[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 18 (Monday, May 5, 2003)]
[Pages 502-504]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the 
Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003

April 30, 2003

    Thanks a lot for the warm welcome, and welcome to the Rose Garden in 
the White House. What a beautiful day. I'm glad you all are here, and 
I'm pleased that you could join us on a day a vital piece of legislation 
becomes the law of the land.
    I appreciate the hard work of the Congress. I want to thank the 
Members of the Congress, the Senate, who are here and the Members of the 
House of Representatives who are here. I want to thank you all for your 
very hard work in getting this bill to my desk as quickly as you did.
    This law, the PROTECT Act of 2003, will greatly assist law 
enforcement in tracking criminals who would harm our children and will 
greatly help in rescuing the youngest victims of crime. With my 
signature, this new law will formally establish the Federal Government's 
role in the Amber Alert system and will make punishment for Federal 
crimes against children more severe.
    This law carries forward a fundamental responsibility of public 
officials at every level of government to do everything we can to 
protect the most vulnerable citizens from dangerous offenders who prey 
on them.
    I want to thank our Attorney General, John Ashcroft, for his 
leadership on this issue. He is strong. He is steady, and he will see to 
it that this law is executed in its fullest.
    I appreciate so very much Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, chairman of 
the House Judiciary Committee, who worked hard to make sure this bill 
encompassed a lot, that it fulfilled a lot, that it met the aspirations 
of those who are anxious to make sure our children are protected. 
Chairman, you did fine work. Thank you very much.
    I appreciate the members of your committee who are here today, and I 
appreciate the fact that chairman Senator Orrin Hatch is with us as 
well, who shepherded the bill through the United States Senate in record 
time. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your hard work as well.
    I appreciate my friend, the Governor of Connecticut, Johnny Rowland, 
being with us today. Johnny, thank you. Thank you for your concerns 
about the children of the State of Ohio--of Connecticut. The attorney 
general, Jerry Kilgore, is here from the Commonwealth of Virginia. 
Attorney General, thanks for coming. Of course it's always good to see 
the Mayor--the Mayor of Washington, DC, Anthony Williams. There are no 
potholes in front of the White House today. [Laughter] It's good to see 
you, Mr. Mayor.
    Also with us today are some families who understand better than most 
the need for this law. In your great suffering and loss, you have found 
the courage to come to the defense of all children. Because of you, this 
critical measure is now becoming law. Because of you, children and 
parents you may never

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meet will be spared from the harm and anguish your families have known. 
We are honored to have you all here today.
    When a child is reported missing, that case becomes the matter of 
the most intensive and focused efforts by law enforcement. Entire 
communities join in the search, and through unrelenting efforts, many 
children have been saved.
    Amber Alerts have become an increasingly important tool in rescuing 
kidnapped children, by quickly getting key information about the missing 
child and information about the suspect out into the public through 
radio broadcasts or highway signs or other means. An Amber Alert adds 
thousands of citizens to the search in the crucial early hours.
    At present, statewide Amber Alert systems exist in 41 States. The 
bill I will sign this afternoon authorizes matching grants to those and 
other States to help ensure that we have effective Amber Alerts wherever 
they are needed.
    Last year, at my direction, Attorney General John Ashcroft appointed 
an Amber Alert coordinator to oversee this nationwide effort. This new 
law formally establishes that position and empowers the coordinator to 
set clear and uniform voluntary standards for the use of Amber Alerts 
across our country.
    It is important to expand the Amber Alert systems so police and 
sheriffs' departments gain thousands or even millions of allies in the 
search for missing children. Every person who would think of abducting a 
child can know that a wide net will be cast. They may be found by a 
police cruiser or by the car right next to them on a highway. These 
criminals can know that any driver they pass could be the one that spots 
them and brings them to justice.
    This is exactly what happened last summer in California when several 
drivers heard an Amber Alert over the radio and soon passed a vehicle 
meeting the description they heard. Within hours, two teenage girls were 
rescued and their abductor cornered by the police. We're so happy these 
two young ladies are healthy and with us today, Tamara Brooks and 
Jacqueline Marris.
    Tamara's brother is somewhere around here. He showed me--guess what 
happened to him today? One, he brings his little sister to the White 
House, and secondly, today he was accepted to West Point. He's following 
in the footsteps of two older sisters.
    The new law also confronts an evil that is too often a cause of 
child abuse and abduction in America, the evil of child pornography. In 
the past, prosecutors have been hindered by not having all the tools 
needed to prosecute criminals who create child pornography. Under the 
PROTECT Act, we've seen images of children, even those created with 
computer technology, will now be illegal, giving prosecutors an 
important new tool. Obscene images of children, no matter how they are 
made, incite abuse, raise the dangers to children, and will not be 
tolerated in America.
    The new law will also strengthen Federal penalties for child 
kidnaping and other crimes against the young. Judges will now have the 
authority to require longer supervision of sex offenders who are 
released from prison. And certain repeat sex offenders in our society 
will now face life behind bars, so they can never do harm again.
    In addition, this law creates important pilot programs to help 
nonprofit organizations which deal with children to obtain quick and 
complete criminal background information on volunteers. Listen, 
mentoring programs are essential for our country, and we must make sure 
they are safe for the children they serve.
    Amber Hagerman, whose mom is with us today--a good Texan, I might 
add--was 9 years old when she was taken away from her parents. We are 
acting today in her memory and in the memory of so many other girls and 
boys who lost their lives in innocence and acts of cruelty.
    No child should ever have to experience the terror of abduction, or 
worse. No family should ever have to endure the nightmare of losing a 
child. Our Nation grieves with every family that has suffered unbearable 
loss. And our Nation will fight threats against our children.
    This law marks important progress in the protection of America's 
children. And now it is my honor to sign the PROTECT Act of 2003.

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Note: The President spoke at 2 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Marcus Brooks, brother of Tamara 
Brooks; and Donna Norris, mother of Amber Hagerman. S. 151, approved 
April 30, was assigned Public Law No. 108-21. The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.