KIDS Act of 2008

Mr. President, today I am reintroducing the Affordable Housing Expansion and Public Safety Act to address some of the housing affordability issues faced by my constituents and by Americans around the country, including unaffordable rental burdens, lack of safe and affordable housing stock, and public safety concerns in public and federally assisted housing. My legislation is fully offset, while also providing $2.69 billion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years.

Increasing numbers of Americans are facing housing affordability challenges, whether they are renters or homeowners. But the housing affordability burden falls most heavily on low-income renters throughout our country. Ensuring that all Americans have safe and secure housing is about more than just providing families with somewhere to live, however. Safe and decent housing provides children with stable environments, and research has shown that students achieve at higher rates if they have secure housing. Affordable housing allows families to spend more of their income on life's other necessities including groceries, health care, and education costs as well as save money for their futures. I have heard from a number of Wisconsinites around my State about their concerns about the lack of affordable housing, homelessness, and the increasingly severe cost burdens that families have to undertake in order to afford housing.

This bill is especially needed now, given the breakdown in the fiscal year 2007 appropriations process. This week, the House is scheduled to pass a joint funding resolution to fund federal agencies through the rest of fiscal year 2007. I have heard from Wisconsinites concerned that the funding levels in the resolution could affect the ability of various local housing authorities to serve the same number of individuals as were assisted last year, never mind trying to serve the increasing numbers of individuals around the State who need housing assistance. Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee filed the joint funding resolution and I am pleased to see the Committee included a boost in funding for Section 8 tenant-based and project-based vouchers, allowing HUD to renew the vouchers that are currently in use by families. In addition to maintaining the current level of vouchers, I hope that we in Congress can work together this year to fund new Section 8 vouchers to help address the critical rental assistance needs throughout the country.

My bill does not address every housing need out there, but I believe it is a good, necessary first step. My legislation does address a number of different issues that local communities in my State and around the country are facing, including the need for more rental assistance, the creation and preservation of more affordable housing units, and the ability to more adequately address public safety concerns of residents of federally assisted housing.

Congress needs to act on other vital housing needs this year including addressing the large shortfall in the public housing operating fund. I have heard from housing authorities ranging in size from Menomonie Housing Authority to Milwaukee Housing Authority about the shortfall in operating funds and the negative impact it is having on the communities these housing agencies are serving. This shortfall in operating subsidies impacts public housing authorities and the people they serve by reducing funding for maintenance costs associated with running buildings and limiting the services that housing authorities can provide, such as covering utility cost increases. The joint funding resolution filed yesterday also included an increase of $300 million for public housing authorities to pay for these important operating costs, including the increases in utility costs. This is a good start and we must continue working this year to provide much- needed assistance to these housing authorities and the individuals and families they serve.

Unfortunately, affordable housing is becoming less, not more, available in the United States. Research shows that the number of families facing severe housing cost burdens grew by almost two million households between 2001 and 2004. Additionally, one in three families spends more than 30 percent of their earnings on housing costs. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports that at least 500,000 Americans are homeless every day and two million to three million Americans are homeless for various lengths of time each year. Cities, towns, and rural communities across the country are confronting a lack of affordable housing for their citizens. This is not an issue that confronts just one region of the Nation or one group of Americans. Decent and affordable housing is so essential to the well-being of Americans that the Federal Government must provide adequate assistance to our citizens to ensure that all Americans can afford to live in safe and affordable housing.

Congress has created effective affordable housing and community development programs, but as is the case with many of the Federal social programs, these housing programs are inadequately funded and do not meet the need in our communities. We in Congress must do what we can to ensure these programs are properly funded, while taking into account the tight fiscal constraints we are facing.

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, originally created in 1974, is now the largest Federal housing program in terms of HUD's budget with approximately two million vouchers currently authorized. Yet the current number of vouchers does not come close to meeting the demand that exists in communities around our country. In my State of Wisconsin, the city of Milwaukee opened up their Section 8 waiting list for the first time since 1999 earlier this year for twenty four hours and received more than 17,000 applications. The city of Madison has not accepted new applications for Section 8

in over three years and reports that hundreds of families are on the waiting list.

Unfortunately, situations like this exist around the country. According to the 2005 U.S. Conference of Mayors Hunger and Homelessness Survey, close to 5,000 people are on the Section 8 waiting list in Boston. Detroit has not taken applications for the past two years and currently has a waiting list of over 9,000 people. Phoenix closed its waiting list in 2005 and reported that 30,000 families were on its waiting list. In certain cities, waiting lists are years long and according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the typical waiting period for a voucher was two and a half years in 2003. Given these statistics, it is clear there is the need for more Section 8 vouchers than currently exist.

While there are certainly areas of the Section 8 program that need to be examined and perhaps reformed, a number of different government agencies and advocacy organizations all cite the effectiveness of Section 8 in assisting low-income families in meeting some of their housing needs. In 2002, the Government Accountability Office determined that the total cost of a one-bedroom housing unit through the Section 8 program costs less than it would through other federal housing programs. The same year, the Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission reported to Congress that the Section 8 program is ``flexible, cost- effective, and successful in its mission.''

The Commission further stated that the vouchers ``should continue to be the linchpin of a national policy providing very low-income renters access to the privately owned housing stock.'' The Commission also called for funding for substantial annual increments of vouchers for families who need housing assistance. This recommendation echoes the calls by advocates around the country, many of whom have called for 100,000 new, or incremental, Section 8 vouchers to be funded annually by Congress.

My bill takes this first step, calling for the funding of 100,000 incremental vouchers in fiscal year 2008. I have identified enough funds in my offsets to provide money for the renewal of these 100,000 vouchers for the next decade. While this increase does not meet the total demand that exists out there for Section 8 vouchers, I believe it is a strong first step. My legislation is fully offset and if it were passed in its current form, would provide for the immediate funding of these vouchers. I believe Congress should take the time to examine where other spending could be cut in order to continue to provide sizeable annual increases in new vouchers for the Section 8 program. According to the Congressional Research Service, incremental vouchers have not been funded since fiscal year 2002. During the past three to four years, the need for Federal housing assistance has grown and it will continue to grow in future years. We need to make a commitment to find the resources in our budget to ensure continued and increased funding for Section 8 vouchers.

