[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9362-9363]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    RECOVERING MISSING CHILDREN ACT

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the Recovering Missing 
Children Act. This bill provides law enforcement with an important tool 
to help find missing or exploited children.
  Each year more than 200,000 children are abducted by their parents or 
other close relatives, according to the National Center for Missing & 
Exploited Children. In many of these cases, the IRS has information 
that could aid law enforcement in locating a child who has been 
abducted by a family member.
  A study by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration 
found that in more than a third of the cases reviewed, the IRS has tax 
returns on file which used the Social Security number of a missing 
child. Of those, 46 percent had a new address on file, for a 13.4-
percent total. However, the IRS cannot share this protected, 
confidential information with law enforcement officials since the Tax 
Code prevents the IRS from sharing the information unless specifically 
authorized as an exception to nondisclosure.
  Senator Enzi and Senator Klobuchar and I have introduced bipartisan 
legislation, the Recovering Missing Children Act, to aid in the 
recovery of missing children by providing a new tool to help law 
enforcement officials locate missing children and their alleged 
abductors. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit the 
disclosure of relevant tax information explicitly for the purpose of 
aiding criminal investigations into missing or exploited children. 
Specifically, the act ensures that select taxpayer information will 
only be released to law enforcement officials as part of a legitimate 
investigation or a judicial proceeding under the orders of a Federal 
judge.
  The act amends the law to allow for Federal law enforcement to share 
information on a limited basis with State and local law enforcement 
that are part of the team directly involved in investigating and 
prosecuting such cases. Many investigations into missing and exploited 
children are conducted at the State and local level.
  The act provides a commonsense fix that maintains an existing balance 
between taxpayer privacy and judicious release of information that will 
make a meaningful difference to a child's safety. For the families who 
are affected, the reality that their child is missing is devastating. 
If there is a step we can take to increase the likelihood that the 
missing child will be returned home, then we have an obligation to act. 
This is such a step.
  I proudly have worked with both Senators Klobuchar and Enzi on this 
important issue since 2011, and I am glad to have the endorsement of 
both the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the 
National Association of Police Organizations.
  If the provisions in this bill can bring one child back to their 
rightful families safe and sound, it is worth it. This will assist 
those who have been searching and spending sleepless nights worried 
about their missing children and do it in a way that doesn't undermine 
Americans' privacy.
  With that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3209 and the 
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A 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.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. CASEY. I further ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a 
third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made 
and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?

[[Page 9363]]

  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 3209) was ordered to a third reading, was read the 
third time, and passed.
  Mr. CASEY. Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I wish to congratulate all who have worked 
on this bill but particularly Senator Casey's leadership and Senator 
Klobuchar's leadership on this issue that just passed.
  Here is a terrible thought: Every year, thousands of children are 
abducted and taken away from their homes. This bill provides new tools 
to connect missing and exploited children with their families, while 
also respecting important and appropriate safeguards of taxpayer 
privacy.
  Senators Casey, Klobuchar, and I have worked together on this matter 
for several years. We worked with outside groups such as the National 
Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the National Association of 
Police Organizations, and we are proud that both organizations have 
endorsed this legislation.
  With new tools and better collaboration between Federal and State 
authorities, law enforcement agencies can send a strong signal to those 
who are perpetrating this type of crime. I hope this act will help law 
enforcement officials solve these cases more quickly for the benefit of 
the youth who have been exploited.
  I yield the floor to my colleague from Minnesota.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I am proud to join my colleagues 
Senator Casey from Pennsylvania and Senator Enzi from Wyoming to speak 
in support of our bipartisan legislation, the Recovering Missing 
Children Act, something we have been working on for so long.
  I remember hearing about this in a Judiciary Committee hearing and 
learning about the surprising number of cases that can be solved when 
this information from the IRS is shared with law enforcement. It sounds 
almost absurd that information is sitting in government files of where 
a child who has been abducted is living, but in fact it is. Oftentimes 
the abductor claims the child on taxes or has their address on their 
taxes and it is as easy as looking at a file. A family can be reunited, 
and a child who wasn't supposed to be taken from their home can be 
brought back to their home.
  As my colleagues have noted, our bill would give law enforcement 
officers important tools to solve some of the most heartbreaking cases. 
To accomplish this, the bill will offer information sharing by Federal 
law enforcement officers on a limited basis. It was something we 
discussed at length in the Judiciary Committee, and I know we also 
discussed it in the Finance Committee with the State and local law 
enforcement officials who are involved in the investigation and 
prosecution of a case. Under current law, the IRS is barred from 
sharing its taxpayer information with local law enforcement, even 
though in many cases the IRS actually has the location of the child. 
Imagine a hardworking local police officer out trying to find a kid, 
looking everywhere, following up on every lead, and our own government 
has the information in their files. This is a narrow exception that 
allows this information to be shared.
  As a former prosecutor, I know firsthand that returning missing 
children to their families is one of the most important tasks law 
enforcement officers have, and they need every resource available to do 
their job. The faster law enforcement can locate the child, the greater 
the likelihood the child can be returned to their family unharmed, and 
they can go on to live a normal life.
  I do want to mention one person who has been someone I talk to about 
missing and exploited children issues, and that is Patty Wetterling 
from the State of Minnesota. There was a horrible case in which her son 
Jacob was abducted years and years ago and never found. She served as 
the chair on the board of the missing and exploited children group. She 
has done so much work nationally and locally. While we don't believe 
this would have helped in Jacob's case, she did it for all those other 
children who are still out there. So this one is for you, Patty. Thank 
you.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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