[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 176 (Thursday, November 17, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H7728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL ABUSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Rush) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month some of our darkest fears 
came to light. As parents and mentors of young children, we were 
horrified to hear and read about news allegations of a sexual abuse 
scandal involving the Penn State University football program.
  In piecing the news together, there were clues and red flags along 
the way, suggesting that the allegations are regrettably and probably 
true. Based on what is known now, it is also not inconceivable that the 
horrible actions alleged to have occurred at Penn State could have just 
as easily occurred at any other major collegiate sports program in the 
country.

                              {time}  1120

  What this sad and tragic episode affirms is that the abuse of 
children is real and alive in the sports world today. And it is just as 
alive and real in collegiate sports as it could be in any institutional 
system that has commonalities with big-time college sports.
  A little more than a week ago, even before the news of this scandal 
broke, I hosted two collegiate sports roundtables here in our Nation's 
Capitol. I invited sports journalists, economists, parents of former 
big division athletic scholarship recipients, and current 
professionally qualified basketball players and former collegiate 
student athletes to speak openly.
  They were asked what they thought about some of the NCAA's new 
proposed reforms, like compensating student athletes with a stipend and 
increasing academic accountability of student athletes who play in Bowl 
Conference Series tournaments. The roundtables dispelled some of the 
widely held myths about the manner in which the colleges go about 
recruiting high school athletes. They also corrected some persistent 
misunderstandings about what and how much NCAA athletic scholarships 
and medical insurance cover. And they did an excellent job of exposing 
hardships that student athletes and their families face for being 
unable to come up with the extra money to pay the differences in the 
medical costs and the costs of these athletic scholarships.
  The roundtables sadly affirmed that, just as the scandal does, the 
business of college sports is not beneath using--and can even thrive 
upon, in too many instances--collusion, corruption, and cover-ups.
  As part of its core purpose, the NCAA says its mission is to 
``integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the 
educational experience of the student athlete is paramount.'' But, 
unfortunately, I must say that I am highly suspicious of this creed, in 
that the NCAA system culture has increasingly become more shadowy and 
exceedingly exploitative. Exploitation maximizes revenues for colleges 
and conferences. Exploitation also helps member conferences and 
athletic programs hide behind flimsy excuses that doing more to support 
student athletes financially would be unprincipled and unacceptable.
  Mr. Speaker, as a Nation, we must hear the voices of young victims, 
pray for their healing, and dedicate ourselves to doing all that we can 
to end outrageous abuse of vulnerable children. We, as Members of 
Congress, have two primary responsibilities: one, to protect our Nation 
against foreign enemies, and, two, to protect our children.
  God bless America, and God bless our children.

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