Political Quotes

“Tomorrow, the country will commemorate Missing Children's Day. Ceremonies at the Department of Justice and elsewhere will remember our commitment to work together in locating and recovering missing children. I am proud that today, Congress has also realized its obligation to our Nation's children by passing the Protecting Our Children Comes First Act of 2007, which takes important steps toward this goal. For more than 5 months, one Senator has prevented this important legislation from becoming law. This is regrettable. The authorization for National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, and all that it does to help children and families expires at the end of this fiscal year. This is a bill that passed the House by a vote of 408 to 3. There were 95 cosponsors in the House, both Democrats and Republicans. I introduced a Senate companion bill with Senator Hatch, Senator Landrieu, and Senator Shelby last summer. The Senator Judiciary Committee considered and reported our Senate bill, S. 1829, last December. We have been trying to pass it in the Senate ever since. I am glad the objecting Senator has reconsidered his hold on this legislation. The National Center will now have the security of being able to plan and to maintain their services and staff for the future. It pains us all to see photo after photo of missing children from all around our country. As a father and grandfather, I can imagine that an abducted child is any parent's worst nightmare.”