Thomas Foley: “there are a lot of collateral issues being discussed today, but the fact remains that the will of the House is not a…”

“there are a lot of collateral issues being discussed today, but the fact remains that the will of the House is not a mandate on the Senate. The Senate was unwilling to accept some provisions. Let us acknowledge that. But let us talk about what we are here for today, and that is to protect the vulnerable children. You have heard the names repeatedly in this debate. I do not want to read about another one for our failure to act. This House did overwhelmingly approve this bill because there are a lot of good legislative initiatives in this bill to protect our children. I have said repeatedly on this floor that we protect library books better than we do our children. We have a better system of accountability than we do for our children. This is about the kids that have perished because they were at the hands of despicable child predators. Mr. Sensenbrenner has crafted a bill that gets at the heart of this matter. I want to thank John Walsh, who lost his son Adam, as a tireless advocate who went and asked Senator Frist to bring this base bill to the Senate floor, and Senator Frist has agreed to that request, along with the other parents of the children who have lost their lives. These brave parents have come to this city to urge Congress to not let the tragedies that have happened to their families happen to another child. I thank Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite, an outstanding advocate who had a resident in her district who died at the hands of a pedophile. We can do better.…”