We should examine doing more than just providing more money for Section 8. There have been numerous stories in my home State of Wisconsin about various concerns with the Section 8 program, ranging from potential discrimination on the part of landlords in declining to rent to Section 8 voucher holders to the administrative burdens landlords face when participating in the Section 8 program. Additionally, there are substantial concerns with the funding formula the Bush Administration is currently using for the Section 8 program. I look forward to working with my colleagues in this Congress to address these and other issues and make the Section 8 program more effective, more secure, and more accessible to citizens throughout the country.

But providing rental assistance is not the only answer to solving the housing affordability problem in our country. We must also work to increase the availability of affordable housing stock in our communities through facilitating production of housing units affordable to extremely low and very low income Americans. The HOME Investments Partnership Program, more commonly known as HOME, was created in 1990 to assist states and local communities in producing affordable housing for low income families. HOME is a grant program that allows participating jurisdictions the flexibility to use funds for new production, preservation, and rehabilitation of existing housing stock. HOME is an effective federal program that is used in concert with other existing housing programs to provide affordable housing units for low income Americans throughout the country.

According to recent data from HUD, since fiscal year 1992, over $23 billion has been allocated through the HOME program to participating jurisdictions around the country. There have been over 800,000 units committed, including over 200,000 new construction units. HUD reports that over 700,000 units have been completed or funded. Communities in my State of Wisconsin have received over $370 million since 1992 and have seen over 20,000 housing units completed since 1992. Cities and States around the country are able to report numerous success stories in part due to the HOME funding that has been allocated to participating jurisdictions since 1992. The Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission found that the HOME program is highly successful and recommended a substantial increase in funding for HOME in 2002.

Unfortunately, for the past two fiscal years, the HOME program has seen a decline in funding. In fiscal year 2005, HOME was funded at $1.9 billion and in fiscal year 2006, HOME was funded at a little more than $1.7 billion. As a result of this decline in funding, all participating jurisdictions in Wisconsin saw a decline in HOME dollars, with some jurisdictions seeing a decline of more than six percent. We need to ensure these funding cuts to HOME do not continue in the future and we must provide more targeted resources within HOME for the people most in need.

But, as successful as the HOME program is, more needs to be done to assist extremely low income families. My legislation seeks to target additional resources to the Americans most in need by using the HOME structure to distribute new funding to participating jurisdictions with the requirement that these participating jurisdictions use these set- aside dollars to produce, rehab, or preserve affordable housing for extremely low income families, or people at 30 percent of area median income or below.

As we all know, extremely low income households face the most severe affordable housing cost burdens of any Americans. According to data from HUD and the American Housing Survey, 56 percent of extremely low income renter households deal with severe affordability housing issues while only 25 percent of these renters are not burdened with affordability concerns. HUD also found that half of all extremely low income owner households are severely burdened by affordability concerns. Data shows more than 75 percent of renter households with severe housing affordability burdens are extremely low income families and more than half of extremely low income households pay at least half of their income on housing. The Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission has stated that ``the most serious housing problem in America is the mismatch between the number of extremely low income renter households and the number of units available to them with acceptable quality and affordable rents.'' The Commission also noted that there is no federal program solely for the preservation or production of housing for extremely low or moderate income families.

Because of these severe burdens and the high cost of providing safe and affordable housing to families at 30 percent or below of area median income, my bill would provide $400 million annually on top of the money that Congress already appropriates through HOME. I have heard from a number of housing advocates in Wisconsin that we have effective housing programs but the programs are not funded adequately. This is why I decided to administer this funding through the HOME program; local communities are familiar with the requirements and regulations of the HOME program and I think it is important not to place unnecessary and new administrative hurdles on local cities and communities.

Participating jurisdictions will be able to use this new funding under the eligible uses currently allowed by HOME to best meet the needs of the extremely low income families in their

respective communities. But participating jurisdictions must certify that this funding is going to extremely low income households and must report on how the funds are being utilized in their communities. Funds are intended to be distributed on a pro-rata basis to ensure participating jurisdictions around the country receive funding. I also require that the Secretary notify participating jurisdictions that this new funding for extremely low income households in no way excuses such jurisdictions from continuing to use existing HOME dollars to serve extremely low income families. It is my hope that this extra funding will provide an increased incentive to local cities and communities to dedicate more resources to producing and preserving affordable housing for the most vulnerable Americans.

My bill would also reauthorize a critical crime-fighting grant program: the Public and Assisted Housing Crime and Drug Elimination Program, formerly known as ``PHDEP.'' Unfortunately, the PHDEP program has not been funded since 2001, and its statutory authorization expired in 2003. It is time to bring back this important grant program, which provided much-needed public safety resources to public housing authorities and their tenants. My legislation would authorize $200 million per year for five years for this program.

After more than a decade of declining crime rates, new FBI statistics indicate that 2005 brought an overall increase in violent crime across the country, and particularly in the Midwest. Nationwide, violent crime increased 2.3 percent between 2004 and 2005, and in the Midwest, violent crime increased 5.6 percent between 2004 and 2005. Housing authorities and others providing assisted housing are feeling the effects of this shift, but just as the crime rate is rising, their resources to fight back are dwindling. We need to provide them with funding targeted at preventing and reducing violent and drug-related crime, so that they can provide a safe living environment for their tenants.

Reauthorizing the Public and Assisted Housing Crime and Drug Elimination Program should not be controversial. The program has long enjoyed bipartisan support. It was first sponsored by Senator Lautenberg in 1988, and first implemented in 1989 under then-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp. When in effect, it funded numerous crime-fighting measures in housing authorities all over the country.

In Milwaukee, grants under this program funded a variety of important programs. It provided funding to the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee to hire public safety officers who are on site 24 hours a day to respond to calls and intervene when problems arise, and who work collaboratively with local law enforcement agencies. According to the Housing Authority, by the time the PHDEP program was defunded, public safety officers were responding to more than 8,000 calls per year, dealing quickly and effectively with thefts, drug use and sales, and other problems. Grants under the program also allowed the Housing Authority in Milwaukee to conduct crime prevention programs through the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee and other on-site agencies, providing youths and others living in public housing with a variety of educational, job training and life skill programs.

When the PHDEP program was defunded during the fiscal year 2002 budget cycle, the Administration argued that crime-fighting measures should be funded through the Public Housing Operating Fund and promised an increase in that Fund to account for part of the loss of PHDEP funds. That allowed some programs previously funded under PHDEP to continue for a few years. But now there is a significant shortfall in the Operating Fund and HUD is proposing limits on how capital funds can be used, and housing authorities nationwide--including in Milwaukee-- have been faced with tough decisions, including cutting some or all of their crime reduction programs.

