John Tierney: “I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the essence of this provision is included in the Democratic…”

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the essence of this provision is included in the Democratic substitute amendment that Mr. Miller is offering with the intent of protecting children's safety in all the schools throughout the country. Mr. Miller wants to thank the gentleman for joining the Democrats in this effort. Congressman Fitzpatrick's amendment would require all schools to conduct comprehensive background checks for all of their employees, including FBI fingerprint checks, State criminal records, child abuse registries, and the National Sex Offender Registry. The amendment also includes a critical provision that denies Federal funds to schools from employing any individual who is found by these checks to be a potential danger to children. Schools would also lose Federal funds if they transfer such employee to another school, which unfortunately happens too many times. Tragically, the abuse of students by trusted adults has become a regular occurrence. We read about students being abused in the headlines. Every child deserves a safe and abuse-free learning environment. That's why we include a similar provision in the Democratic substitute and why earlier this session Mr. Miller introduced a similar bill, the Protecting Students From Sexual and Violent Predators Act, H.R. 2083. That bill overwhelmingly passed the House in a bipartisan fashion just 2\1/2\ years ago. Mr. Miller's bill and his amendment are stronger versions of Mr.…”