Political Quotes

“Madam President, I thank the majority leader for moving ahead on S. 295, which we call the Amy and Vicky Act. The need for this bill arises because of the Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision last year in Paroline v. United States. The Court at that time limited the recovery that a victim of a child pornography offense could receive, even as additional wrongdoers saw her image as it was repeatedly posted on the Internet. Rather than making the offender provide restitution for all the harms caused by the repeated viewings, the Supreme Court limited the recovery against any one defendant to the relative harm that defendant caused. This bill will expand the categories of loss for which the victim could recover. It would reverse, then, the Supreme Court by permitting the victim to recover up to the full loss from any one defendant, subject to a minimum amount, depending upon the defendant's conduct. No longer, then, would the victim receive restitution from each defendant limited to that defendant's own actions. Each defendant would be jointly and severally liable for the victim's entire loss. The bill sets up a contribution procedure for those defendants, which then would make the victim whole. Of course, that is the main point. The choice is between the convicted child pornography offender being held responsible for the full loss and the innocent victim not receiving full compensation.…”