It is time for Congress to step in and reauthorize these grants. Everyone deserves a safe place to live, and we should help provide housing authorities and other federally assisted low-income housing entities with the resources they need to provide that to their tenants.

But we can do more than just provide public housing authorities with grant money. The Federal Government also needs to provide more resources to help housing authorities spend those funds in the most effective way possible. That is why my legislation also contains several provisions to enhance the effectiveness of this grant program. It would: Require HUD's Office of Policy Development & Research (PD&R) to conduct a review of existing research on crime fighting measures and issue a report within six months identifying effective programs, providing an important resource to public housing authorities; require PD&R to work with housing authorities, social scientists and others to develop and implement a plan to conduct rigorous scientific evaluation of crime reduction and prevention strategies funded by the grant program that have not previously been subject to that type of evaluation, giving housing authorities yet another source of information about effective strategies for combating crime; and require HUD to report to Congress within four years, based on what it learns from existing research and evaluations of grantee programs, on the most effective ways to prevent and reduce crime in public and assisted housing environments, the ways in which it has provided related guidance to help grant applicants, and any suggestions for improving the effectiveness of the program going forward.

As with any grant program, it is essential that HUD monitor the use of the grants and that grantees be required to report regularly on their activities, as was required by HUD regulations when the program was defunded. The bill also clarifies the types of activities that can be funded through the grant program to ensure that funds are not used inappropriately.

My bill also includes a sense of the Senate provision calling on Congress to create a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund. At the outset, I want to commend my colleagues in the Senate, Senator Kerry, Senator Reed, Senator Sanders and others for all their work on advancing the cause of a National Affordable Housing Trust fund. I look forward to working with them and others in the 110th Congress to push for the creation of such a trust fund.

I agree with my colleagues that such a trust fund should have the goal of supplying 1,500,000 new affordable housing units over the next 10 years. It should also contain sufficient income targeting to reflect the housing affordability burdens faced by extremely low income and very low income families and contain enough flexibility to allow local communities to produce, preserve, and rehabilitate affordable housing units while ensuring that such affordable housing development fosters the creation of healthy and sustainable communities.

Hundreds of local housing trust funds have been created in cities and states throughout the country, including recently in the city of Milwaukee. I want to commend the community members in Milwaukee for working to address the housing affordability issues that the city faces and it is my hope that we in Congress can do our part to help Wisconsin's communities and communities around the country provide safe and affordable housing to all Americans.

This Nation faces a severe shortage of affordable housing for our most vulnerable citizens. Shelter is one of our most basic needs, and, unfortunately, too many Wisconsinites and people around the country are struggling to afford a place to live for themselves and their families. This legislation does not solve all the affordable housing issues that communities are facing, but I believe it is a good first step. This issue is about more than providing a roof over a family's head, however. Good housing and healthy communities lead to better jobs, better educational outcomes, and better futures for all Americans. Local communities, States, and the Federal Government must work together to dedicate more effective resources toward ensuring that all Americans have a safe and decent place to live. I look forward to working with my colleagues in this new Congress to advance my bill and other housing initiatives and work towards meeting the

goal of affordable housing and healthy communities for all Americans.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, today I will introduce a bill to repair and strengthen the presidential public financing system. The Presidential Funding Act of 2007 will ensure that this system will continue to fulfill its promise in the 21st century. The bill will take effect in January 2009, so it will first apply in the 2012 presidential election.

The presidential public financing system was put into place in the wake of the Watergate scandals as part of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974. It was held to be constitutional by the Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo. The system, of course, is voluntary, as the Supreme Court required in Buckley. Every major party nominee for President since 1976 has participated in the system for the general election and, prior to 2000, every major party nominee had participated in the system for the primary election, too. In the last election, President Bush and two Democratic candidates, Howard Dean and the eventual nominee John Kerry, opted out of the system for the presidential primaries. President Bush and Senator Kerry elected to take the taxpayer-funded grant in the general election. President Bush also opted out of the system for the Republican primaries in 2000 but took the general election grant.

It is unfortunate that the matching funds system for the primaries has become less practicable. The system protects the integrity of the electoral process by allowing candidates to run viable campaigns without becoming overly dependent on private donors. The system has worked well in the past, and it is worth repairing so that it can work in the future. If we don't repair it, the pressures on candidates to opt out will increase until the system collapses from disuse.

This bill makes changes to both the primary and general election public financing system to address the weaknesses and problems that have been identified by participants in the system, experts on the presidential election financing process, and an electorate that is increasingly dismayed by the influence of money in politics. First and most important, it eliminates the State-by-State spending limits in the current law and substantially increases the overall spending limit from the current limit of approximately $45 million to $150 million, of which up to $100 million can be spent before April 1 of the election year. This should make the system much more viable for serious candidates facing opponents who are capable of raising significant sums outside the system. The bill also makes available substantially more public money for participating candidates by increasing the match of small contributions from 1:1 to 4:1.

One very important provision of this bill ties the primary and general election systems together and requires candidates to make a single decision on whether to participate. Candidates who opt out of the primary system and decide to rely solely on private money cannot return to the system for the general election. And candidates must commit to participate in the system in the general election if they want to receive Federal matching funds in the primaries. The bill also increases the spending limits for participating candidates in the primaries who face a nonparticipating opponent if that opponent raises more than 20 percent more than the spending limit. This provides some protection against being far outspent by a nonparticipating opponent. Additional grants of public money are also available to participating candidates who face a nonparticipating candidate spending substantially more than the spending limit.

The bill also sets the general election spending limit at $100 million, indexed for inflation. And if a general election candidate does not participate in the system and spends more than 20 percent more than the combined primary and general election spending limits, a participating candidate will receive a grant equal to twice the general election spending limit.

This bill also addresses what some have called the ``gap'' between the primary and general election seasons. Presumptive presidential nominees have emerged earlier in the election year over the life of the public financing system. This has led to some nominees being essentially out of money between the time that they nail down the nomination and the convention where they are formally nominated and become eligible for the general election grant. For a few cycles, soft money raised by the parties filled in that gap, but the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 fortunately has now closed that loophole. This bill allows candidates who are still in the primary race as of April 1 to spend an additional $50 million. In addition, the bill allows the political parties to spend up to $25 million between April 1 and the date that a candidate is nominated and an additional $25 million after the nomination. The total amount of $50 million is over three times the amount allowed under current law. This should allow any gap to be more than adequately filled.

