[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5611-5614]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    RECOVERING MISSING CHILDREN ACT

  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3209) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit 
the disclosure of certain tax return information for the purpose of 
missing or exploited children investigations, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3209

       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 ``Recovering Missing Children 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN RETURN INFORMATION RELATING TO 
                   MISSING OR EXPLOITED CHILDREN INVESTIGATIONS.

       (a) In General.--Section 6103(i)(1) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``or pertaining to the case of a missing 
     or exploited child,'' after ``may be a party,'' in 
     subparagraph (A)(i),
       (2) by inserting ``or to such a case of a missing or 
     exploited child,'' after ``may be a party,'' in subparagraph 
     (A)(iii), and
       (3) by inserting ``(or any criminal investigation or 
     proceeding, in the case of a matter relating to a missing or 
     exploited child)'' after ``concerning such act'' in 
     subparagraph (B)(iii).
       (b) Disclosure to State and Local Law Enforcement 
     Agencies.--
       (1) In general.--Section 6103(i)(1) of the Internal Revenue 
     Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following 
     new subparagraph:
       ``(C) Disclosure to state and local law enforcement 
     agencies in the case of matters pertaining to a missing or 
     exploited child.--
       ``(i) In general.--In the case of an investigation 
     pertaining to a missing or exploited child, the head of any 
     Federal agency, or his designee, may disclose any return or 
     return information obtained under subparagraph (A) to 
     officers and employees of any State or local law enforcement 
     agency, but only if--

       ``(I) such State or local law enforcement agency is part of 
     a team with the Federal agency in such investigation, and
       ``(II) such information is disclosed only to such officers 
     and employees who are personally and directly engaged in such 
     investigation.

       ``(ii) Limitation on use of information.--Information 
     disclosed under this subparagraph shall be solely for the use 
     of such officers and employees in locating the missing child, 
     in a grand jury proceeding, or in any preparation for, or 
     investigation which may result in, a judicial or 
     administrative proceeding.
       ``(iii) Missing child.--For purposes of this subparagraph, 
     the term `missing child' shall have the meaning given such 
     term by section 403 of the Missing Children's Assistance Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 5772).
       ``(iv) Exploited child.--For purposes of this subparagraph, 
     the term `exploited child' means a minor with respect to whom 
     there is reason to believe that a specified offense against a 
     minor (as defined by section 111(7) of the Sex Offender 
     Registration and Notification Act (42 U.S.C. 16911(7))) has 
     or is occurring.''.
       (2) Conforming amendments.--
       (A) Section 6103(a)(2) of such Code is amended by striking 
     ``subsection (i)(7)(A)'' and inserting ``subsection (i)(1)(C) 
     or (7)(A)''.
       (B) Section 6103(p)(4) of such Code is amended by striking 
     ``(i)(3)(B)(i)'' in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) and 
     inserting ``(i)(1)(C), (3)(B)(i),''.
       (C) Section 7213(a)(2) of such Code is amended by striking 
     ``(i)(3)(B)(i)'' and inserting ``(i)(1)(C), (3)(B)(i),''.
       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall apply to disclosures made after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Pascrell) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota.


                             General Leave

  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include extraneous material on H.R. 3209, currently under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Minnesota?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker and Members, this week we have thousands of members of 
the law enforcement community here in Washington to celebrate Police 
Week.
  Every day police officers throughout our country wear the uniform 
with pride, and they understand the tremendous responsibility that 
comes with it, putting the safety of others before the safety of 
themselves.
  They protect us, they protect our families, and they protect our 
neighborhoods. We owe it to these police officers to give them every 
reasonable tool possible to solve crimes and keep our communities safe.
  Unfortunately, police officers are currently being denied a critical 
resource when it comes to solving child abduction and missing children 
cases. While many may picture the perpetrators of these crimes as 
strangers, the reality is actually very difficult to fathom, and that 
is because every year there are more than 200,000 cases of children 
that are abducted by a parent or a relative.
  The psychological and emotional damage inflicted on a child in these 
cases can be devastating. Abducted children often are moved from city 
to city and prohibited from going to school or participating in youth 
activities due to a fear by the perpetrator of being caught. Many of 
these children are told that the parent that they are separated from is 
dead or no longer wants them.
  Statistics show that an abducted child is at a higher risk for 
physical abuse, and some psychologists believe that family abduction is 
one of the most devastating forms of child abuse.
  Here is the opportunity, Mr. Speaker. Research shows that, in a 
significant number of child abductions, the perpetrator will file a tax 
return using this

