[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23384-23391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Gregg, and Mr. 
        Sununu):
  S. 1898. A bill to establish the Freedom's Way National Heritage Area 
in the States of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation to 
establish the Freedom's Way National Heritage Area in New Hampshire and 
Massachusetts. The bill is cosponsored by Senator KENNEDY, Senator 
GREGG and Senator SUNUNU.
  The bill proposes to establish a national heritage area including 36 
communities in Massachusetts and six communities in New Hampshire. The 
area has important cultural and natural legacies that are important to 
New England and the entire Nation. I want to highlight just a few of 
the reasons I believe this designation makes sense.

[[Page 23385]]

  The Freedom's Way is an ideal candidate because it is rich in 
historic sites, trails, landscapes and views. The land and the area's 
resources are pieces of American history and culture. The entire 
region, and especially places like Lexington and Concord, is important 
to our country's founding and our political and philosophical 
principles. Within the 42 communities are truly special places. These 
include the Minuteman National Historic Park, more than 40 National 
Register Districts and National Historic Landmarks, the Great Meadows 
National Wildlife Refuge, Walden Pond State Reservation, Gardener State 
Park, Harvard Shaker Village and the Shirley Shaker Village.
  In addition, there is strong grassroots support for this designation. 
The people of these communities organized themselves in this effort and 
have now turned to us for assistance. I hope we can provide it. 
Supporters include elected officials, people dedicated to preserving a 
small piece of American and New England history, and local business 
leaders. It is an honor to help their cause.
  Finally, I am very pleased that Senators from both Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire have embraced this proposal. I thank Senators Kennedy, 
Gregg and Sununu.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. McCAIN (for himself, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Crapo, and Mr. 
        Inouye):
  S. 1899. A bill to amend the Indian Child Protection and Family 
Violence Prevention Act to identify and remove barriers to reducing 
child abuse, to provide for examinations of certain children, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill to 
reauthorize the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention 
Act. This bill is intended to reauthorize appropriations for child 
sexual abuse prevention and treatment grants, to identify the scope of 
child abuse and family violence in Indian country by requiring annual 
comprehensive data gathering, to encourage inter-agency coordination 
between the Indian Health Service and public and private medical or 
treatment organizations in the treatment and examination of children 
through the use of telemedicine, and to conform the Act to other 
Federal child abuse reporting and confidentiality laws. The bill 
provides a 4-year reauthorization of appropriations for the Act.
  The Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act was 
enacted in 1990 to address findings of the Senate Select Committee on 
Indian Affairs and the Special Committee on Investigations as it 
examined the Federal trust relationship with Indian tribes. Through 
public hearings, these Committees found that, at the time, Indian 
country was a safe haven for child abuse perpetrators. I will not 
forget the testimony of parents whose children fell prey to the 
notorious cases of multiple child sexual abuse that occurred on the 
Hopi, Navajo, and Cherokee reservations over the course of many years. 
The Federal investigation and prosecution of these crimes revealed that 
child abuse perpetrators were aware that the conditions of reporting, 
investigating, and preventing crimes upon children were in such a sorry 
state that their crimes would rarely be detected. Needless to say, the 
consequences proved tragic to hundreds of child victims, their families 
and their communities.
  We enacted this law to give the Federal Government an opportunity to 
meet its responsibility to Indian children and families by establishing 
policies and programs to prevent child abuse and family violence. To 
accomplish this, appropriations were authorized to establish prevention 
and treatment programs within the BIA and IHS. The Act also authorized 
the BIA and IHS to assist tribes in establishing on-reservation child 
abuse prevention and treatment programs. The Act also provided criminal 
sanctions for professionals who failed to report acts of abuse or 
suspected abuse and prescribed a child abuse reporting process for law 
enforcement.
  I don't believe that the possible benefits of the Act have been fully 
realized. Neither the BIA nor the IHS have successfully requested or 
received appropriations to fully implement the programs envisioned by 
the Act. Today, tribal governments rely on special appropriations, 
congressional earmarks and piecemeal grants. And, we still do not have 
a firm idea of the extent to which child sexual or physical abuse is 
occurring in Indian communities or the degree of success that we are 
having in treating victims of child abuse. Surely, we can do better 
than this.
  This bill provides for a comprehensive approach to gathering this 
information on child abuse in Indian country. Under current law, the 
FBI is responsible for gathering this data. At the time, the FBI was 
primarily responsible for investigating acts of felony child abuse in 
Indian country. Today, we know that many Indian tribal police agencies, 
operating under Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance 
Act compacts and contracts, jointly investigate these felony crimes and 
that they are also responsible for responding to and investigating 
tribal offenses. The bill requires a comprehensive sharing of numerical 
data by all Federal, tribal and State law enforcement agencies.
  In addition, the Act requires all local law enforcement agencies to 
document incidents of child abuse and to submit this documentation to 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Act, however, does not provide 
for use of this valuable information. This bill permits the FBI to 
continue to gather conviction data and to make this information 
available, on a limited basis, to specific agencies requiring such 
information in the course of their professional duties. It permits 
agencies to access information in the course of conducting background 
checks on those who seek employment in an area involving children.
  Finally, the bill authorizes the Indian Health Service to use 
advances in telemedicine to bring expert advice and training to the 
examination and diagnosis of child abuse. This new provision recognizes 
that children, when victimized, require immediate and expert diagnosis 
and treatment. This section will help supplement stretched or 
unavailable IHS resources in the most isolated Indian communities.
  This body recently sent a clear message on domestic violence and 
sexual predators. This bill furthers that message by continuing to 
protect Indian children and families and ensuring that they continue to 
receive prevention and treatment resources to address the impact of 
these crimes in their own communities. I look forward to receiving the 
comments from the Administration and working with my colleagues toward 
final passage of this bill.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1899

