, which had
passed a different version.
Today, I am pleased to say that negotiations have resulted in a
strong bill that will soon pass both Chambers and become law. I
appreciate the willingness of all Members to put aside unrelated
controversial issues so that we could focus on the core purpose of this
bill--protecting children.
Next Thursday, the 27th of July, is the 25th anniversary of the
abduction and murder of 6-year-old Adam Walsh. Since then, the work of
Adam's father, John Walsh, demonstrates that a single person can make a
difference in our country and our world.
Following the tragic event involving their son, John and Reve Walsh
founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. John
Walsh's TV program, ``America's Most Wanted,'' has led to the
apprehension of thousands of criminals. And now John Walsh has been the
driving force behind this bill.
The legislation establishes a national sex offender registry which
will make it easier for local law enforcement to track sex offenders
and prevent repeat offenses. The bill also authorizes much needed
grants to help local law enforcement agencies establish and integrate
sex offender registry systems.
My home State of Nevada has been a leader in this movement. Our State
recently made changes to improve the accuracy and reliability of the
Nevada registry requirements. This Federal bill will strengthen those
efforts.
Donna Coleman, past president of the Children's Advocacy Alliance
based in Henderson, NV, was instrumental in getting our State laws
changed. She is another example of how one person can make a
difference, and I applaud her work.
Not all States have been as vigilant as Nevada, and that is a problem
when sex offenders cross State lines. The bill before us will establish
uniform rules for the information sex offenders are required to report
and when they are required to report it. It will also give law
enforcement agencies the tools they need to enforce these requirements.
A number of Senators have been leaders in this legislative effort. In
addition to Chairman Specter and Ranking Member Leahy, I appreciate the
hard work of Senators Biden, Dorgan, Hatch, Kennedy, and others. I
thank the majority leader for making this bill a priority. I hope the
House will follow suit and send this bill to the President for his
signature without delay.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Allen). The majority leader is recognized.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, 25 years ago this month, Reve Walsh took
her 6-year-old son Adam shopping with her. They were looking for lamps
at a local department store--a short mile from their home--when Adam
was abducted. Sixteen days later, Adam's body was positively
identified. To date, no one has been indicted for this horrific crime.
As parents, John and Reve Walsh's worst nightmare had become a
reality. As a father of three sons, I cannot imagine what pain this
caused the Walsh family.
Through their tears and grief, John and Reve Walsh transformed the
tragedy of Adam's death into a lifelong commitment--a commitment to
protect children from abduction, abuse, and exploitation.
John and Reve have been on the forefront of most major child
protection legislation passed by this Congress over the last 25 years:
the Missing Children's Act of 1982; the Missing Children's Assistance
Act of 1984, which founded the fantastic National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children; the Protect Act of 2003, which established a
nationwide Amber Alert network to coordinate rapid emergency responses
to missing child alerts--and, most recently, the Adam Walsh Child
Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which is before us today.
This important legislation establishes a national sex offender
registry, publicly available and searchable by ZIP Code; creates a
national abuse registry; toughens penalties for crimes against
children; and cracks down on the growing crisis of Internet predators
and child pornography.
John's and Reve's tireless dedication is an inspiration to parents of
child victims and millions of American families. I am proud to have
worked with John and the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children on this legislation. I am confident that the legislation will
save the lives of thousands of children.
I thank John Walsh, Ernie Allen, president of the National Center,
and Carolyn Atwell-Davis, along with the rest of the dedicated staff at
the National Center, for the truly amazing work they do, on a daily
basis, to protect our Nation's children.
In March, John came by my office to talk about the importance of a
national sex offender registry. He told me that this was the most
important piece of legislation he had seen in over two decades of
advocating for children's issues.
I promised John then that I would make passing this critical piece of
legislation a priority. And I am proud to tell John--to tell our
Nation's children, parents, and law enforcement--that the U.S. Senate
has not only heard your concerns, but we are acting tonight to address
them.
The Adam Walsh bill--so named to honor the upcoming 25th anniversary
of his death and the memory of other child victims and their families--
has many components designed to protect our Nation's children.
First, the bill establishes a national sex offender registry.
Currently, there are more than 550,000 registered sex offenders in the
United States, and at least 100,000 of them are missing.
Loopholes in the current system allow some sexual predators to evade
law enforcement, placing our children at risk. While many States,
including my own home State of Tennessee, have registries, this
information is not always shared with other States. By creating a
national registry, we are closing the loopholes that allow offenders to
slip through the cracks. And we are encouraging law enforcement at all
levels--local, State, and Federal--to collaborate and to share
information.
