[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 149 (Thursday, September 18, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S9015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PROTECTION FROM CHILD PREDATORS

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today I joined as a cosponsor of two 
bills to protect children: S. 1738, the Combating Child Exploitation 
Act; and S. 519, the Securing Adolescents from Exploitation-Online--
SAFE--Act.
  I am cosponsoring S. 1738 to signal my support for this bipartisan 
effort to create a nationwide network of highly trained law enforcement 
experts to track down and prosecute child predators who exploit 
children, but it is my hope that Congress would enact the modified 
version of this legislation that was included in bills separately 
introduced by the majority leader--S. 3297--and Senator Coburn--S. 
3344.
  Unfortunately, both bills have been held up by partisan gridlock 
despite widespread support on both sides of the aisle. In fact, the 
House version of the SAFE Act--H.R. 3791--passed the House of 
Representatives by a vote of 409-2 in December 2007. That is why I 
believe that both bills H.R. 3791 and the modified version of S. 1738 
could pass by unanimous consent if they were called up and passed 
together.
  It is time to stop playing politics, bring these bills to the Senate 
floor and let the Senate approve them. Child exploitation is too 
important a problem to get caught up in partisan politics. I urge the 
majority leader to call up and pass these two bills without delay, and 
without either being attached to other legislation that could prevent 
them from becoming law.
  I can't think of a more bipartisan step for the Senate to take this 
month than ending this impasse and passing these two worthwhile bills 
to protect children.

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