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Indian Child Protection and 
     Family Violence Prevention Act Amendments of 2005''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

       Section 402 of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3201) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)--
       (A) in paragraph (1)--
       (i) by redesignating subparagraphs (E) and (F) as 
     subparagraphs (F) and (G), respectively; and
       (ii) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the following:
       ``(E) the Federal Government and certain State governments 
     are responsible for investigating and prosecuting certain 
     felony crimes, including child abuse, in Indian country, 
     pursuant to chapter 53 of title 18, United States Code;''; 
     and
       (B) in paragraph (2)--
       (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 
     ``two'' and inserting ``the'';
       (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the 
     end and inserting ``; and''; and
       (iv) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(C) identify and remove any impediment to the immediate 
     investigation of incidents of child abuse in Indian 
     country.''; and
       (2) in subsection (b)--
       (A) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following:

[[Page 23386]]

       ``(3) provide for a background investigation for any 
     employee that has access to children;''; and
       (B) in paragraph (6), by striking ``Area Office'' and 
     inserting ``Regional Office''.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       Section 403 of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3202) is amended--
       (1) by striking paragraph (14);
       (2) by redesignating paragraphs (5) through (13) as 
     paragraphs (6) through (14), respectively;
       (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:
       ``(5) `conviction', with respect to an offense, means a 
     final judgment of guilty through a verdict by a judge or jury 
     or a plea of guilty or no contest, but does not include any 
     final judgment that has been expunged by pardon, reversed, 
     set aside, or otherwise voided;'';
       (4) in paragraph (13) (as redesignated by paragraph (2)), 
     by striking ``that agency'' and all that follows through 
     ``Indian tribe'' and inserting ``the Federal, State, or 
     tribal agency'';
       (5) in paragraph (14) (as redesignated by paragraph (2)), 
     by inserting ``(including a tribal law enforcement agency 
     operating pursuant to a grant, contract, or compact under the 
     Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 
     U.S.C. 450 et seq.))'' after ``State law enforcement 
     agency'';
       (6) in paragraph (17), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (7) in paragraph (18), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (8) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(19) `telemedicine' means a telecommunications link to an 
     end user through the use of eligible equipment that 
     electronically links health professionals or patients and 
     health professionals at separate sites in order to exchange 
     health care information in audio, video, graphic, or other 
     format for the purpose of providing improved health care 
     diagnosis and treatment.''.

     SEC. 4. REPORTING PROCEDURES.

       Section 404 of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3203) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (c)--
       (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``(1) Within'' and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(1) In general.--Not later than''; and
       (B) in paragraph (2)--
       (i) by striking ``(2)(A) Any'' and inserting the following:
       ``(2) Investigation of reports.--
       ``(A) In general.--Any'';
       (ii) in subparagraph (B)--

       (I) by striking ``(B) Upon'' and inserting the following:

       ``(B) Final written report.--On''; and

       (II) by inserting ``including any Federal, State, or tribal 
     conviction resulting from the allegation'' before the period 
     at the end; and

       (iii) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(C) Maintenance of final reports.--The Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation shall maintain a record of each written report 
     submitted under subsection (b) in a manner in which the 
     report is accessible to--
       ``(i) a local law enforcement agency that requires the 
     information to carry out an official duty; and
       ``(ii) any agency requesting the information under section 
     408.
       ``(D) Collection of data.--Not less frequently than once 
     each year, the Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney 
     General and any appropriate Indian tribe, shall collect any 
     information not otherwise reported under subsection (b), 
     including information relating to, during the preceding 
     calendar year--
       ``(i) the number of child abuse allegations and 
     investigations in Indian country;
       ``(ii) the number of child abuse prosecutions declined or 
     deferred in Indian country; and
       ``(iii) the number of acquittals of charges of child abuse 
     in Indian country.''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(e) Confidentiality of Children.--No local law 
     enforcement agency or local child protective services agency 
     shall disclose the name of or information concerning the 
     child to anyone other than any person who, by reason of their 
     participation in the treatment of the child, the 
     investigation, or the adjudication of the allegation, needs 
     to know the information in the performance of the duties of 
     the individual.
       ``(f) Report to Congress.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     date of enactment of this subsection, and annually 
     thereafter, the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation, in coordination with the Secretary and the 
     Attorney General, shall submit to the Committees on Indian 
     Affairs and the Judiciary of the Senate, and the Committees 
     on Resources and the Judiciary of the House of 
     Representatives, a report on child abuse in Indian country 
     during the preceding year.''.

     SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF IMPEDIMENTS TO REDUCING CHILD ABUSE.

