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“RUNAWAY, HOMELESS, AND MISSING CHILDREN PROTECTION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S12206 on Sept. 30, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RUNAWAY, HOMELESS, AND MISSING CHILDREN PROTECTION ACT
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1925 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will state the bill by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 1925) to reauthorize programs under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act and Missing Children's Assistance Act, and for other purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. LEAHY. I urge the Senate to take up and pass H.R. 1925, the Runaway, Homeless, and Missing Children Protection Act. The Senate version of this bill--which was identical--passed unanimously in the Judiciary Committee last Thursday, and this bill deserves the support of every Senator. I joined with Senator Hatch in introducing the Senate legislation to reauthorize and improve the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, and to extend the authorization of the Missing Children's Assistance Act. This bill follows in the footsteps of the recently enacted PROTECT Act legislation and presents another milestone in our efforts to safeguard all of our children.
In the 29 years since it became law, the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act has helped some of the most vulnerable children in our country. I have worked in the past to extend the program, most recently in the 106th Congress, when I cosponsored S. 249, the Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children Protection Act, which extended the Act through this year. I am pleased to help extend it once again.
A Justice Department report released last year estimated that 1.7 million young people either ran away from or were thrown out of their homes in 1999 alone. Other studies have suggested an even higher number. This law and the programs it funds provide a safety net that helps give these young people a chance to build lives for themselves. It is slated to expire at the end of this fiscal year, and we should not allow that to happen.
In my State, both the Vermont Coalition for Runaway and Homeless Youth and Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington receive grants under this law, and they have provided excellent services both to young people trying to build lives on their own and to those who are struggling on the streets. Reauthorizing this law will allow them to continue their enormously important work.
This bill would improve the law by extending the period during which older homeless youth can receive services under the Transitional Living Program, to ensure that all homeless youth can take advantage of services at least until they turn 18. The bill would also make permanent the Secretary of Health and Human Services' authority to make grants explicitly to help rural areas met the unique stresses of providing services to runaway and homeless youth. Programs serving runaway and homeless youth have found that those in rural areas are particularly difficult to reach and serve effectively, and this bill recognizes that fact.
The improvements proposed in this bill to the Missing Children's Assistance Act build on provisions included in the PROTECT Act legislation that we enacted earlier this year. In that bill, we authorized National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, activities through 2005 and authorized the center to strengthen its CyberTipline to provide online users an effective means of reporting Internet-related child sexual exploitation in distribution of child pornography, online enticement of children for sexual acts, and child prostitution. This bill would extend NCMEC through 2008. Now more than ever, it is critical for Congress to give the Center the resources it needs in order to pursue its important work. A missing or abducted child is the worst nightmare of any parent or grandparent, and NCMEC has proved to be an invaluable resource in Federal, state, and local efforts to recover children who have disappeared.
Although this is a good bill on the whole, I am disappointed that it includes a provision that prohibits grantees from using any funds provided under this program for needle distribution programs. This is a superfluous provision that simply repeats what is already law. In addition, it is unnecessary because no grantee under this program operates needle exchange programs or has expressed interest in doing so. I ask Senator Hatch to leave it out of the Senate version of this bill, and was disappointed when he refused. The inclusion of this needless provision, however, does not change the fact that this is still a very good bill.
The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act programs have received tremendous bipartisan support over the years. The House passed this bill by a vote of 404-14, and the Senate bill passed by unanimous consent last Friday. I urge the Senate to pass H.R. 1925 and send it to the President today.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (H.R. 1925) was read the third time and passed.
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