[[Page 5612]]

child's Social Security number, providing a current address, and a 
potential case-breaking discovery.
  One report found that as many as 46 percent of these cases could be 
solved if law enforcement had access to this information. While this 
type of critical tax information can be accessed to solve other serious 
crimes, current law does not allow police officers to access Federal 
tax records to help them find an abducted child. Without such a 
valuable tool, it could be very difficult for law enforcement to solve 
these cases when the suspect has left the area and has taken action to 
conceal their new location.
  The bipartisan Recovering Missing Children Act will allow 
investigators to access this critical information and reunite families. 
This is a commonsense fix that fills the information gap, potentially 
solving thousands of cases and saving lives.
  It is endorsed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Sergeants Benevolent 
Association, the National Association of Police Officers, the Major 
County Sheriffs' Association, and the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
  Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record two letters in support of H.R. 
3209.

                                                    April 7, 2016.
     Hon. Kevin Brady,
     Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Sander Levin,
     Ranking Member, Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman & Representative Levin: On behalf of the 
     undersigned organizations, we write to advise you of our 
     strong support for H.R. 3209, the ``Recovering Missing 
     Children Act,'' and to request that the Committee consider 
     and mark up this legislation at the earliest possible 
     opportunity.
       The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 
     reports that more than 200,000 children are abducted by their 
     parents or other close relatives every year. According to 
     findings from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax 
     Administration, however, new addresses for these missing 
     children can be identified as often as 46 percent of the time 
     through analysis of taxes subsequently filed using either the 
     suspected perpetrator's or the missing child's Social 
     Security Number. Unfortunately, despite the value that this 
     evidence would have in combating child abductions, the IRS is 
     currently constrained from providing the relevant tax 
     information to law enforcement.
       To the extent that law enforcement needs access to every 
     available tool to aid in the swift recovery of missing 
     children, H.R. 3209 would solve this problem by filling the 
     information gap. Specifically, the bill would amend current 
     law to add the case of a missing child to the list of 
     exceptions that allow the IRS to release tax return 
     information to law enforcement. Given the sensitivity of 
     taxpayer data, the bill would limit the disclosure of 
     relevant tax information solely to those law enforcement 
     officers who are engaged in the recovery of a missing child 
     or the subsequent investigation and prosecution of the 
     alleged abductor. As a result, we believe the ``Recovering 
     Missing Children Act'' strikes the proper balance between 
     protecting taxpayer privacy and facilitating the ability of 
     law enforcement to reunite missing children with their 
     families.
       H.R. 3209 represents a commonsense solution to the 
     unintended consequences of laws protecting taxpayer 
     information that is limited to specific scenarios of child 
     abduction. On behalf of our organizations and the men and 
     women of law enforcement that we are proud to represent, we 
     therefore stand ready to work with you and the other Members 
     of the Committee to advance the ``Recovering Missing Children 
     Act'' as expeditiously as possible.
           Sincerely,
     Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association;
     Fraternal Order of Police;
     International Association of Chiefs of Police;
     Major Cities Chiefs Association;
     Major County Sheriffs' Association;
     National Association of Police Organizations;
     National Narcotic Officers' Associations' Coalition;
     Sergeants Benevolent Association NYPD.
                                  ____