       Section 405 of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3204) is amended to read 
     as follows:

     ``SEC. 405. REMOVAL OF IMPEDIMENTS TO REDUCING CHILD ABUSE.

       ``(a) Study.--The Secretary, in consultation with the 
     Attorney General and the Service, shall conduct a study under 
     which the Secretary shall identify any impediment to the 
     reduction of child abuse in Indian country and on Indian 
     reservations.
       ``(b) Inclusions.--The study under subsection (a) shall 
     include a description of--
       ``(1) any impediment to reporting child abuse in Indian 
     country and on Indian reservations;
       ``(2) any impediment to, or advance in, Federal, State, and 
     tribal investigations and prosecutions of allegations of 
     child abuse in Indian country and on Indian reservations; and
       ``(3) any impediment to, or advance in, the treatment of 
     child abuse in Indian country and on Indian reservations.
       ``(c) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
     enactment of the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence 
     Prevention Act Amendments of 2005, the Secretary shall submit 
     to the Committees on Indian Affairs and the Judiciary of the 
     Senate, and the Committees on Resources and the Judiciary of 
     the House of Representatives, a report describing--
       ``(1) the findings of the study under this section; and
       ``(2) recommendations for legislative actions to reduce 
     instances of child abuse in Indian country and on Indian 
     reservations, if any.''.

     SEC. 6. CONFIDENTIALITY.

       Section 406 of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3205) is amended to read 
     as follows:

     ``SEC. 406. CONFIDENTIALITY.

       ``Any Federal, State, or tribal government agency that 
     treats or investigates incidents of child abuse may provide 
     information and records to an officer of any other Federal, 
     State, or tribal government agency that requires the 
     information to carry out the duties of the officer, in 
     accordance with section 552a of title 5, United States Code, 
     section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264), 
     the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 
     U.S.C. 1232g), part C of title XI of the Social Security Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 1320d et seq.), and other applicable Federal 
     law.''.

     SEC. 7. WAIVER OF PARENTAL CONSENT.

       Section 407 of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3206) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``or forensic'' after 
     ``psychological''; and
       (2) in subsection (c), by striking ``advise'' and inserting 
     ``advice''.

     SEC. 8. CHARACTER INVESTIGATIONS.

       Section 408(b) of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3207(b)) is amended by 
     striking ``guilty to'' and all that follows and inserting the 
     following: ``guilty to, any offense under Federal, State, or 
     tribal law involving--
       ``(1) a crime of violence;
       ``(2) sexual assault;
       ``(3) child abuse;
       ``(4) exploitation; or
       ``(5) sexual contact or prostitution.''.

     SEC. 9. INDIAN CHILD ABUSE TREATMENT GRANT PROGRAM.

       Section 409 of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3208) is amended by 
     striking subsection (e) and inserting the following:
       ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to 
     carry out this section for each of fiscal years 2006 through 
     2010.''.

     SEC. 10. INDIAN CHILD RESOURCE AND FAMILY SERVICES CENTERS.

       Section 410 of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3209) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``area office'' and 
     inserting ``Regional Office'';
       (2) in subsection (b), by striking ``The Secretary'' and 
     all that follows through ``Human Services'' and inserting 
     ``The Secretary, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
     and the Attorney General'';
       (3) in subsection (d)--
       (A) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``, State,'' after 
     ``Federal''; and
       (B) in paragraph (5), by striking ``agency office'' and 
     inserting ``Regional Office'';
       (4) in subsection (e)--
       (A) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by striking the commas at 
     the ends of the paragraphs and inserting semicolons;
       (B) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following:
       ``(3) adolescent mental and behavioral health (including 
     suicide prevention and treatment);'';
       (C) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting a semicolon; and
       (D) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(5) criminal prosecution; and
       ``(6) medicine.'';
       (5) in subsection (f)--
       (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``The Secretary'' 
     and all that follows through ``Human Services'' and inserting 
     the following:
       ``(1) Establishment.--The Secretary, in consultation with 
     the Service and the Attorney General'';
       (B) in the second sentence--
       (i) by striking ``Each'' and inserting the following
       ``(2) Membership.--Each''; and

[[Page 23387]]

       (ii) by striking ``shall consist of 7 members'' and 
     inserting ``shall be'';
       (C) in the third sentence, by striking ``Members'' and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(3) Compensation.--Members''; and
       (D) in the fourth sentence, by striking ``The advisory'' 
     and inserting the following:
       ``(4) Duties.--Each advisory'';
       (6) in subsection (g)--
       (A) in the first sentence--
       (i) by striking ``Indian Child'' and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(1) In general.--Indian Child''; and
       (ii) by adding before the period at the end the following: 
     ``(25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.)'';
       (B) by striking the second sentence and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(2) Certain regional offices.--
       ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B), 
     if a Center is located in a Regional Office of the Bureau 
     that serves more than 1 Indian tribe, an application to enter 
     into a grant, contract, or compact under the Indian Self-
     Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450 et 
     seq.) to operate the Center shall contain a consent form 
     signed by an official of each Indian tribe to be served under 
     the grant, contract, or compact.
       ``(B) Alaska region.--Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), for 
     Centers located in the Alaska Region, an application to enter 
     into a grant, contract, or compact described in that 
     subparagraph shall contain a consent form signed by an 
     official of each Indian tribe or tribal consortium that is a 
     member of a grant, contract, or compact relating to an Indian 
     child protection and family violence prevention program under 
     the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
     (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.).''; and
       (C) in the third sentence, by striking ``This section'' and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(3) Effect of section.--This section''; and
       (7) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the following:
       ``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to 
     carry out this section for each of fiscal years 2006 through 
     2010.''.