Obviously, these changes make this a more generous system. So the bill also makes the requirement for qualifying more difficult. To be eligible for matching funds, a candidate must raise $25,000 in matchable contributions--up to $200 for each donor--in at least 20 States. That is five times the threshold under current law.

The bill also makes a number of changes in the system to reflect the changes in our presidential races over the past several decades. For one thing, it makes matching funds available starting six months before the date of the first primary or caucus, that's approximately 6 months earlier than is currently the case. For another, it sets a single date for release of the public grants for the general election--the Friday before Labor Day. This addresses an inequity in the current system, under which the general election grants are released after each nominating convention, which can be several weeks apart.

The bill also prohibits federal elected officials and candidates from soliciting soft money for use in funding the party and requires presidential candidates to disclose bundled contributions. Additional provisions, and those I have discussed in summary form here, are explained in a section-by-section analysis of the bill that I ask unanimous consent to be printed in the Record, following my statement. I will also ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill itself be printed in the Record.

The purpose of this bill is to improve the campaign finance system, not to advance one party's interests. In fact, this is an excellent time to make changes in the Presidential public funding system. The 2008 presidential campaign, which is already underway, will undoubtedly be the most expensive in history. It is likely that a number of candidates from both parties will once again opt out of the primary matching funds system, and some experts predict that one or both major party nominees will even refuse public grants for the

general election period. It is too late to make the changes needed to repair the system for the 2008 election. But if we act now, we can make sure that an updated and revised system is in place for the 2012 election. If we act now, I am certain that the 2008 campaign cycle will confirm our foresight. If we do nothing, 2008 will continue and accelerate the slide of the current system into irrelevancy.

Fixing the presidential public financing system will cost money, but our best calculations at the present time indicate that the changes to the system in this bill can be paid for by raising the income tax check-off on an individual return from $3 to just $10. The total cost of the changes to the system, based on data from the 2004 elections, is projected to be around $360 million over the 4-year election cycle. To offset that increased cost, this bill caps taxpayer subsidies for promotion of agricultural products, including some brand-name goods, by limiting the Market Access Program to $100 million per year.

Though the numbers are large, this is actually a very small investment to make to protect our democracy and preserve the integrity of our presidential elections. The American people do not want to see a return to the pre-Watergate days of unlimited spending on presidential elections and candidates entirely beholden to private donors. We must act now to ensure the fairness of our elections and the confidence of our citizens in the process by repairing the cornerstone of the Watergate reforms.

Mr. President, I rise to say a few words about final passage of the KIDS Act, S. 431. This bill authorizes procedures for social networking Web sites to check whether a particular email address is registered to a sex offender. The bill also includes provisions that would make it an offense to use the Internet to lure a victim and then sexually assault her, that expand the jurisdictional predicates for the child-porn possession offenses, and that make it an offense to knowingly access child pornography on the Internet with the intent to view child pornography.

Section 7 of the bill, which expands the jurisdictional predicates for offenses relating to child pornography, is of particular interest to me. I offered this proposal as an amendment in the Judiciary Committee after it was informally proposed to me by the Justice Department. The proposal addresses a problem highlighted by United States v. Schaefer, 501 F.3d 1197, 10th Circuit 2007, which dismissed a conviction for receipt and possession of child pornography because the court found that proof that an image traveled over the Internet is not sufficient to prove that the image in question moved in interstate commerce. I understand that this ruling has had a substantial impact on prosecutions pertaining to sexually abusive images of children, particularly in the Tenth Circuit.

In Schaefer, the Tenth Circuit found that evidence that an image had traveled through servers in another State could prove that the image moved across State lines. Unfortunately, this conclusion provides little help for Federal prosecutions in the State of Colorado because the largest Internet service provider in Colorado maintains all of it servers in that State. Therefore, in Colorado it is extremely difficult to get the kind of evidence required by the Tenth Circuit's decision.

It is an irony of the Internet that the more that it grows, the harder that it is to prove that an image of child pornography crossed State lines. As in Colorado, many Internet service providers are setting up server farms across the United States, so it is harder to get the requisite evidence that the images moved through out-of-State servers. Additionally, with the advent of different ways of connecting to the Internet, such as wireless, broadband, and DSL, it can be harder to trace the route that an image took across the Internet. And with certain Internet-based technologies, such as instant messaging and peer-to-peer file sharing, it can be impossible to find out to whom or from where a defendant sent or received an image.

The child pornography statutes were enacted, for the most part, before Internet and cell phone technology existed. At the time the statutes were originally written, there were really only two ways to transport this contraband: by mailing it or by physically carrying it on one's person. The statutes were drafted accordingly. Now, however, because of technological developments, Federal laws pertaining to sexually abusive images of children simply do not reach all of the crimes they could under the Constitution.

Section 7 of the KIDS Act adds the words ``affecting interstate or foreign commerce'' and ``using a facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce'' to the child pornography laws, thereby employing maximum Federal power to proscribe child pornography. The primary advantage of the ``facility or means'' language is that it accurately reflects how sexually abusive images of children are traded today, which is to say, over the Internet and phone lines. The Supreme Court and courts of appeals have long recognized that the Internet and phones are facilities of interstate commerce, regardless of whether the actual transmission goes across State lines. Finally, the ``facility or means'' language tracks that in 18 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 1470 and 2422(b).

Thus there is already a body of case law to guide the drafting of jury instructions and statutory interpretation.

My second favorite provision in S. 431 is section 6, which makes it a crime to knowingly access child pornography with the intent to view child pornography. This proposal was brought to my attention by my colleague Senator Vitter, who persuaded me to offer it as an amendment in the Judiciary Committee. Like section 7, section 6 adapts our laws to address a new obstacle to child-pornography prosecutions that was created by changes in technology and that is exemplified by a recent court of appeals decision. The Vitter staff also provided me with the following Justice Department testimony, which explains the need for this provision and is worth quoting in full. It is the testimony of Larry Rothenberg, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, before the House Judiciary Committee on October 17 of last year:

18 U.S.C. Sec. Sec. 2252 and 2252A currently criminalize

various activities related to child pornography including

transportation, trafficking, and possession. Some courts have

narrowly interpreted (incorrectly, in our view) the

definition of possession so that a person would not have

violated the statute if he, for example, viewed images of

child pornography on his computer but did not save them onto

his disk drive. Even if, in his computer's ``temporary

Internet cache,'' we have a record of his viewing the images,

and thus proof that he accessed them on a website, under this

narrow interpretation, he would not be guilty of violating

the statute if he did not know that his temporary Internet

cache automatically saved the images on his computer.