                                     National Center for Missing &


                                           Exploited Children,

                                 Alexandria, VA, January 12, 2016.
     Hon. Erik Paulsen,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Paulsen: On behalf of the National 
     Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the 
     families and children we serve, I am writing to express our 
     support for your legislation, the Recovering Missing Children 
     Act (H.R. 3209). This bill provides law enforcement with an 
     additional tool in their search for missing and exploited 
     children.
       As you know, NCMEC was created as a private, non-profit 
     organization in 1984 and designated by Congress to serve as 
     the national clearinghouse on issues related to missing and 
     exploited children. NCMEC provides services to families, 
     private industry, law enforcement, victims, and the general 
     public to assist in the prevention of child abductions, the 
     recovery of missing children, and the provision of services 
     to combat child sexual exploitation. NCMEC performs 22 
     functions, including those related to assisting law 
     enforcement, families, and others regarding family 
     abductions.
       Child abduction by a parent is a crime under both federal 
     and state law. These children suffer emotional abuse, 
     including lack of identity and grief over the loss of a 
     parent. The abductor may give the child a false explanation 
     for the abduction and/or indicate that the searching parent 
     no longer wants the child. Abductors who move the child 
     between cities, or between countries, make it difficult for 
     law enforcement and the searching parent to locate and 
     recover the child.
       In order to ensure that law enforcement has access to 
     information that could lead to the recovery of a missing or 
     exploited child, we believe the Internal Revenue Service 
     (IRS) database is one resource that could provide key 
     information to help law enforcement. A 2007 study by the 
     Department of Treasury Inspector General for Tax 
     Administration (TIGTA) confirmed that the IRS database 
     contains information that could help law enforcement 
     investigating these cases. For example, according to the 
     study, addresses that were different from those where the 
     children and/or alleged abductors lived at the time of the 
     abductions were found for 46% of the missing children (237 
     out of 520) and 34% of the alleged abductors (104 out of 
     305). Thus, making it apparent that IRS information could 
     help law enforcement investigating cases involving missing 
     and exploited children.
       The current framework of the Internal Revenue Code makes it 
     very difficult, and often impossible, for federal law 
     enforcement investigating missing child cases to use the 
     exceptions from Section 6103 to access IRS information.
       A clarification in the law is necessary to ensure the 
     disclosure of IRS data that could lead to the recovery of a 
     missing or exploited child. As such, we believe the 
     legislation you have sponsored--the Recovering Missing 
     Children Act--could enhance law enforcement's ability to 
     locate missing and exploited children.
       NCMEC is proud to lend our support to this important 
     legislation and we are grateful for your dedication to the 
     safety of our nation's children.
           Sincerely,
                                                    John F. Clark,
                                                President and CEO.

  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Representative Joe 
Courtney, for his leadership and bipartisan advocacy on this issue.
  I also thank my friend, Mr. Pascrell, who is on the Ways and Means 
Committee, for his leadership, along with Congressman Reichert, who is 
a member of the Law Enforcement Caucus, for getting behind this 
legislation, showing again that both parties can work together on 
meaningful legislation that improves the lives of American families.
  As we prepare for the National Missing Children's Day coming up on 
May 25, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill today so we can 
give investigators the tools that they need to crack the case and bring 
a missing child home.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I am proud to be a cosponsor of H.R. 3209, the Recovering Missing 
Children Act. I thank my friend, Representative Erik Paulsen, for 
introducing it. It is strong, it is reasonable, and it is the right 
thing to do. Representative Joe Courtney has waited and worked for this 
legislation for a long time.
  As a father and a grandfather, I can't even begin to imagine what 
parents go through in the event their child goes missing. I can't 
imagine it. I really can't. And I certainly can't imagine hearing that 
law enforcement is handicapped in its ability to do everything possible 
to help bring their child back.
  Mr. Speaker, there are 200,000 kids that are abducted by a family 
member every year. That is something for another day perhaps, but it is 
part of this problem here.

