[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 3, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H887-H890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL STALKING AWARENESS MONTH
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 82) raising awareness and encouraging
prevention of stalking by establishing January 2009 as ``National
Stalking Awareness Month''.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 82
Whereas in a 1-year period, an estimated 3,400,000 people
in America reported being stalked, and 75 percent of victims
are stalked by someone who is not a stranger;
Whereas 81 percent of women, who are stalked by an intimate
partner, are also physically assaulted by that partner, and
76 percent of women, who are killed by an intimate partner,
were also stalked by that intimate partner;
Whereas 11 percent reported having been stalked for more
than 5 years and \1/4\ of victims reported having been
stalked almost every day;
Whereas one in four victims reported that stalkers had used
technology, such as e-mail or instant messaging, to follow
and harass them, and one in 13 said stalkers had used
electronic devices to intrude on their lives;
Whereas stalking victims are forced to take drastic
measures to protect themselves, such as changing their
identities; relocating, changing jobs, and obtaining
protection orders;
Whereas one in seven victims moved in an effort to escape
their stalker;
Whereas approximately 130,000 victims reported having been
fired or asked to leave their job because of the stalking,
and about one in eight lost time from work because they
feared for their safety or were taking steps, such as seeking
a restraining order, to protect themselves;
Whereas less than half of victims report stalking to police
and only 7 percent contacted a victim service provider,
shelter, or hotline;
Whereas stalking is a crime that cuts across race, age,
culture, gender, sexual orientation, physical and mental
ability, and economic status;
Whereas stalking is a crime under Federal law and under the
laws of all 50 States and the District of Columbia;
Whereas there are national organizations, local victim
service organizations, prosecutors' offices, and police
departments that stand ready to assist stalking victims and
who are working diligently to craft competent, thorough, and
innovative responses to stalking;
Whereas there is a need to enhance the criminal justice
system's response to stalking and stalking victims, including
aggressive investigation and prosecution, and to increase the
availability of victim services across the country tailored
to meet the needs of stalking victims; and
Whereas the House of Representatives urges the
establishment of January 2009 as National Stalking Awareness
Month: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That--
(1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
(A) National Stalking Awareness Month provides an
opportunity to educate the people of the United States about
stalking;
(B) all Americans should applaud the efforts of the many
victim service providers, police, prosecutors, national and
community organizations, and private sector supporters for
their efforts in promoting awareness about stalking; and
(C) policymakers, criminal justice officials, victim
service and human service agencies, college campuses and
universities, nonprofits, and others should recognize the
need to increase awareness of stalking and the availability
of services for stalking victims; and
(2) the House of Representatives urges national and
community organizations, businesses in the private sector,
and the media to promote awareness of the crime of stalking
through National Stalking Awareness Month.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Scott) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) each will
control 20 minutes
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.
General Leave
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous materials on the resolution under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, House Resolution 82 is a bipartisan measure and will
help raise awareness of the terrible toll that stalking is taking in
our society. Every year, stalking affects millions of Americans of both
genders and of all races and ages.
The consequences of stalking can be extremely serious. The fear and
mental anguish can leave stalking victims paralyzed. Stalkers cause
their victims severe emotional distress, including anxiety, insomnia,
social dysfunction and depression, which can affect all aspects of
life, including family, social activities and work.
In fact, many stalking victims have been forced to relocate their
residences and also frequently needed psychological counseling.
Approximately 130,000 victims reported being fired or forced to find
work elsewhere because they've been stalked.
Stalking also leads to physical attacks on the victim. This explains
why most States and the Federal Government treats stalking as a felony.
Over 75 percent of women murdered by an intimate partner have been
stalked by that partner. Advances in technology have given stalkers
ever-increasing access to their victim's personal information, making
the victim even more vulnerable.
I'd like to commend my Judiciary Committee colleague, the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Poe), for his leadership on this issue. I urge my
colleagues to join me in supporting House Resolution 82.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I'm proud to have introduced House Resolution 82,
establishing January as National Stalking Awareness Month.
