Political Quotes

“To close. Mr. Speaker, first, we need to make clear that this bill does not expand law to go after teenagers for sexting. Under present law, technically, such changes may be possible. However, we know of no instance where the Department of Justice has pursued such cases. When these bills were initially passed, the press falsely claimed that they would make it possible for DOJ to go after teen sexting. This is completely reckless journalism. Apparently, these journalists did not participate in any sort of fact checking, which would have merely consisted of opening a U.S. Criminal Code book. They also continually cite State cases as examples of Federal prosecutors acting aggressively, which is similarly extremely misleading. If our friends across the aisle would like to draw our attention to any cases where the Federal Government prosecuted consensual teen sexting, we would be happy to look at them. Last year, we offered to work on a provision to provide an affirmative defense in this chapter of the code, despite no evidence that it is necessary, but we were not taken up on our offer. {time} 1945 None of these bills, Mr. Speaker, create new mandatory minimum sentences. Instead, they modify the existing statutory framework to ensure the existing enhancements are applied equitably and to close certain loopholes. Some of the conduct covered is modestly expanded, but that is done commensurate with the crime.…”