[[Page 5613]]

  In 2007, a study by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax 
Administration, TIGTA--we use that term a lot in the Ways and Means 
Committee--found that tax return information could be helpful in many 
cases involving missing children.
  TIGTA reviewed whether IRS data would show addresses for persons 
claiming tax benefits with respect to those missing children after the 
time of the abduction or their suspected abductors. That sounds pretty 
bizarre, but that is happening.
  TIGTA looked at 520 missing children's cases and found that the IRS 
data showed new addresses for 46 percent of the cases. Similarly, IRS 
data showed new addresses for 34 percent of suspected abductors.
  Federal law rightly prohibits the IRS from disclosing confidential 
taxpayer information except in a limited number of exceptions. For 
example, this information may be released to Federal Government 
employees if ordered by a Federal judge in preparation for a nontax-
related criminal prosecution.
  H.R. 3209 would add criminal investigations related to missing or 
exploited children as one of these exceptions. We should be thankful to 
the author of this legislation because this is a critical exception 
that should have been done a long time ago.
  The bill would also allow this information to be released to State 
and local law enforcement officials who are working with the Federal 
agency in its missing or exploited child investigation.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Reichert), who has long been an advocate for law 
enforcement and has always been on the front lines helping law 
enforcement with their initiatives and helping victims.
  Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank both Mr. Paulsen and Mr. Pascrell 
for their support and for the energy and the effort they put behind 
this legislation.
  As I was sitting here waiting for my turn to speak, I was thinking to 
myself that I will be 66 years old here in a few weeks. So half of my 
life, 33 years, was in law enforcement. It kind of stunned me for a 
second.

                              {time}  1815

  I have been in Congress now 11\1/2\ years. I have found that there 
are some very, very good friends here in Congress who support law 
enforcement. This is not a partisan issue. Mr. Pascrell and I have been 
great partners as co-chairs of the Law Enforcement Caucus, and he is a 
valiant fighter for law enforcement, firefighters, all first 
responders. We make a great team. As you can see, there are others who 
have joined us here today.
  In my 33 years, Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity to work on 
patrol, to search for kids in that moment in time where you get a call 
to a shopping mall and a mother has turned her head for a minute or a 
father has just let go of the hand of the child for a second and turned 
around and the child is gone. You can just see the panic in their eyes 
and the fear in their face. But a few minutes later, they are found 
wandering around in a toy shop or hiding somewhere, playing hide-and-
seek, and they have their child back within minutes.
  But, Mr. Speaker, there are other families that aren't so fortunate, 
that I have had the honor of meeting, where their child had been 
missing for years. Some are fortunate enough, Mr. Speaker, to get their 
child back. I have been at the other end of that, where you search and 
you find. I found a young man up in the mountains of Alaska who had 
been taken by his father and whisked away in an old camper and hidden 
in the mountains of Alaska. We found him safe and returned him to his 
mom.
  Mr. Speaker, I have also had the sad experience of finding a missing 
child dead. I have had to be the one who went to the home and notified 
the mom and dad: We found Cindy, but she is not alive. Someone killed 
her.
  These are tough cases. When I was working these cases, I would say to 
the family: We are going to get your child back, and we will find the 
person responsible for taking your child. When I was a detective, I 
said the same thing: We are going to be tough, and we will find them.
  Today, with this Federal legislation, we are even saying it in 
stronger words. Now the local law enforcement agencies have the power 
of the Federal Government. That information that we needed back in the 
day when I was an officer on the street or a detective on the street, I 
didn't have. But today we are going to give them that power and 
authority.
  The message today is: those who take children from their homes, those 
who take children off the streets, we will find you--we will find you--
because I don't want police officers knocking on a door and telling a 
parent that their child won't be coming home.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the 
gentleman.
  Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, when I was a detective on the Green River 
Task Force, we solved over 2,000 cases of missing women, young women, 
and girls over that period of time. We solved 51 murders, and we worked 
closely with the families. Those detectives who went home every night 
did not go home and stop thinking about these cases. I know that every 
one of those detectives and every one of the families involved in that 
investigation today appreciate the action of Mr. Paulsen, Mr. Pascrell, 
and all those who support this bill.
  I know families that actually kept their child's bedroom exactly the 
way it was the day they went missing, for 5 or 6 years. They didn't 
change a thing because they always have hope. They always have hope 
that their daughter or their son will be coming home, until the day 
that door gets a knock and the officer arrives and says: We found 
little Johnny, or, Little Johnny won't be coming home.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone to support this legislation. I 
appreciate so much the action by everyone involved in bringing this 
forward.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Courtney). He has worked very hard on this issue for a 
very, very long time.
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Pascrell for yielding time, 
and I thank my good friend and colleague Erik Paulsen for his great 
work in getting us to this point today where finally we are going to 
move this measure forward.
  It is almost 5 years to the day that Mr. Paulsen and I introduced 
this legislation, along with a number of others, in 2011, to deal with 
this really, just almost inexplicable anomaly in the law which 
basically says that one arm of the government--the IRS--can actually 
know the whereabouts of a missing child but can't share that 
information with another arm of government--namely, State and local law 
enforcement--which, in most cases, almost 100 percent of cases 
involving missing children, is the level of government that actually 
deals with the investigation and attempts to recover children.
  So you have a situation where you have got all these resources and 
efforts happening at the State and local level scurrying around, trying 
to find leads for abducted children, yet the government is sitting on 
information in terms of tax returns that were filed with the Social 
Security number of the child who is missing or the suspected abductor, 
and the two levels of government can't talk to each other.
  This legislation will break down that barrier and allow, again, 
timely information to be shared for the thousands of children, which we 
know from data that the missing children foundation and other law 
enforcement groups have been sharing with Congress over a number of 
years.
  So again, as was said earlier, the data is astonishing: 200,000 
abductions are reported each year; 12,000 tend to last longer than 6 
months. In 2007, the Treasury Department looked at 1,700 Social 
Security numbers of missing kids and found that, as Mr. Pascrell