     SEC. 11. INDIAN CHILD PROTECTION AND FAMILY VIOLENCE 
                   PREVENTION PROGRAM.

       Section 411 of the Indian Child Protection and Family 
     Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 3210) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (c), by striking the subsection heading 
     and inserting ``Coordinating Investigation, Treatment, and 
     Prevention of Child Abuse and Family Violence'';
       (2) by redesignating subsections (f) through (i) as 
     subsections (e) through (h), respectively; and
       (3) by striking subsection (h) (as redesignated by 
     paragraph (2)) and inserting the following:
       ``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to 
     carry out this section for each of fiscal years 2006 through 
     2010.''.

     SEC. 12. USE OF TELEMEDICINE.

       The Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention 
     Act (25 U.S.C. 3201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
     the following:

     ``SEC. 412. USE OF TELEMEDICINE.

       ``(a) Contracts and Agreements.--The Service is authorized 
     to enter into any contract or agreement for the use of 
     telemedicine with a public or private medical university or 
     facility, or any private practitioner, with experience 
     relating to pediatrics, including the diagnosis and treatment 
     of child abuse, to assist the Service with respect to--
       ``(1) the diagnosis and treatment of child abuse; or
       ``(2) methods of training Service personnel in diagnosing 
     and treating child abuse.
       ``(b) Administration.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
     Service shall, to the maximum extent practicable--
       ``(1) use existing telemedicine infrastructure; and
       ``(2) give priority to Service units and medical facilities 
     operated pursuant to grants, contracts, or compacts under the 
     Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 
     U.S.C. 450 et seq.) that are located in, or providing service 
     to, remote areas of Indian country or Indian reservations.
       ``(c) Information and Consultation.--On receipt of a 
     request, the Service may provide to public and private 
     medical universities, facilities, and practitioners any 
     information or consultation on the treatment of Indian 
     children who have, or may have, been subject to abuse or 
     neglect.
       ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to 
     carry out this section for each of fiscal years 2006 through 
     2010.''.

     SEC. 13. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

       Section 1169 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
       (A) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``or volunteering 
     for'' after ``employed by'';
       (B) in subparagraph (D)--
       (i) by inserting ``or volunteer'' after ``child day care 
     worker''; and
       (ii) by striking ``worker in a group home'' and inserting 
     ``worker or volunteer in a group home'';
       (C) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``or psychological 
     assistant,'' and inserting ``psychological or psychiatric 
     assistant, or mental or behavioral health professional;'';
       (D) in subparagraph (F), by striking ``child'' and 
     inserting ``individual'';
       (E) by striking subparagraph (G), and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(G) foster parent; or''; and
       (F) in subparagraph (H), by striking ``law enforcement 
     officer, probation officer'' and inserting ``law enforcement 
     personnel, probation officer, criminal prosecutor''; and
       (2) in subsection (c), by striking paragraphs (3) and (4) 
     and inserting the following:
       ``(3) `local child protective services agency' has the 
     meaning given the term in section 403 of the Indian Child 
     Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C. 
     3202); and
       ``(4) `local law enforcement agency' has the meaning given 
     the term in section 403 of that Act.''.

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join the chairman of the 
Senate Indian Affairs Committee as original sponsor of the Indian Child 
Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act Amendments of 2005. The 
primary goals of the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence 
Prevention Act of 1990, which the legislation we introduce today would 
reauthorize, were to reduce the incidence of child abuse, and mandate 
the reporting and tracking of child abuse in Indian Country.
  The Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act 
Amendments would provide additional safeguards for the privacy of 
information about a child; provide more involvement by the FBI and the 
Attorney General in documenting incidents of child abuse; direct a 
study to identify impediments to the reduction of child abuse in Indian 
Country, as well as require data collection and annual reporting to 
Congress on child abuse in Indian Country; and authorize the Indian 
Health Service to use telemedicine in connection with examinations of 
abused Indian children.
  I particularly appreciate that this reauthorization legislation 
addresses a related issue about which I have deep concern--the epidemic 
of youth suicide in many reservation communities. Indian Country has 
higher rates of youth suicide, as well as of child abuse, than other 
American population groups. Often, children who attempt suicide have 
been abused by a family or community member. This bill would authorize 
professionals trained in behavioral health, including suicide 
prevention and treatment, to be included on the staff of regional 
Indian Child Resource and Family Services Centers.
  Chairman McCain and I are committed to providing these additional 
protections for Native American children. I urge my colleagues to 
support passage of this reauthorization bill, along with adoption of 
provisions for child abuse prevention and child protective services 
that are contained in legislation also under consideration to 
reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Dayton, Mr. 
        Lautenberg, and Mr. Corzine):
  S. 1900. A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to 
stabilize the amount of the medicare part B premium; to the Committee 
on Finance.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, today I am introducing the ``Keep the 
Promise of Medicare Act'' of 2006, and am pleased to be joined by my 
colleagues Senators Kennedy, Harkin, Lautenberg, Dayton, and Corzine.
  Retirees will see an average monthly cost-of-living-adjustment 
increase of $39 in their Social Security checks next year. Although 
this increase is welcome news, one-fourth of the COLA will be eaten up 
by rising Medicare Part B premiums, which will increase yet again by 
double-digits. And the premium for Medicare's new prescription drug 
benefit could eat up the remainder of the Social Security increase.
  As William D. Novelli, chief executive of AARP, said: ``A record 
increase would usually be welcome news for America's Social Security 
beneficiaries. But this cost-of-living adjustment is being eaten up by 
rising gasoline and heating costs, another double-digit increase in the 
monthly Medicare