Two recent cases demonstrate the need for these changes. In

United States v. Teal, No. 1:04-CR-00042-CCB-1 (D. Md.,

motion to dismiss granted Aug. 13, 2004), the Maryland U.S.

Attorney's Office prosecuted Marvin Teal, a former

administrative law judge who had prior convictions for

sexually abusing children, for possession and attempted

possession of child pornography based on his viewing child

pornography at a public library in Baltimore, Maryland.

Library police officers saw child pornography on the computer

Teal was using, arrested him, and printed out the images that

could be seen on the computer screen. Because there was no

evidence that the defendant had himself downloaded or saved anything, the District Court dismissed the case. We chose not to appeal, given the state of the law and the facts of the case.

In United States v. Kuchinski, 469 F.3d 853 (9th Cir. 2006), the Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded the sentence of an offender found with between 15,120 and 19,000 separate images of child pornography on his computer on the basis that he did not know that they were in his Internet cache. The court stated, ``There is no question that the child pornography images were found on the computer's hard drive and that Kuchinski possessed the computer itself. Also, there is no doubt that he had accessed the web page that had those images somewhere upon it, whether he actually saw the images or not. What is in question is whether it makes a difference that, as far as this record shows, Kuchinski had no knowledge of the images that were simply in the cache files. It does.'' Of course we acknowledge the Ninth Circuit's authority to interpret the law this way. However, we think the court's distinction should not make a difference under the law.

Our proposal [which is identical to Section 6 of the KIDS Act] would correct these anomalies while protecting unsuspecting persons who unintentionally access child pornography from prosecution. Specifically, the bill would amend 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2252(a)(4) and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2252A(a)(5) to criminalize not only possession of child pornography, but also ``knowingly accessing child pornography with the intent to view it.'' That is, a person would be liable to prosecution if he purposefully clicked on a link with the intent that when the link opened, he would view child pornography. It would therefore be a two- step test that the prosecution would have to satisfy--first, that he purposefully (that is, not accidentally) clicked the link, and, second, he did so with the intent that by clicking on the link child pornography would appear on his computer screen. This test would not be difficult to satisfy in the case of people who really did want to view child pornography. Extrinsic evidence--such as the name of the link, which would probably have terms indicating that it displayed child pornography, and payment for the images--would be used to prove the violation. But in the case of an ``innocent viewer'' who accidentally came across child pornography, the two-step proof would be his protection.

I would also like to express my appreciation to the sponsors of this bill for their willingness to work with the Justice Department to address technical concerns with the bill. It is particularly important that the bill has been modified to minimize conflict with the Justice Department's forthcoming guidelines for implementation of SORNA, which serve many of the same ends as the bill. Earlier versions of the KIDS Act used terminology inconsistent with that used in SORNA, unnecessarily required that sex offenders appear in person to report their e-mail addresses, did not clearly provide the Attorney General with discretion to screen out ill-intentioned users of the checking system, limited access to the checking system to only commercial websites, and unnecessarily restricted to only the SORNA database the sources on which the checking system may rely for Internet addresses. I am pleased to report that all of these problems will be corrected in the floor amendment for the bill. While these issues may seem like technicalities, had they not been addressed they would have degraded the utility of the checking system.

The committee-reported bill also appeared to limit existing programs for helping law enforcement and parents to determine whether the individual using a particular address is a sex offender. The final Senate bill includes a rule of construction that makes clear that the bill does not limit the Attorney General's preexisting authority to allow such searches. The final bill also includes a compromise on how the Attorney General and social networking Web sites may disseminate sex-offender e-mail addresses. The compromise is somewhat complicated and merits explanation. The bill still does bar the wholesale distribution to the general public of sex offenders' e-mail information contained in the system, and further requires that the AG limit how the social networking sites disseminate the information about individual offenders that such sites receive. I understand that some Senators expressed concern that such bulk distribution of offenders' e-mail addresses would make it possible for malicious individuals to identify individual offenders' e-mail addresses and use those addresses to harass an offender. Preventing the publication of lists of offenders' e-mail addresses also will prevent offenders from using the checking system to identify each other's e-mail addresses and communicate with each other. We should not allow the system's information about sex offenders' e-mail addresses to be used in this way. The bill creates a two-tiered limit on distribution of these e-mail addresses in proposed SORNA section 121(d)(4)(A) and (B). Subparagraph (A) bars bulk distribution of offenders' addresses contained in the system to the public at large, and subparagraph (B) further requires the AG to limit how social networking sites disseminate the information that they receive. Subparagraph (A) bars both the AG and the participating social-networking sites from disseminating lists of sex-offender e-mail information that are generated through the operation of the checking system unless the information is only given to a limited set of sources with a particular need for the information, as opposed to the public at large. It does not limit dissemination of information generated from other sources, but should substantially prevent the creation of bulk public lists of sex-offender e-mail information as a result of the operation of the checking system. Subparagraph (B) complements this provision by requiring the AG to regulate how participating social networking sites use the information that they receive. It is likely that some social-networking sites will come into possession of large amounts of sex-offender e-mail information as a result of their participation in this system. It is thus important that the AG see to it that those sites do not liberally disseminate such information in a way that would allow others to create bulk public lists of sex offenders' e-mail information. Although subparagraph (B) contains no specific mandate to the AG, I trust that he will apply this provision with this purpose in mind.

In addition, I would like to address two urgently-needed reforms to our Nation's child pornography laws that are not included in this bill, but that I hope to amend onto future legislation. We need tougher, mandatory penalties for possession of child pornography, and Congress needs to act to stiffen and expand penalties for electronic- communication service providers who fail to report the presence of child pornography on their systems. The case for both of these provisions is made in the Rothenberg testimony noted above, and I quote it in full:

[W]e urge Congress to establish a mandatory minimum

sentence for possession of child pornography. This is crucial

because too many people believe that child pornography is

``just pictures'' and is not ``a big deal.'' That is wrong.

Each pornographic image of a child is the visual record of

the sexual exploitation of that child. It is not just a

picture. Every time that image is viewed, the child is

violated once again. Moreover, the demand for such images is

what fuels the physical violation of the children in these

images in the first place. Possession of child pornography is

victimization of a child and should be punished accordingly.

Unfortunately, since the Federal Sentencing Guidelines

became advisory under the Supreme Court's decision in United

States v. Booker the number of downward departures by judges

in federal child pornography possession cases has increased.

