Bart Stupak: “our Nation's families face a growing threat from the proliferation of child exploitation and pornography on the…”

“our Nation's families face a growing threat from the proliferation of child exploitation and pornography on the Internet. One in five children report having been sexually solicited on the Internet; 3.5 million pornographic images of children of American children are now estimated to be in circulation on the Internet. This is a rapidly growing problem and one which has already grown far beyond what most Americans are aware of. Last year alone, child pornography brought traffickers $20 billion in profits as compared to only $3 billion for legitimate Internet music sales. The Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on which I sit as the ranking member recently held hearings to highlight this growing threat. During the course of these hearings, members of the subcommittee had a chance to hear about the excellent work the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Cyber Crime Center is doing to combat child exploitation. Since the center was founded in 2003, less than 3 years ago, its work has resulted in arrests of over 7,500 child predators. The Cyber Crimes Center was funded at only $6 million last year, but has already been recognized as being at the forefront in fighting, in the fight against child exploitation and Internet crime. My amendment would add $5 billion to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement salaries and expenses which would be used by the Cyber Crimes Center to expand their operations.…”