Judiciary Committee Passes Bill To Reauthorize Funding
For National Center For Missing And Exploited Children

 

Leahy-Hatch Legislation Authorizes Funding For Critical National Center

 

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007) – The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday unanimously reported legislation sponsored by Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Committee member Orrin Hatch (R- Utah) to reauthorize funding for the nation’s premier center for the protection and rescue of missing and exploited children.  The bipartisan Protect Our Children First Act was introduced in July by Leahy and Hatch.

 

The bill reauthorizes funding for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which is slated to expire in 2008.  Leahy and Hatch have been longtime advocates for the NCMEC, and in 2003 sponsored legislation to keep the Center funded.  The Center has worked on more than 127,700 cases since it opened in 1984, and has helped rescue more than 110,200 children.  The Center is funded under the Department of Justice, and works in conjunction with DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 

 

“The Department of Justice estimates that more than 2,000 children are reported missing every day,” said Leahy.  “A central responsibility of our government is to protect its citizens, and particularly its children.  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has worked effectively to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens.  I have worked with Senator Hatch over the years to ensure that this important Center receives the necessary support to continue its operations, and I hope the Senate will quickly pass this vital legislation.”

 

“With the dangers of online predators, children are subject to threats nowadays that we never could have imagined when we first founded the National Center,” Hatch said. “The goals and activities of this great organization are a critical line of defense in protecting those who otherwise cannot defend themselves. I appreciate Senator Leahy’s leadership and his bipartisanship on this issue and look forward to celebrating this bill’s final passage with him when Congress eventually gets it to President Bush’s desk.”

 

The Protect Our Children First Act will reauthorize NCMEC through 2013, and makes several improvements to the Center’s ability to collaborate with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies by:

• Providing analytical and technical support to assist law enforcement agencies in searching public databases to identify missing children and to locate abductors;
• Facilitating the deployment of the National Emergency Child Locator Center to assist in locating children in times of natural disasters;
• Tracking the incidence of attempted child abductions to report any links or patterns to law enforcement agencies.

 

The Committee Thursday also unanimously approved two additional pieces of legislation to protect children from predators, the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual (KIDS) Predators Act and the Internet Safety Education Act.

 

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Statement Of Chairman Patrick Leahy

On S. 1829, The Protect Our Children First Act Of 2007,

Senate Judiciary Committee, Executive Business Meeting

December 13, 2007

 

Today we consider three important pieces of child safety legislation.  We can all agree that we should do everything we can to protect our children from being victimized by predators.  I am pleased that we have before us three bills that take important steps toward this goal: the Protect Our Children First Act, the Internet Safety Education Act, and the KIDS Act. 

 

I am delighted that Senator Hatch agreed to join with me as the lead cosponsor to introduce the Protect Our Children First Act, which reauthorizes the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  Senator Hatch and I have worked together many times over the years on legislation to protect the safety and welfare of our children, and I thank him for his continued leadership.  I am disappointed that we could not pass this bipartisan, consensus bill out of Committee last week because of an anonymous hold, but I am pleased that we can move it today.

 

It pains us all to see on TV and in the newspapers photo after photo of missing children from all around our country.  As a father and grandfather, I can imagine that an abducted child is any parent’s worst nightmare.  Unfortunately, it is a nightmare that happens all too often.  Indeed, the Justice Department estimates that 2,200 children are reported missing each day.  There are approximately 114,600 attempted stranger abductions every year, with 3,000 to 5,000 of those attempts succeeding.  These families deserve the assistance of the American people and a helping hand from Congress and from federal agencies.

 

As the Nation's top resource center for child protection, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children spearheads national efforts to locate and recover missing children and raises public awareness about ways to prevent child abduction, molestation and sexual exploitation.  Further, NCMEC works to make our children safer by acting as a national voice and advocate for those too young to vote or speak up for their own rights. 

 

The Center operates under a congressional mandate and works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to coordinate the efforts of law enforcement officers, social service agencies, elected officials, judges, prosecutors, educators, the United States Marshals Service, and the public and private sectors to break the cycle of violence that historically has perpetuated these needless crimes against children.  Child advocates like John Walsh, who was supportive of the Congress’s work to enact the National Center’s charter, also continue to support the Center’s vital mission.  

  

The Center's professionals have busy jobs.  They have worked on more than 127,700 cases of missing and exploited children since its 1984 founding, helping to recover more than 110,200 children.  The Center raised its recovery rate from 64 percent in the 1990s to 96 percent today.  It has set up a nationwide, toll free, 24-hour telephone hotline to take reports about missing children and clues that might lead to their recovery, a National Child Pornography Tipline to handle calls from individuals reporting the sexual exploitation of children through the production and distribution of pornography, and a CyberTipline to process online leads from individuals reporting the sexual exploitation of children.  The Center has taken the lead in circulating millions of photographs of missing children, and it serves as a vital resource for the 17,000 law enforcement agencies located throughout the Nation in the search for missing children and in the pursuit of adequate child protection.

 

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children manages to do all of this good work with an annual DOJ grant, which is set to expire after fiscal year 2008.  We must act now to extend its authorization so that it can continue to help keep children safe and families intact around our Nation.    

 

The Internet Safety and Education Act recently introduced by Senator Menendez also makes important strides in teaching our children about internet safety.  The grant program created under this bill will give educators and parents the tools necessary to teach proper online interactions and promote safe Internet usage to their students and children in an age-appropriate manner.  At a time when more and more youth are using the Internet to communicate, it is essential that we utilize programs that teach our children how to use the Internet safely.

 

I have also been glad to work with Senator Schumer on the KIDS Act.  He has worked in good faith to make improvements to the bill and I appreciate all he has done on the legislation.  I look forward to consideration of this bill and the other important child protection bills on the Agenda this week.