After enactment of the PROTECT Act of 2003, which restricted

in various ways the authority of courts to make non-

government-sponsored downward departures in sentences, the

rate of non-government-sponsored below-range sentences for

all offense types was about 5 percent. See United States

Sentencing Commission, Final Report on the Impact of United

States v. Booker on Federal Sentencing (March 2006), at p.

54, available at http://www.ussc.gov/booker_report/ Booker_Report .pdf. Following Booker, that rate jumped up to 12.5 percent.

Id. at p. 47. For child pornography possession offenses,

however, the rate of non-government-sponsored below-range

sentences leapt to 26.3 percent, more than twice the average

rate. Id. at p. 122. By way of comparison, for drug

trafficking and firearms violations, the rate has increased

to 12.8 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively, much closer

to the average. Id. at table on page D-5.

The increase in non-government-sponsored, below-range

sentences for possession offenses after Booker demonstrates

the need for a mandatory minimum sentence for possession

offenses. Establishing a two-year minimum sentence will be a

warning to potential consumers of child pornography, prevent

unwarranted downward departures, and forcefully express our

revulsion at this type of material. This change is contained

in section 201 of the Department's Violent Crime and Anti-

Terrorism Act of 2007 and is included as section 201 of H.R.

3156, the Violent Crime Control Act of 2007.

Our second proposal would amend an existing law that

requires certain providers of electronic communications

services to report violations of the child pornography laws.

Currently the law provides that a provider who knowingly and

willfully fails to report the presence of child pornography

images on its computer servers shall be subject to a criminal

fine of up to $50,000 for the initial failure to report and

$100,000 for each subsequent failure to report. Prosecutors

and law enforcement sources report that this criminal

provision has been virtually impossible to enforce because of

the particular mens rea requirement and the low amount of the

potential penalty. These impediments severely hinder the

needed crackdown on the presence of child pornography on the

Internet.

Our legislation would triple the criminal fines available

for knowing and willful failures to report, making the

available fines $150,000 for the initial violation and

$300,000 for each subsequent violation.

Even more importantly, the legislation would add civil

fines for negligent failure to report a child pornography

offense. The civil penalty is set at $50,000 for the initial

violation and $100,000 for each subsequent violation. The

Federal Communications Commission would be provided with the

authority to levy the civil fines under this section and to

promulgate the necessary regulations, in consultation with

the Attorney General, for imposing the fines and for

providing an appropriate administrative review process.

These proposals would make it much more likely that service

providers will exercise sound practices for weeding out child

pornography. The images are out there, too often on

commercial computer servers, and law enforcement needs to

know about them to investigate and to prosecute the sexual

predators who consume them. This amendment is contained in

section 202 of the Department's Violent Crime and Anti-

Terrorism Act of 2007 and in section 202 of H.R. 3156.

Finally, I would like to thank Preet Bharara and Lee Dunn, staffers to Senators Schumer and McCain, respectively, who have worked tirelessly to see this bill through the Senate. S. 431 is a good bill, and I hope to see it enacted into law.

Mr. President, there are countless reasons that the American people have lost confidence in the President's Iraq policy, but chief among them has been the Administration's insistence on making promises and assurances about progress and victory that have no basis whatsoever in the reality of the facts on the ground.

We have been told that we would be greeted as liberators. We have been promised that the insurgency was in its last throes. We have been assured again and again that we were making progress, that the Iraqis would soon stand up, that our brave sons and daughters could soon stand down. We have been asked to wait, and asked to be patient, and asked to give the President and the new Iraqi government six more months, and then six more months after that, and then six more months after that.

Despite all of this, a change of course still seemed possible. Back in November, the American people had voted for a new direction in Iraq. Secretary Rumsfeld was on his way out at the Pentagon. The Iraq Study Group was poised to offer a bipartisan consensus. The President was conducting his own review. After years of missteps and mistakes, it was time for a responsible policy grounded in reality, not ideology.

Instead, the President ignored the counsel of expert civilians and experienced soldiers, the hard-won consensus of prominent Republicans and Democrats, and the clear will of the American people.

The President's decision to move forward with this escalation anyway, despite all evidence and military advice to the contrary, is the terrible consequence of the decision to give him the broad, open-ended authority to wage this war in 2002. Over four years later, we cannot revisit that decision or reverse its outcome, but we can do what we didn't back then and refuse to give this President more open-ended authority for this war.

The U.S. military has performed valiantly and brilliantly in Iraq. Our troops have done all we have asked them to do and more. But no quantity of American soldiers can solve the political differences at the heart of somebody else's civil war, nor settle the grievances in the hearts of the combatants.

I cannot in good conscience support this escalation. As the President's own military commanders have said, escalation only prevents the Iraqis from taking more responsibility for their own future. It's even eroding our efforts in the wider war on terror, as some of the extra soldiers could come directly from Afghanistan, where the Taliban has become resurgent.

The course the President is pursuing fails to recognize the fundamental reality that the solution to the violence in Iraq is political, not military. He has offered no evidence that more U.S. troops will be able to pressure Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds towards the necessary political settlement, and he's attached no conditions or consequences to his plan should the Iraqis fail to make progress.

In fact, just a few weeks ago, when I repeatedly asked Secretary Rice what would happen if the Iraqi government failed to meet the benchmarks that the Administration has called for, she could not give me an answer. When I asked her if there were any circumstances whatsoever in which we would tell the Iraqis that their failure to make progress would mean the end of our military commitment, she still could not give me an answer.

This is not good enough. When you ask how many more months and how many more lives it will take to end a policy that everyone knows has failed, ``I don't know'' isn't good enough.

Over the past four years, we have given this Administration chance after chance to get this right, and they have disappointed us so many times. That is why Congress now has the duty to prevent even more mistakes. Today, I am introducing legislation that rejects this policy of escalation, and implements a comprehensive approach that will promote stability in Iraq, protect our interests in the region, and bring this war to a responsible end.

My legislation essentially puts into law the speech I gave in November, 2006, and is, I believe, the best strategy for going forward.

The bill implements--with the force of law--a responsible redeployment of our forces out of Iraq, not a precipitous withdrawal. It implements key recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. It applies real leverage on the Iraqis to reach the political solution necessary to end the sectarian violence that is tearing Iraq apart. It holds the Iraqi government accountable, making continued U.S. support conditional on concrete Iraqi progress. It respects the role of military commanders, while fulfilling Congress's responsibility to uphold the Constitution and heed the will of the American people.

First, this legislation caps the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at the number in Iraq on January 10, 2007--the day the President gave his ``surge speech'' to the nation. This cap could not be lifted without explicit authorization by the Congress.

