[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14817-14818]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                          TO HONOR ADAM WALSH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Lampson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to invite my colleagues to 
join me as a member of the Congressional Missing and Exploited 
Children's Caucus, and I choose to make yet another plea to my 
colleagues for them to join this caucus, because today marks the 20th 
anniversary of the abduction of Adam Walsh.
  Many of my colleagues are familiar with John Walsh, the host of 
America's Most Wanted. John and his wife, Reve, lived through the 
personal tragedy of having their 6-year-old son, Adam, abducted and 
murdered at the hands of a stranger in 1981. After suffering through 
this tremendously emotional ordeal, John became a dedicated advocate to 
end violence against children, to fight crime, and to expand victims' 
rights in our criminal justice system.
  John has shown, through his efforts and over 19 years of hard work, 
that one committed individual can make a difference to benefit all. 
Working with his wife, John became the Nation's leading advocate in the 
cause of protecting our children from violence and exploitation. He 
helped expand the powers of law enforcement authorities through the 
Missing Children Act of 1982, as well as working toward the creation of 
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
  Four years ago I came to Congress with what I thought was a very full 
agenda. However, in April of 1997, a 13-year-old constituent of mine 
was abducted and murdered, and my mission in Congress changed. I, along 
with the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Cramer) and former Congressman Bob 
Franks

[[Page 14818]]

from New Jersey founded the Congressional Missing and Exploited 
Children's Caucus.

                              {time}  1430

  The purpose of this caucus is three-fold. One, to build awareness 
around the issue of missing and exploited children for the purpose of 
finding children who are currently missing and to prevent future 
abductions.
  Two, to create a voice within Congress on the issue of missing and 
exploited children and to introduce legislation that would strengthen 
law enforcement, community organizing and school-based efforts to 
address child abduction.
  Three, to identify ways to work effectively in our districts to 
address child abduction. By developing cooperative efforts that involve 
police departments, educators and community groups, we can heighten 
awareness of the issue and pool resources for the purpose of solving 
outstanding cases and preventing future abductions, hold briefings with 
the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children and other child 
advocacy organizations.
  Those are worthy goals. As a society, our efforts to prevent crimes 
against children have not kept pace with the increasing vulnerability 
of our young citizens. So I ask my colleagues to please contact my 
office if you are interested in joining this very important caucus. I 
ask the citizens of the United States of America to be aware of this 
dire problem that we face with our children in every community 
throughout our country. Our children, our grandchildren, our nieces, 
our nephews are counting on you to give them a voice in Washington, 
D.C.

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