[[Page 23388]]

Part B premium and escalating health care bills.''
  This dramatic increase could have been avoided. CMS Administrator 
McClellan has acknowledged after last year's record 17.5 percent 
increase that provisions included in the 2003 Medicare law designed to 
privatize the program directly contributed to the premium increase.
  My legislation will limit the 2006 Part B premium increase to the 
same level as the Social Security COLA. Without this legislation, the 
Medicare Part B premium will rise by 13 percent to more than $10, to 
$88.50 a month, in 2006.
  ``Social Security's COLA will simply not be enough to cover the 
increasing costs of living as an older person in America,'' said George 
J. Kourpias, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans.
  Adjusting the current premium is a first step, and one we must take 
immediately. Older Americans have been struggling for too long under 
the relentless increases in the cost of their health care and 
prescription drugs. Additionally, we should use this year to revise an 
outdated law that has led to record increase in Medicare premiums in 
the last four years. The promise of Medicare must include protection 
from dramatic increases in the Part B premium.
  I urge my colleagues to join me on this important piece of 
legislation.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1900

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Keep the Promise of Medicare 
     Act of 2006''.

     SEC. 2. STABILIZATION OF MEDICARE PART B PREMIUM.

       Section 1839(a)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
     1395r(a)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following 
     new sentence: ``Notwithstanding the preceding sentences, the 
     monthly premium rate determined under this paragraph for each 
     month in 2006 may not exceed an amount equal to the monthly 
     premium rate determined under this paragraph for each month 
     in 2005 adjusted by the percentage change in the average 
     Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical 
     Workers (CPI-W) for the third quarter of 2004 to the third 
     quarter of 2005.''.

                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. Brownback, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. 
        Santorum, and Mr. Durbin):
  S. 1902. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize 
funding for the establishment of a program on children and the media 
within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the role 
and impact of electronic media in the development of children; to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce, along with 
Senators Brownback, Clinton, Santo-
rum, and Durbin, the Children and Media Research Advancement Act, or 
CAMRA Act. This bill is essentially identical to S. 579, which we 
introduced earlier this year, except that it houses our program within 
the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) rather than in the National 
Institute of Child Health and Human Development. We have reviewed the 
programs and activities within CDC that address issues relating to 
media's impact on children, and we believe that CDC is a logical home 
for our legislation.
  There is an urgent need to establish a Federal role for targeting 
research on the impact of media on children. From the cradle to the 
grave, our children now live and develop in a world of media--a world 
that is increasingly digital, and a world where access is at their 
fingertips. This emerging digital world is well known to our children, 
but its effects on their development are not well understood. Young 
people today are spending an average of 6 and a half hours with media 
each day. For those who are under age 6, two hours of exposure to 
screen media each day is common, even for those who are under age two. 
That is about as much time as children under age 6 spend playing 
outdoors, and it is much more time than they spend reading or being 
read to by their parents. How does this investment of time affect 
children's physical development, their cognitive development, or their 
moral values? Unfortunately, we still have very limited information 
about how media, particularly the newer interactive media, affect 
children's development. In fact, we have not charged any Federal agency 
with ensuring an ongoing funding base to establish a coherent research 
agenda about the impact of media on children's lives. This lack of a 
coordinated government-sponsored effort to understand the effects of 
media on children's development is truly an oversight on our part as 
the potential payoffs for this kind of knowledge are enormous.
  Consider our current national health crisis of childhood obesity. The 
number of U.S. children and teenagers who are overweight has more than 
tripled from the 1960's through 2002. We think that media exposure is 
partly the cause of this epidemic. Is it? Is time spent viewing screens 
and its accompanying sedentary life styles contributing to childhood 
and adolescent obesity? Or is the constant bombardment of 
advertisements for sugar-coated cereals, snack foods, and candy that 
pervade children's television advertisements the culprit? How do the 
newer online forms of ``stealth marketing'', such as advergaming where 
food products are embedded in computer games, affect children's and 
adolescents' purchasing patterns? What will happen when pop-up 
advertisements begin to appear on children's cell phones that 
specifically target them for the junk food that they like best at a 
place where that food is easily obtainable? The answer to the obesity 
and media question is complex. A committee at the National Academy of 
Sciences is currently charged with studying the link between media 
advertising and childhood obesity. Will the National Academy of 
Sciences panel have the data they need to answer this important 
question? A definitive answer has the potential to save a considerable 
amount of money in other areas of our budget. For example, child health 
care costs that are linked to childhood obesity issues could be reduced 
by understanding and altering media diets.
  Or take the Columbine incident. After two adolescent boys shot and 
killed some of their teachers, classmates, and then turned their guns 
on themselves at Columbine High School, we asked ourselves if media 
played some role in this tragedy. Did these boys learn to kill in part 
from playing first-person shooter video games like Doom where they 
acted as a killer? Were they rehearsing criminal activities when 
playing this game? We looked to the research community for an answer. 
In the violence and media area, Congress had passed legislation in the 
past so that research was conducted about the relationship between 
media violence and childhood aggression, and as a result, we knew more. 
Even though much of this data base was older and involved the link 
between exposure to violent television programs and childhood 
aggression, some answers were forthcoming about how the Columbine 
tragedy could have taken place. Even so, there is still a considerable 
amount of speculation about the more complex questions. Why did these 
particular boys, for example, pull the trigger in real life while 
others who played Doom confine their aggressive acts to the gaming 
context? We need to be able to answer questions about which children 
under what circumstances will translate game playing into real-life 
lethal actions. Investing in media research could potentially reduce 
our budgets associated with adolescent crime and delinquency as well as 
reduce real-life human misery and suffering.
  Many of us believe that our children are becoming increasingly 
materialistic. Does exposure to commercial advertising and the ``good 
life'' experienced by media characters partly explain materialistic 
attitudes? We're not sure. Recent research using brain-mapping 
techniques finds that an adult who sees images of desired products 
demonstrates patterns of brain activation that are typically associated 
with