The registry will make it easier for law enforcement to act on a tip,
to identify and intercept offenders before they can strike again,
before they can repeat their crimes and victimize more children.
The national registry will be publicly accessible via the Internet
and searchable by ZIP Code. This empowers parents. It gives them the
tools they need to learn whether a neighbor down the street has a
history of sexual violence so they can protect their children from
harm.
Further, the bill increases the penalty for failure to register from
a misdemeanor to a felony. It enhances registration requirements, by
mandating that offenders register more often and in person, rather than
by mail.
By strengthening these requirements, we are sending a message loudly
and clearly to sex offenders: If you don't register, we will find you,
and you will go to jail.
The bill also toughens penalties for violent crimes against children,
including sex trafficking of children, coercion
[[Page S8031]]
or enticement of child prostitution, and sexual abuse.
Another aspect of this bill is the creation of a child abuse
registry. I want to thank Senators Kyl and Enzi for their hard work in
helping to get this provision included in the bill.
This legislation was recommended by Childhelp, a children's advocacy
organization with whom my wife Karyn and many of our Senate spouses are
proud to be associated.
Every day, four children die as a result of child abuse, and every
day Childhelp is on the frontlines working to prevent child abuse and
treat victims of such abuse. They explained to me that while many
States have child abuse registries, this information is not shared with
other States.
This is especially problematic with child abusers. They often
relocate when questions are raised by a teacher, a neighbor, or a
doctor about whether a child is being abused.
By creating a national child abuse registry, we will tear down the
information barrier and enable Child Protective Services professionals
in different States to share information critical to child abuse
investigations.
The final component of this bill addresses the sexual exploitation of
children over the Internet--and the growing crisis of child
pornography, an estimated $20 billion a year industry.
The Internet has become the anonymous gateway for child predators to
make contact with children, to win their confidence, and to victimize
them.
Current data show that of the 24 million child Internet users, 1 in 5
has received unwanted sexual solicitations online--1 in 5. And as a
recent ``Dateline NBC'' series called ``To Catch A Predator'' vividly
demonstrated, many of these cyber-stalkers are more than eager to trap
their young online victims in a real-world nightmare.
The bill provides additional resources to combat this growing problem
by adding 200 new Federal prosecutors to prosecute crimes involving the
sexual exploitation of minors; by creating 10 new Internet Crimes
Against Children Task Forces, which bring local, State, and Federal law
enforcement together to collaborate in solving these crimes; by adding
45 new forensics examiners to accelerate processing of online evidence
of child exploitation; and by providing grants for programs to educate
children and parents on Internet safety.
We must continue to do more to protect our children. American
families should not have to live in fear of child predators lurking in
the shadows of our neighborhoods or enticing our children online.
I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their
efforts, for giving life to this critical piece of legislation. This is
clearly a bipartisan, bicameral bill that has overwhelming support. I
am pleased we were able to unite, Democrats and Republicans, in this
body and, indeed, House with Senate.
In the Senate, I especially want to recognize my colleague, Senator
Hatch, for his tireless efforts on this bill--the champion, the leader,
the one with the bold vision, without whom simply this would not have
happened.
I want to thank Chairman Specter and Senators Santorum, Kyl, and
DeWine, for all their hard work on bringing this legislation to
fruition.
Also, I want to thank Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Boehner and
Chairman Sensenbrenner and Congressman Foley for their commitment to
this issue.
I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this Adam Walsh bill,
and look forward to a future that is safer for our children.
Mr. President, I do not believe there are any further speakers on the
bill; therefore, I yield back all time and ask unanimous consent that
the Senate now proceed to third reading and a vote on H.R. 4472, with
all of the provisions of the agreement remaining in place. I ask
unanimous consent, after passage, that the title amendment be read and
agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The question is on the engrossment of the amendment and third reading
of the bill
The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a
third time.
The bill was read the third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the
question is, Shall the bill pass?
The bill (H.R. 4472), as amended, was passed.
Mr. HATCH. I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. FRIST. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will please read the amendment to
the title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Amend the title to read as follows: ``To protect children
from sexual exploitation and violent crime, to prevent child
abuse and child pornography, to promote Internet safety, and
to honor the memory of Adam Walsh and other child crime
victims.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the amendment to the title
is agreed to.
The amendment (No. 4687) was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in
morning business for 5 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________