I hope this resolution serves as a unifying force for the community
leaders,
[[Page H888]]
policy-makers, and victim service providers. The goal of this
resolution is to raise awareness and encourage prevention of stalking
by establishing January 2009 as National Stalking Awareness Month.
Stalking, conduct intended to instill fear in a victim, is a crime
that occurs in every State in our country. As the cochair and founder
of the Congressional Victims Rights Caucus, I have spoken to countless
victims and victim service providers about the dangers of stalking and
the tragedies that have occurred in their lives.
A January 2009 report from the Department of Justice Bureau of
Justice Statistics found that during a 1-year period an estimated
3,400,000 people in America reported being stalked. According to the
National Center for Victims of Crime, this is an increase of 2 million
victims per year in the last decade. These statistics are a jarring
reminder of the scope and seriousness of this crime.
The Department's study also found that nearly three out of four
victims knew their stalker, and approximately one in four victims
reported some form of cyberstalking.
Stalkers pursue and harass their victims and are often relentless.
Cyberstalkers systemically flood their target's e-mail inbox with
obscene, hateful or threatening messages.
Cyberstalkers may also assume the identity of their victim and post
information, fictitious or not, to solicit unwanted responses from
other people. Although cyberstalking does not involve physical contact
with a victim, it is still a serious crime. The widespread use of the
Internet and the ease with which hackers can find personal information
has made this form of stalking more accessible to criminals.
By establishing January 2009 as National Stalking Awareness Month,
Congress can help to educate Americans about the severity of stalking
and encourage victims to report these crimes to the police. We
recognize and applaud the many law enforcement agencies and victims'
services for their effort to combat stalking and increase awareness of
services available to stalking victims.
Stalking has only been criminalized for 28 years. Unlike domestic
violence stalking is about power and control over the victim. While
stalking is now a crime in all 50 States, the District of Columbia and
the Federal Government, stalking often leads to other crimes, including
physical assault, sexual assault and sometimes homicide. Stalking laws
are basic to the individual right of each person in this country to be
left alone and their right of privacy.
The best way to attack the threat of stalking is through law
enforcement and education, and I encourage victim service providers,
law enforcement prosecutors and community leaders to promote awareness
of stalking, and I thank them for their efforts every day in making the
lives of victims better.
I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. POE of Texas. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Culberson).
Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Speaker, Judge Poe is exactly right. Our most
fundamental right as Americans is the right to be left alone. It is
important legislation and appreciate the judge bringing it to us.
We're going to hear from our good friend Congressman Royce in a
minute who has been working on this legislation for many years. We will
hear from him in just a moment.
I want to make sure, however, we as a Congress are focused on the
financial hurricane stalking America just over the horizon. The
financial, really if we're not careful, the urgency of this financial
hurricane is something we cannot afford to ignore any longer.
We, as a Congress, have as our highest priority again the
preservation of the security and financial safety of future
generations. We're guardians of the Treasury. We're responsible for
ensuring that we're not spending money we don't have; yet this so-
called stimulus bill has added to the urgency of this financial
hurricane stalk in America.
This $1.3 trillion spending spree that the new liberal majority has
engaged has, in fact, created at least 32 new Federal programs at a
cost of about $137 billion. This spending spree of $1.3 trillion over
these 17 legislative days has a lot more to do with expanding the power
base of the liberal majority and growing the Federal Government's power
than it does with stimulating the economy.
In my opinion, this legislation will do, in fact, far more to turn
America into France ultimately than it will to restore the strength and
vibrancy of America's free market economy, and that's the best way to
stave off this financial hurricane stalking America today.
We, I think, as fiscal conservatives may be outnumbered today, Madam
Speaker, but we have an obligation to stand up and speak out at every
opportunity. We are entrusted by our constituents with the
responsibility to lay out thoughtful, fiscally responsible alternatives
to the profligate spending we see coming from the other side. At a time
of real national emergency, when we're seeing disturbing trends in job
losses, when average Americans want to make sure that we as a Congress
are being only good stewards of their money, well, what are we doing to
ensure the security of their next paycheck? What are we doing to
reassure Americans that we're doing everything in our power to protect
the security of their job, to make sure that they don't have fear
stalking their household that they are going to lose their job or lose
the security of that health care coverage that they've always had?
