Congress creates national Amber Alert
Washington ? Targeting child kidnappers, molesters and pornographers, Congress overwhelmingly passed a package of child safety protections, including a national Amber Alert network.
The House passed the bill 400-25 hours before the Senate approved in on a 98-0 vote. The legislation now goes to President Bush, who is expected to sign it.
“The safety and well-being of our children is a shared priority for all Americans,” Bush said in a statement. “We must use every available resource to find and safely return missing children to their families and their homes and we must use every available tool to vigorously prosecute and punish those who would do our children harm.”
House and Senate Republicans put the bill on a fast track last month, looking to get something to the White House before leaving today for a two-week spring break.
House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin called the finished bill “the most important and far-reaching child protection legislation in the past 20 years.”
Sensenbrenner and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, shepherded the stronger criminal penalties through the House by attaching them to the popular Amber Alert legislation. That measure was sought by the family of Elizabeth Smart, who was recovered in March after being taken last year from her Salt Lake City bedroom.
“The overarching goal of this comprehensive package is to stop those who prey on children before they can harm children,” Sensenbrenner said.