Yet our responsibilities to the American people and to our servicemen and women go beyond opposing this ill-conceived escalation. We must fashion a comprehensive strategy to accomplish what the President's surge fails to do: pressure the Iraqi government to reach a political settlement, protect our interests in the region, and bring this war to a responsible end.

That is why my legislation commences a phased redeployment of U.S. troops to begin on May 1, 2007 with a goal of having all combat brigades out of Iraq by March 31, 2008, a date that is consistent with the expectation of the Iraq Study Group. The legislation provides exceptions for force protection, counterterrorism, and training of Iraqi security forces.

To press the Iraqi government to act, this drawdown can be suspended for 90-day periods if the President certifies and the Congress agrees that the Iraqi government is meeting specific benchmarks and the suspension is in the national security interests of the United States. These benchmarks include: Meeting security responsibilities. The Iraqi government must deploy brigades it promised to Baghdad, lift restrictions on the operations of the U.S. military, and make significant progress toward assuming full responsibility for the security of Iraq's provinces. Cracking down on sectarian violence. The Iraqi government must make significant progress toward reducing the size and influence of sectarian militias, and the presence of militia elements within the Iraqi Security Forces. Advancing national reconciliation. The Iraqi government must pass legislation to share oil revenues equitably; revise de-Baathification to enable more Iraqis to return to government service; hold provisional elections by the end of the year; and amend the Constitution in a manner that sustains reconciliation. Making economic progress. The Iraqi government must make available at least $10,000,000,000 for reconstruction, job creation, and economic development as it has promised to do. The allocation of these resources, the provision of services, and the administration of Iraqi Ministries must not proceed on a sectarian basis.

These benchmarks reflect actions proposed by the President and promised by the Iraqi government. It is time to hold them accountable.

Recognizing that the President has not been straightforward with the American people about the war in Iraq, my legislation allows the Congress--under expedited procedures--to overrule a Presidential certification and continue the redeployment.

Time and again, we have seen deadlines for Iraqi actions come and go--with no consequences. Time and again we have heard pledges of progress from the administration--followed by a descent into chaos. The commitment of U.S. troops to Iraq represents our best leverage to press the Iraqis to act. And the further commitment of U.S. economic assistance to the Government of Iraq must be conditional on Iraqi action.

As the U.S. drawdown proceeds, my legislation outlines how U.S. troops

should be redeployed back to the United States and to other points in the region. In the region, we need to maintain a substantial over-the- horizon force to prevent the conflict in Iraq from becoming a wider war, to reassure our allies, and to protect our interests. And we should redeploy forces to Afghanistan, so we not just echo--but answer--NATO's call for more troops in this critical fight against terrorism.

Within Iraq, we may need to maintain a residual troop presence to protect U.S. personnel and facilities, go after international terrorists, and continue training efforts. My legislation allows for these critical but narrow exceptions as the redeployment proceeds and is ultimately completed.

My legislation makes it U.S. policy to undertake a comprehensive diplomatic strategy to promote a political solution within Iraq, and to prevent wider regional strife. This diplomatic effort must include our friends in the region, but it should also include Syria and Iran, who need to be part of the conversation about stabilizing Iraq. Not talking is getting us nowhere. Not talking is not making us more secure, nor is it weakening our adversaries.

The President should appoint a special envoy with responsibility to implement this regional engagement. And as we go forward, we must make it clear that redeployment does not mean disengagement from the region. On the contrary, it is time for a more comprehensive engagement that skillfully uses all tools of American power.

Finally, my legislation compels the President to formulate a strategy to prevent the war in Iraq from becoming a wider conflagration.

Let me conclude by saying that there are no good options in Iraq. We cannot undo the mistake of that congressional authorization, or the tragedies of the last four years.

Just as I have been constant in my strong opposition to this war, I have consistently believed that opposition must be responsible. As reckless as we were in getting into Iraq, we have to be as careful getting out. We have significant strategic interests in Iraq and the region. We have a humanitarian responsibility to help the Iraqi people. Above all, we have an obligation to support our courageous men and women in uniform--and their families back home--who have sacrificed beyond measure.

It is my firm belief that the responsible course of action--for the United States, for Iraq, and for our troops--is to oppose this reckless escalation and to pursue a new policy. This policy is consistent with what I have advocated for well over a year, with many of the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, and with what the American people demanded in November.

When it comes to the war in Iraq, the time for promises and assurances, for waiting and patience, is over. Too many lives have been lost and too many billions have been spent for us to trust the President on another tried and failed policy opposed by generals and experts, Democrats and Republicans, Americans and even the Iraqis themselves. It is time to change our policy. It is time to give Iraqis their country back. And it is time to refocus America's efforts on the wider struggle against terror yet to be won.

Mr. President, today I introduce legislation about the National Guard with Senator Kit Bond, my fellow co-chair of the Senate's National Guard Caucus, and Senator Ben Nelson, a longtime caucus member and a subcommittee chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The National Guard Empowerment Act of 2007 would improve the management of the National Guard, and it will give the Guard more responsibility in improving our defense arrangements at home, where the Guard works in tandem with the Nation's governors to help keep our communities safe. This legislation will strengthen the National Guard, the military, and our Nation, and I believe it is something that deserves our attention and approval.

As Senators, we know all too well the many ways in which our communities rely on the National Guard. The soldiers of the National Guard, like their active duty counterparts, have expended an extraordinary amount of will and sacrifice in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The National Guard comprised almost 50 percent of the forces on the ground in Iraq less than 2 years ago, and now, as the Pentagon plans to implement the President's plans for a troop escalation, the percentage of Guard troops on the ground is set to rise once again.

At the same time, we are constantly witness to the equally heralded work that the National Guard has done to increase security at home. Along with efforts to increase security along both the northern and southern borders, the Guard has bolstered security at special events across the country, including the Olympics, the national political party conventions, and events here in our Nation's capital. Most importantly, the National Guard provided the best--the very best-- response of any agency, Federal, State or local, in the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sending tens of thousands of troops to the hardest-hit communities in relatively short order.

When you look at these examples, it is indisputable that the National Guard is only limited in what it can do for us by the authorities, policies, available equipment, responsibilities, and support that we give them.

It is time to give the Guard more tools and support to effectively carry out these responsibilities.