This liberal majority, instead, has been focused on creating brand
new programs to pay for public school construction. That's an area that
the Federal Government has traditionally steered away from because of
the massive cost. This stimulus bill that, again, is going to do far
more to grow the government than grow the economy, this stimulus bill
promoted by the new liberal majority in Congress, has set aside about
$14 billion for school modernization and repair; $6 billion for higher
education modernization and repair. That means for the first time that
Federal taxpayers are assuming the responsibility for rebuilding and
repairing local public school buildings, all these traditionally the
responsibility of local taxpayers, locally issued bonds by school
districts and universities across the country.
I know the Houston Independent School District tells me just to
complete, off-the-cuff figure, they estimate they've got in the Houston
Independent School District alone about $4 to $5 billion worth of need
to rebuild, repair existing school buildings. Imagine the size of that
obligation that this new liberal majority has now created for future
generations to pay for.
We are in this, as fiscal conservatives, doing everything in our
power to enlighten the American people, to let the public know, Madam
Speaker, that there's a thoughtful, fiscally conservative alternative
out there, America. We want to cut your taxes and cut spending to get
this economy moving. We vigorously oppose this effort to grow the
government and saddle future generations with more debt.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from California (Mr. Royce). He is the original sponsor of the stalking
legislation.
Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I also agree that on the issue on this omnibus spending spree that
we're calling a stimulus bill, that where we increase from $1 trillion,
add another trillion and push up the deficit to 10 percent of the GDP,
this is not the answer.
But let me talk for a minute about the stalker bill because I'm the
author of the first stalker act, both here in the Federal Government
and at the State level in California.
In Orange County, California, we had four young women who were killed
in the span of 6 weeks, and law enforcement had told me at the time
that if they had been able to intervene they could have protected them.
One law enforcement officer said the hardest thing he ever had to do in
his life, he was waiting to try to apprehend the man who was going to
kill his girlfriend. The man succeeded and then killed himself. It was
30 seconds too late for the officer to prevent that, or a minute too
late.
[[Page H889]]
So the Federal law and the State law, the California law has now,
frankly, been copied by all 50 States. But I wanted to share with my
colleagues here that our Federal anti-stalker law has now been passed
in Japan. It's been passed in countries in Europe and elsewhere around
the world. I'm still getting calls from legislators about the need to
set up this deterrence, so that when a credible threat is given against
a victim of a crime, she knows when she's being threatened and stalked,
that that's a felony, that she can take out a restraining order; she
can thus make that a felony and get law enforcement involved in order
to protect her.
Let me just say that I think this resolution is important because
what it does is raise the level of awareness around the country as to
the necessity of not only law enforcement, judges, but the average
citizen to be aware of this. And those who are involved, men and women
who are involved in stalking their victims should understand that under
State and Federal law they risk serving serious time in Federal and
State penitentiary if they continue with this pattern of threats and
behavior.
Let me also say that I think that in our society it is really time to
figure out how the victims can get access to the information about the
laws that we pass, because too many times we have people--and this even
includes in law enforcement--who are not cognizant of the fact that
they can step in here and get involved and prevent serious harm before
it occurs.
So just in closing and yielding back my time, I commend the sponsors
and cosponsors of this resolution, because in calling attention to this
special week, National Stalking Awareness Month, calling attention to
this, my hope is that all of you can make those potential victims of
this crime more knowledgeable so that they understand they have
recourse, so that steps can be taken before they're physically harmed.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from California (Mr. Radanovich).
Mr. RADANOVICH. I thank the gentleman from Texas for that.
Last week, Madam Speaker, I joined a bipartisan group of colleagues
in opposing a recklessly wasteful economic stimulus package that
promised $32 billion for my home State of California, currently
suffering from 8.2 percent unemployment.
California does not need $32 billion worth of spending to stimulate
the economy because, at the same time, our State water supply has been
hijacked by the irresponsible Endangered Species Act. A simple flip of
the switch at the pumps at the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta could save
40,000 jobs and rescue a $90 billion industry from the brink of
disaster.
