[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 13287]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 THE MISSING CHILDREN'S ASSISTANCE ACT

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I am pleased to be an original 
cosponsor of the Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 
2013.
  This bill will reauthorize the efforts of the National Center for 
Missing and Exploited Children. This legislation will ensure that NCMEC 
will continue to be able to receive reports of missing children for law 
enforcement, provide DNA analysis to locate missing children, partner 
with the FBI and Department of Justice to combat child sex trafficking, 
fight child pornography. NCMEC also should be allowed to continue to 
perform its role as the congressionally-authorized national 
clearinghouse to assist missing and exploited children, working with 
agents from the FBI, Secret Service, Marshals Service, Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement, the Postal Inspection Service, and the Naval 
Criminal Investigative Services.
  There is a greater need than ever before for transparency and 
accountability when taxpayer moneys are granted to private, nonprofit, 
and other governmental agencies. I am pleased that the bill contains 
the accountability measures that I demand for all grants that are 
awarded by the Department of Justice. These include two audits of NCMEC 
use of these funds over the life of the reauthorization, penalties for 
misuse of funds, prohibition on receipt of funds by an organization 
that holds offshore accounts to avoid taxes, limitations on conference 
expenditures, and prohibition of the use of taxpayer funds to lobby for 
grant funding. These provisions will ensure that taxpayers can have 
confidence that their money will be used properly and for public 
purposes.
  NCMEC performs important services to combat terrible crimes against 
vulnerable victims. With the inclusion of transparency and 
accountability safeguards, I look forward to the enactment of this 
legislation in advance of the expiration of the current authorization.

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