[[Page 23389]]

reaching out with a hand. How does repeatedly seeing attractive 
products affect our children and their developing brains? What will 
happen when our children will be able to click on their television 
screen and go directly to sites that advertise the products that they 
see in their favorite programs? Or use their cell phones to pay for 
products that they want in the immediate environment? Exactly what kind 
of values are we cultivating in our children, and what role does 
exposure to media content play in the development of those values?
  A report linked very early television viewing with later symptoms 
that are common in children who have attention deficit disorders. 
However, we don't know the direction of the relationship. Does 
television viewing cause attention deficits, or do children who have 
attention deficits find television viewing experiences more engaging 
than children who don't have attention problems? Or do parents whose 
children have difficulty sustaining attention let them watch more 
television to encourage more sitting and less hyperactive behavior? How 
will Internet experiences, particularly those where children move 
rapidly across different windows, influence attention patterns and 
attention problems? Once again, we don't know the answer. If early 
television exposure does disrupt the development of children's 
attention patterns, resulting in their placement in special education 
programs, actions taken to reduce screen exposure during the early 
years could lead to subsequent reductions in children's need for 
special education classes, thereby saving money while fostering 
children's development in positive ways.
  We want no child left behind in the 21st century. Many of us believe 
that time spent with computers is good for our children, teaching them 
the skills that they will need for success in the 21st century. Are we 
right? How is time spent with computers different from time spent with 
television? What are the underlying mechanisms that facilitate or 
disrupt children's learning from these varying media? Can academic 
development be fostered by the use interactive online programs designed 
to teach as they entertain? In the first six years of life, Caucasian 
more so than African American or Latino children have Internet access 
from their homes. Can our newer interactive media help ensure that no 
child is left behind or will disparities in access result in leaving 
some behind and not others?
  The questions bout how media affect the development of our children 
are clearly important, abundant, and complex. Unfortunately, the 
answers to these questions are in short supply. Such gaps in our 
knowledge base limit our ability to make informed decisions about media 
policy.
  We know that media are important. Over the years, we have held 
numerous hearings in these chambers about how exposure to media 
violence affects childhood aggression. We passed legislation to 
maximize the documented benefits of exposure to educational media, such 
as the Children's Television Act which requires broadcasters to provide 
educational and informational television programs for children. Can we 
foster children's moral values when they are exposed to prosocial 
programs that foster helping, sharing, and cooperating like those that 
have come into being as a result of the Children's Television Act? We 
acted to protect our children from unfair commercial practices by 
passing the Children Online Privacy Protection Act which provides 
safeguards from exploitation for our youth as they explore the 
Internet, a popular pastime for them. Yet the Internet has provided new 
ways to reach children with marketing that we barely know is taking 
place, making our ability to protect our children all the more 
difficult. We worry about our children's inadvertent exposure to online 
pornography--about how that kind of exposure may undermine their moral 
values and standards of decency. In these halls of Congress, we acted 
to protect our children by passing the Communications Decency Act, the 
Child Online Protection Act, and the Children's Internet Protection Act 
to shield children from exposure to sexually-explicit online content 
that is deemed harmful to minors. While we all agree that we need to 
protect our children from online pornography, we know very little about 
how to address even the most practical of questions such as how to 
prevent children from falling prey to adult strangers who approach them 
online. There are so many areas in which our understanding is 
preliminary at best, particularly in those areas that involve the 
effects of our newer digital media
  In order to ensure that we are doing our very best for our children, 
the behavioral and health recommendations and public policy decisions 
we make should be based on objective behavioral, social, and scientific 
research. Yet no Federal research agency has responsibility for 
oveseeing and setting a coherent media research agenda that can guide 
these policy decisions. Instead, federal agencies fund media research 
in a piecemeal fashion, resulting in a patch work quilt of findings. We 
can do better than that.
  The bill we are introducing today would remedy this problem. The 
CAMRA Act will provide an overarching view of media effects by 
establishing a program devoted to Children and Media within the Centers 
for Disease Control. This program of research, to be vetted by the 
National Academy of Sciences, will fund and energize a coherent program 
of research that illuminates the role of media in children's cognitive, 
social, emotional, physical, and behavioral development. The research 
will cover all forms of electronic media, including television, movies, 
DVDs, interactive video games, cell phones, and the Internet, and will 
encourage research involving children of all ages--even babies and 
toddlers. The bill also calls for a report to Congress about the 
effectiveness of this research program in filling this void in our 
knowledge base. In order to accomplish these goals, we are authorizing 
$90 million dollars to be phased in gradually across the next five 
years. The cost to our budget is minimal and can well result in 
significant savings in other budget areas.
  Our Nation values the positive, healthy development of our children. 
Our children live in the information age, and our country has one of 
the most powerful and sophisticated information technology systems in 
the world. While this system entertains them, it is not harmless 
entertainment. Media have the potential to facilitate the healthy 
growth of our children. They also have the potential to harm. We have a 
stake in finding out exactly what that role is. We have a 
responsibility to take action. Access to the knowledge that we need for 
informed decision-making requires us to make an investment: an 
investment in research, an investment in and for our children, an 
investment in our collective future. The benefits to our youth and our 
nation's families are immeasurable.
  By passing the Children and Media Research Advancement Act, we can 
advance knowledge and enhance the constructive effects of media while 
minimizing the negative ones. We can make future media policies that 
are grounded in a solid knowledge base. We can be proactive, rather 
than reactive. In so doing, we build a better nation for our youth, 
fostering the kinds of values that are the backbone of this great 
nation of ours, and we create a better foundation to guide future media 
policies about the digital experiences that pervade our children's 
daily lives.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1902

