On the recordApril 26, 2012
the substitute amendment is a bill that takes the good parts and the important parts of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act that I think are universal--the parts that have passed unanimously through Congress in recent years, starting 16 years ago--but the substitute also strengthens the bill. I am glad we are going to get a chance to vote on something that will strengthen it because there are some areas where the underlying bill is not as strong as our substitute bill, amendment No. 2095, would be, especially in the area of abuse of children and child pornography and child sex trafficking. This is our most vulnerable victim: the child who is abused. I want to read from some of the national organizations for victims as they write about this important aspect which is included in our bill but not covered as well in the underlying bill. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, with whom I have worked to try to get the AMBER Alert system to be relevant across State lines--where we have actually saved, we believe, 550 children who have been abducted and taken across State lines--because of the quick action of the AMBER Alert system, they have been able to be safely brought back home. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says: . . . possession of child pornography is a serious crime that deserves a serious sentence. Therefore, we support a reasonable mandatory minimum sentence for this offense. As we have . . .…
