To amend the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 to modify the minimum standards required for the electronic monitoring units used in the pilot program for monitoring sexual offenders.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 431, the ``Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2007'' also known as the KIDS Act. This important legislation takes a historic step forward in updating and strengthening our laws to protect our kids from sexual predators online.

At the beginning of this Congress, I introduced the House companion to the KIDS Act with our dear departed friend, Rep. Paul Gillmor, a true champion of protecting children from dangerous sexual predators both online and offline. He spent much of his time in Congress fighting to keep our kids safe, and I know that he would be very proud of the passage of today's legislation.

When my own kids are online, I want to do everything possible to keep them safe from online predators. Sex offenders have no business being on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook and the hundreds of other social networking sites that kids are on today. This bipartisan compromise will make it easier for social networking sites to find these offenders and kick these individuals off of their sites so that they are not able to prey on our Nation's children.

Under current law, convicted sex offenders have to register where they work, live, go to school, and provide any other information that is required by the Attorney General, This act mandates that the Attorney General use his authority to require convicted sex offenders to register their Internet identifiers such as their email and instant messaging addresses. Failure to register internet identifiers as required will be treated as any other registration violation punishable under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2250. The Department of Justice will then create a system to share this information with social networking sites so that these companies can keep registered sex offenders from using their services.

According to a University of New Hampshire study, 1 in 7 children receive unwanted sexual solicitations online. With nearly 90 percent of our Nation's teenagers using the Internet everyday, it is now more important than ever to pass legislation like this that updates our laws to protect our kids from those who would exploit them online.

I would like to thank MySpace for their leadership in advancing this legislation and for the proactive steps that they have already taken to delete convicted registered sex offenders from their site. We hope this legislation will encourage others to follow their lead.

I would also like to thank Chairman Scott, Chairman Conyers, Senator Schumer and Representative Rahm Emanuel for their work on this issue. I would specifically like to thank House Judiciary staff--Mark Dubester, Ted Kalo, Bobby Vassar, Ameer Gopalani and Karen Wilkinson--for their hard work in reaching a compromise on this issue. I look forward to continuing to work with all of you to protect our children from the threat of sex offenders on the Internet.

Mr. Speaker, child predators will stop at nothing to prey on innocent children. The Internet affords them not only a virtual world within which to lure children into meeting them but also significantly hampers the ability of law enforcement to identify and apprehend them.

The Internet is constantly evolving. A decade ago, email was the revolution that connected people in the workplace, on college campuses, and across the country. Today, chat rooms and social networking sites boast users in the millions from around the world and attract young children who may not be aware of the risks involved with sharing personal information online.

We were all shocked to learn last year that over 20,000 registered sex offenders were on commercial social networking sites. In response to media attention, these sites removed the sex offenders and continue to actively monitor their sites.

S. 431, the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act or KIDS Act of 2007, will help these sites and other Internet providers, as well as law enforcement officials, to identify sex offenders lurking on the Internet. The bill contains an important provision requiring sex offenders to update their registration information to include their electronic mail addresses, instant messaging addresses and other similar Internet identifiers.

The KIDS Act also provides a mechanism to allow social networking sites to check sex offender registries to prevent sex offenders from accessing the site.

The House passed similar legislation, H.R. 719, last year. However, many of these important provisions had been stripped from the bill before it was brought to the floor. I am pleased that S. 431 reinstates many of these provisions, most importantly, the requirement that sex offenders report their email addresses and other Internet identifiers.

S. 431 also incorporates a provision originally introduced by my colleague from Virginia, Congressman Randy Forbes, in H.R. 4094. This provision amends the Adam Walsh Act to revise the minimum standards for electronic monitoring of sex offenders. This important correction will improve the use of these monitoring devices under the Adam Walsh Act pilot program.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

The Senate bill was ordered to be read a third time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank my House and Senate colleagues today for their ongoing leadership on this critical issue. Today is another significant step in our effort to protect our Nation's most precious asset--our children. Together with the PROTECT Act, which the House considered earlier, we are sending a message to predators that we will not let you get our children.

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, that we passed two years ago and which increased national registration requirements and penalties on sex offenders, was a much needed response to the growing threats our Nation's children face each and every day.

However, the threat still exists and, in fact, continues to grow, particularly as technology advances. Social Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook give our kids new ways to interact. Yet, they also open doors for sexual predators to target them--making it essential that our laws keep up with technology.

The bills that we are considering today send the message that we will not tolerate this disturbing trend. The Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act, or KIDS Act, of 2007, ensures that our laws and the resources needed to catch and keep these criminals off the street are as up-to-date as the technology that our kids are using.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 431) to require convicted sex offenders to register online identifiers, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment at the desk.