On the recordJune 15, 2017
Mr. President, I am glad to see my friend from Connecticut, Senator Blumenthal, on the floor because last week the Senate Judiciary Committee reported the PROTECT Our Children Act, which helps protect children across the country from exploitation over the internet. This is a bipartisan bill, not surprisingly so because last time this legislation passed, originally back in 2008, it had 60 cosponsors, including 41 Democrats and 18 Republicans. But I have introduced this reauthorization with Senator Heller from Nevada and Senator Blumenthal from Connecticut. It is something we call the National Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program. It reauthorizes those. I have had the sad experience of seeing how dangerous the internet can be for our vulnerable children. When I was attorney general of Texas, I launched something we quaintly called at the time the Texas Internet Bureau. That was a long time ago, about 2000. Today, they call it the cyber crime unit, and they do a lot of even more sophisticated things. But the idea back then and the idea still today is to fight internet crimes and to work with law enforcement agencies around the State, including a Dallas-based task force. Now, 17 years later, these task forces are a national network of 61 coordinated units dedicated to protecting children from internet predators and investigating perpetrators who engage in these horrific crimes.…
Source
govinfo.gov