[[Page 5614]]

said, over a third had been used in returns after the abduction.
  For some it is really kind of hard to imagine how an abducting 
relative or even stranger could have the nerve to file a tax return and 
claim the Social Security and child exemption for the child that they 
have in their possession, but the data shows that, in fact, that 
happens. It may be because they are anxious to get the refund; it may 
be because they don't want to be violating a second set of laws in 
terms of not filing a tax return. But the fact of the matter is that 
there are thousands of children that the government knows their 
whereabouts, and this law will allow that information to be shared. For 
every family that will benefit from it, it really is just an amazing 
opportunity for us to really relieve the stress and pain that these 
horrible cases inflict year in and year out.
  As I said, it took 5 years. We have a great coalition of outside 
groups that are supporting it. As Calvin Coolidge once said: ``Nothing 
in the world can take the place of persistence . . . The slogan `Press 
On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.'' 
This, I think, is an example of it. It took 5 long years, but the House 
is now poised to move forward on H.R. 3209, Recovering Missing Children 
Act, and again we want to get swift passage and move this through the 
Senate and to the President's desk so that we can, again, provide a lot 
of relief and solace to families that are anxiously looking for their 
loved ones.
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, having no other speakers, I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
close.
  When Mr. Reichert said before that we will track you down and find 
you, he meant it, because he was on many a chase in his 33 years in law 
enforcement, and he always gave special attention to those that 
involved children.
  I want to congratulate Representative Paulsen. Most of the time, 
almost all the time, he always provides a reasonable resolution to 
problems. I mean that.
  I know that we simply cannot have information at our fingertips that 
can help bring an abducted child home and not allow law enforcement to 
use it. Allowing law enforcement to use information that can help 
locate missing and abducted children is a no-brainer. We need to 
establish a system that protects taxpayers' privacy but also allows law 
enforcement to do its job. This bill does just that.
  I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation. It has 
been a good, bipartisan few hours.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. PAULSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I won't go on too much longer. We have had great 
testimony and offerings today by folks who have been working in a very 
bipartisan way on a very key component that has been around for 5 years 
but will absolutely make a difference in solving missing child 
abduction cases. It is common sense, it is bipartisan, and most 
importantly, it will help reunite families with missing children.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3209, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________