Instead, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem more
interested in spending money like drunken sailors and watch the
Endangered Species Act literally dehydrate one of America's most
prosperous industries.
{time} 1515
Every one of my colleagues from California has no excuse not to join
me in calling for a temporary suspension of the Endangered Species Act
to immediately start the flow of water from the delta pumps in
California.
Mr. POE of Texas. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr.
Chaffetz).
Mr. CHAFFETZ. I congratulate my colleague, the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Poe). This is a great piece of legislation.
There are too many of our fellow citizens who don't feel the safety
and security that the rest of America feels. They feel the weight of
somebody watching them or pestering them. They are worried about that
when they go to the grocery store, they are worried about that when
they go to the gas station. There's a feeling that sinks in on you that
all too many people recognize. And this will address the stalking
component of it. It's something that I think the rest of America also
feels when they look at our economy and what this Congress is failing
to do. It's failing to be responsible with the people's money. It's not
the government's money.
As we look at $10-plus trillion debt and a so-called stimulus bill
that I think most of us recognize will not stimulate the economy, we
can only look at that and recognize that it's our children and
grandchildren that will be burdened with this debt. That they will have
to pay it.
We are $10 trillion in debt. Last year, we paid $429 billion just in
interest on that debt. And the people that I talk to, the people from
Utah and from around the country that are peppering us with information
and feedback, are absolutely fed up. They don't want to have that
burden. And every time we spend a dollar, a dollar we don't have, and
can't afford, we create a burden upon the American family.
$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. It will do
nothing to stimulate our economy. Absolutely nothing. $650 million for
the conversion to digital television, for goodness sake. We don't have
the money to do that. $13 million for research related to volunteer
service; $70 million for a support computer for climate research; $524
million to create, ``388 jobs in the United States'' through the State
Department Capital Investment Fund.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume. I'd like to refocus. The purpose of this bill has to do with
stalking. A few years ago, most of us didn't even know what stalking
was. And now, most Americans know someone or personally have been
affected by a stalker out there, whether it's a physical stalker or
whether it's someone on cyberspace. It has become a growing crime in
this country.
Madam Speaker, as I mentioned before, I think the Constitution, in
essence, says one thing--that we, as people, as individuals, have the
right to be left alone. And criminals who stalk to harass and to put
fear in the souls and the minds of individuals should be, of course,
prosecuted.
I thank Mr. Royce for his endeavors years ago to make this crime a
national crime, and also an awareness of most individuals. So I urge
support of this legislation, this resolution.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Madam Speaker, we have been lectured again by the party that authored
the economic mess that we have been in for the last 8 years about
economic theory. I just want to remind everyone what that economic
theory created. It erased a $5\1/2\ trillion surplus and replaced it
with at least a $3\1/2\ trillion debt. There was no comment about
fiscal responsibility and our grandchildren paying off the debt while
they were doing that to public.
And, while overspending the budget by $9 trillion, or even more, they
incredibly managed to produce the worst job performance since the Great
Depression. And now they are criticizing those who support the economic
theory that created the $5\1/2\ trillion surplus and tens of millions
of jobs.
If you just want to look at economic activity, and not just the jobs,
if you look at what happened to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. If
the last 8 years of the Dow Jones Industrial Average had done in the
last 8 years what it had done during the preceding 8 years under the
Democratic economic theory, the Dow Jones Industrial Average would be
approximately four times bigger than it is now.
So look at your 401(k) and imagine if it had been four times bigger.
That is where it would be if the economic results of the Democratic
theory of the 1990s had been in effect. I think most of the people
would like to see their 401(k)s and IRAs four times bigger than it is
today.
So we will let the people decide which economic theory they would
rather have--the one that we have been lectured from, or the one that
was put into effect in 1993 and the one we are trying to get the
economy back on track with a stimulus package, which many economists
think is too small for the big mess that we are in.
In any case, Madam Speaker, I'd like to thank the gentleman from
Texas for introducing the legislation establishing January, 2009, as
National Stalking Awareness Month. I hope that we would adopt the
resolution.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) that the House suspend the
[[Page H890]]
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 82.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
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