[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12576]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        WE NEED A STATE DEPARTMENT THAT FIGHTS FOR OUR CITIZENS

  (Mr. LAMPSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, my mother used to tell me where there is a 
will, there is a way. Last month, the Committee on Government Reform 
held a hearing on U.S. women and children who are being held in Saudi 
Arabia, and that continues to play out in the news. While the situation 
in Saudi Arabia obviously deserves attention, the issue of 
international child abduction exists in countries all over the world. 
Right now, and my colleagues have heard the story that I am telling 
about Ludwig Koons who is being held in Italy, one of our closest 
friends. Ludwig Koons is a young boy who has been there in Italy for 8 
years being held by his mother in a pornographic compound, and the 
Italian authorities and our State Department did nothing essentially to 
help.
  For years I have been working with left-behind parents who are trying 
to get their children back where they belong, and for years I have 
witnessed a State Department that does nothing tangible to help. We 
need a State Department that fights for United States citizens, not an 
idle information agency.
  This issue is one that none of us can afford to ignore. Be aware, put 
pressure on those other countries that are not sending their children 
home. American parents are asking for someone to help and help them 
bring their children home. If the State Department had the will, they 
would find a way to bring our children home.

                          ____________________