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Children and Media Research 
     Advancement Act'' or the ``CAMRA Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Congress has recognized the important role of 
     electronic media in children's lives when it passed the 
     Children's Television Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-437) and 
     the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-

[[Page 23390]]

     104), both of which documented public concerns about how 
     electronic media products influence children's development.
       (2) Congress has held hearings over the past several 
     decades to examine the impact of specific types of media 
     products such as violent television, movies, and video games 
     on children's and adolescents' health and development. These 
     hearings and other public discussions about the role of media 
     in children's and adolescents' development require behavioral 
     and social science research to inform the policy 
     deliberations.
       (3) There are important gaps in our knowledge about the 
     role of electronic media and in particular, the newer 
     interactive digital media, in children's and adolescents' 
     healthy development. The consequences of very early screen 
     usage by babies and toddlers on children's cognitive growth 
     are not yet understood, nor has a research base been 
     established on the psychological consequences of high 
     definition interactive media and other format differences for 
     child and adolescent viewers.
       (4) Studies have shown that children who primarily watch 
     educational shows on television during their preschool years 
     are significantly more successful in school 10 years later 
     even when critical contributors to the child's environment 
     are factored in, including their household income, parent's 
     education, and intelligence.
       (5) The early stages of childhood are a critical formative 
     period for development. Virtually every aspect of human 
     development is affected by the environments and experiences 
     that one encounters during his or her early childhood years, 
     and media exposure is an increasing part of every child's 
     social and physical environment.
       (6) As of the late 1990's, just before the National 
     Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded 5 
     studies on the role of sexual messages in the media on 
     children's and adolescents' sexual attitudes and sexual 
     practices, a review of research in this area found only 15 
     studies ever conducted in the United States on this topic, 
     even during a time of growing concerns about HIV infection.
       (7) In 2001, a National Academy of Sciences study group 
     charged with studying Internet pornography exposure on youth 
     found virtually no literature about how much children and 
     adolescents were exposed to Internet pornography or how such 
     content impacts their development.
       (8) In order to develop strategies that maximize the 
     positive and minimize the negative effects of each medium on 
     children's physical, cognitive, social, and emotional 
     development, it would be beneficial to develop a research 
     program that can track the media habits of young children and 
     their families over time using valid and reliable research 
     methods.
       (9) Research about the impact of the media on children and 
     adolescents is not presently supported through one primary 
     programmatic effort. The responsibility for directing the 
     research is distributed across disparate agencies in an 
     uncoordinated fashion, or is overlooked entirely. The lack of 
     any centralized organization for research minimizes the value 
     of the knowledge produced by individual studies. A more 
     productive approach for generating valuable findings about 
     the impact of the media on children and adolescents would be 
     to establish a single, well-coordinated research effort with 
     primary responsibility for directing the research agenda.
       (10) Due to the paucity of research about electronic media, 
     educators and others interested in implementing electronic 
     media literacy initiatives do not have the evidence needed to 
     design, implement, or assess the value of these efforts.
       (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to enable the 
     Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to--
       (1) examine the role and impact of electronic media in 
     children's and adolescents' cognitive, social, emotional, 
     physical, and behavioral development; and
       (2) provide for a report to Congress containing the 
     empirical evidence and other results produced by the research 
     funded through grants under this Act.

