Kay Bailey Hutchison: “this letter says that they strongly support two provisions in our substitute bill. It says we have a mandatory minimum…”

“this letter says that they strongly support two provisions in our substitute bill. It says we have a mandatory minimum for protection of child pornography, and they feel strongly that possession of child pornography is a serious crime that deserves a serious sentence. Therefore, a reasonable mandatory minimum for this offense would be in order. I stated yesterday, about a situation where a judge gave a 1-day sentence to an individual who was in possession of hundreds of images and videos of 8- to 10-year-old girls being raped. Really, 1 day? Mr. President, this is America. I can't even imagine that would be the case. Our amendment strengthens the underlying bill by saying we would have a mandatory minimum of 1 year. My goodness, I think that is a minimum this body would want to adopt. We also want to make sure we can locate registered sex offenders who abscond. The letter we have put into the Record says law enforcement's efforts would be greatly enhanced if they had the authority to determine the fugitives' physical location and apprehend them. Here are two stories, and our bill would strengthen the ability to help these situations. Johnny Burgos was convicted in New York for rape and assault of a minor. Following his release from prison, he registered as a sex offender in New York, but he left. Although he seemed to be constantly on the move, the U.S. Marshals in the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force believed he was living in Pennsylvania.…”