     SEC. 3. RESEARCH ON THE ROLE AND IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA 
                   IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS.

       Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 
     U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:

     ``SEC. 399O. RESEARCH ON THE ROLE AND IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC 
                   MEDIA IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AND 
                   ADOLESCENTS.

       ``(a) In General.--The Director of the Centers for Disease 
     Control and Prevention (referred to in this section as the 
     `Director') shall enter into appropriate arrangements with 
     the National Academy of Science in collaboration with the 
     Institute of Medicine to establish an independent panel of 
     experts to review, synthesize and report on research, theory, 
     and applications in the social, behavioral, and biological 
     sciences and to establish research priorities regarding the 
     positive and negative roles and impact of electronic media 
     use, including television, motion pictures, DVD's, 
     interactive video games, and the Internet, and exposure to 
     that content and medium on youth in the following core areas 
     of child and adolescent development:
       ``(1) Cognitive.--The role and impact of media use and 
     exposure in the development of children and adolescents 
     within such cognitive areas as language development, 
     attention span, problem solving skills (such as the ability 
     to conduct multiple tasks or `multitask'), visual and spatial 
     skills, reading, and other learning abilities.
       ``(2) Physical.--The role and impact of media use and 
     exposure on children's and adolescents' physical 
     coordination, diet, exercise, sleeping and eating routines, 
     and other areas of physical development.
       ``(3) Socio-behavioral.--The influence of interactive media 
     on children's and adolescents' family activities and peer 
     relationships, including indoor and outdoor play time, 
     interaction with parents, consumption habits, social 
     relationships, aggression, prosocial behavior, and other 
     patterns of development.
       ``(b) Pilot Projects.--During the first year in which the 
     National Academy of Sciences panel is summarizing the data 
     and creating a comprehensive research agenda in the children 
     and adolescents and media area under subsection (a), the 
     Secretary shall provide for the conduct of initial pilot 
     projects to supplement and inform the panel in its work. Such 
     pilot projects shall consider the role of media exposure on--
       ``(1) cognitive and social development during infancy and 
     early childhood; and
       ``(2) the development of childhood and adolescent obesity, 
     particularly as a function of media advertising and sedentary 
     lifestyles that may co-occur with heavy media diets.
       ``(c) Research Program.--Upon completion of the review 
     under subsection (a), the Director of the Centers for Disease 
     Control and Prevention shall develop and implement a program 
     that funds additional research determined to be necessary by 
     the panel under subsection (a) concerning the role and impact 
     of electronic media in the cognitive, physical, and socio-
     behavioral development of children and adolescents with a 
     particular focus on the impact of factors such as media 
     content, format, length of exposure, age of child or 
     adolescent, and nature of parental involvement. Such program 
     shall include extramural and intramural research and shall 
     support collaborative efforts to link such research to other 
     Department of Health and Human Services research 
     investigations on early child health and development.
       ``(d) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant 
     under this section, an entity shall--
       ``(1) prepare and submit to the Director an application at 
     such time, in such manner, and containing such information as 
     the Director may require; and
       ``(2) agree to use amounts received under the grant to 
     carry out activities that establish or implement a research 
     program relating to the effects of media on children and 
     adolescents pursuant to guidelines developed by the Director 
     relating to consultations with experts in the area of study.
       ``(e) Use of Funds Relating to the Media's Role in the Life 
     of a Child or Adolescent.--An entity shall use amounts 
     received under a grant under this section to conduct research 
     concerning the social, cognitive, emotional, physical, and 
     behavioral development of children or adolescents as related 
     to electronic mass media, including the areas of--
       ``(1) television;
       ``(2) motion pictures;
       ``(3) DVD's;
       ``(4) interactive video games;
       ``(5) the Internet; and
       ``(6) cell phones.
       ``(f) Reports.--
       ``(1) Report to director.--Not later than 12 months after 
     the date of enactment of this section, the panel under 
     subsection (a) shall submit the report required under such 
     subsection to the Director.
       ``(2) Report to congress.--Not later than December 31, 
     2011, the Director shall prepare and submit to the Committee 
     on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and 
     Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of 
     Representatives a report that--
       ``(A) summarizes the empirical evidence and other results 
     produced by the research under this section in a manner that 
     can be understood by the general public;
       ``(B) places the evidence in context with other evidence 
     and knowledge generated by the scientific community that 
     address the same or related topics; and
       ``(C) discusses the implications of the collective body of 
     scientific evidence and knowledge regarding the role and 
     impact of the media on children and adolescents, and makes 
     recommendations on how scientific evidence and knowledge may 
     be used to improve the healthy developmental and learning 
     capacities of children and adolescents.
       ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
     authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section--
       ``(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2006;
       ``(2) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2007;
       ``(3) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2008;
       ``(4) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and
       ``(5) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.''.

[[Page 23391]]



                          ____________________