With the knowledge that the use of the National Guard is sure to increase in the future, the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs need unfettered and unmediated advice about how to utilize the force, whether balancing both the domestic and overseas missions of the National Guard or using the Guard to support the Nation's governors in domestic emergencies. Given this need for greater input on Guard matters, it is only logical that the leadership within the National Guard should be the ones doing the advising. And, as the Guard becomes more active within the military's total force, it only makes sense to increase the number of Guard generals at the highest reaches of the military command, where key force management decisions are made.

At the same time, the National Guard is in a position to deal with some of the basic missions at home that are simply not being address by the Department of Defense. We have some real heroes at the recently established Northern Command, which is working with various civilian agencies to prevent another attack at home. Yet, the processes to deal with the mission of having military support of civilian authorities in domestic emergencies are as yet undefined.

Northern command, meanwhile, is taking only perfunctory input from the nation's governors who, along with local officials, will bear much of the responsibility in disaster situations. Five years after September 11, we cannot wait to give more definition to how the military will support civil authorities in an emergency, and we cannot wait until an actual emergency to inform State governors about what resources are available to them. With some new authorities, we can give the Guard the mission of leading the effort to support civilian authorities at home and in working with the States and governors to plan for such disasters.

Elevating the National Guard bureaucratically, increasing the quality advice on the Guard to the senior command, and improving response to domestic emergencies are exactly what the provisions of the National Guard Empowerment Act will accomplish.

First, the National Guard Empowerment Act elevates the Chief of the National Guard Bureau from the rank of lieutenant general to general with four-stars, with a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This move will give the Nation's governors and adjutants general a straight line of communication to the Joint Chiefs Chairman, the Secretary of Defense, and the President. Having personnel with more knowledge and experience with the Guard involved in key budget and policy deliberations, the branches of the active duty services will be less willing to try to balance budgets on the back of the reserve forces like the Guard, which only goes against our overall ability to respond.

Second, the act gives the National Guard the responsibility of working with the States to identify gaps in their response capabilities, of setting equipment requirements, and procuring these much needed items. The act will ensure that a National Guard commander is the deputy commander of Northern Command and that the Guard--and thus, in turn, the governors--work in tandem with the command to set out specific plans to support our elected and civilian leaders in an emergency.

Let me be clear about what this legislation does not do. The Guard Empowerment Act does not make the National Guard a separate armed service. The Guard will remain an integral partner of the Army and the Air Force. Nor is the act some kind of wanton power grab. Instead, the act would bring the National Guard's bureaucratic position in line with what it is already doing and what we will expect of it in the future. Passage of the act will, utmost, not disturb or undermine our defense arrangements. Rather, it will empower the entire military to deal with critically important problems that it is simply not addressing.

This legislation has been carefully crafted over the past year and a half, and it incorporates the input we received from the adjutants general, the National Guard leadership, the governors, and key officers across the defense establishment. I would like to submit for the Record letters of support from the National Guard Association of the United States, the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, and the Adjutants General Association of the United States.

This drive to empower the Guard is also gaining momentum in Congress. Since 9/11 we have been asking the Guard to do more and more, and they have superbly handled their dual role at home and abroad. But strains are showing in the system. The Guard is a 21st century military organization that has to operate under a 20th century bureaucracy. The Guard's ability to help the Nation is limited only by the resources, authorities, and responsibility we give it. Let us put the trust in the men and women of the Guard that they have deserved and earned, by giving them the seat at the table that they need.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that letters of support be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I am pleased today to join Senators Rockefeller, Kohl and Schumer in introducing legislation to end the use of so-called ``authorized generics'' during the 180-day period that Congress intended for true generic market exclusivity. Authorized generics are nothing more than repackaged brand name drugs purporting to be a generic, but without the benefit of a true generic's lower cost. This practice is anticompetitive and anti-consumer.

Amendments to the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984, enacted as part of the Medicare Modernization Act (Title XI, PL 108-173) in 2003, generally grant a generic company that successfully challenges the patent of a name brand pharmaceutical company 180 days of marketing exclusivity on that generic drug. Having co-sponsored those amendments, I know that they were designed to give greater incentives for generic manufacturers to bring generic drugs quickly to the market, thus promoting competition and lowering prices for consumers.

In 2005, Senators Grassley and Rockefeller and I raised concerns about the practice of manufacturing authorized generics. We feared that practice could have a negative impact on competition for both blockbuster and smaller drugs, because the generic industry would be less inclined to invest in their production. According to a recent Generic Pharmaceutical Association study, our fears were well founded: Authorized generics diminish Hatch-Waxman incentives for generic firms to challenge brand name patents, resulting in higher consumer prices.

The legislation we introduce today bars brand name drug firms from producing ``authorized generics.'' Slapping a different name on a patented drug and calling it generic is not real competition, and it saps incentives from real generic drug makers to compete by making lower-cost generic drugs. Consumers deserve the lower costs and real choices of truly generic medicines.

I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make this good bill into a good law.

Mr. President, I rise today to address a pressing issue that deserves our immediate attention: the improved protection of children on the Internet. That is why, at the beginning of this Congress, I authored and introduced S. 431, the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators, or KIDS, Act.

The increasing popularity of social networking Web sites and their ready availability to children has made these sites potential hotbeds for sexual predators, who can easily camouflage themselves amidst the throng of users on these sites, while furtively pursuing their own despicable designs. In the 21st century, just as we protect children in our physical neighborhoods, we must protect them in our online communities as well. The KIDS Act, S. 431, is a bipartisan bill that does just that.

The KIDS Act requires convicted sex offenders to register their e- mail addresses, instant message names, and all other Internet identifiers with the National Sex Offender Registry. The Department of Justice, DOJ, would then make this information, on a qualified basis, available to social networking sites to compare the catalogued identifiers with those of their users. And it will do so in a way that carefully preserves the privacy of the users of any such Web site.

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, SORNA, passed as part of the Adam Walsh Act, granted the Attorney General the authority to require the registration of certain identifying information, 42 U.S.C. 16914(a). While DOJ recently exercised its authority to collect ``other information required'' to issue final rules concerning the collection and release of Internet identifiers, this legislation permanently mandates that certain Internet identifier information be required in the registration process.

The amended bill continues to exempt Internet identifiers from public disclosure by States or DOJ.

The amended legislation requires the Attorney General to ensure that there are procedures in place to notify sex offenders of changes in requirements.

The legislation clarifies the definition of ``social networking site'' to assure that access to Internet identifiers is targeted to the bill's purpose of protecting children from solicitation by sex offenders on social networking sites. Sites may obtain information from DOJ only if they are focused on social interaction and their users include a significant number of minors. A ``significant number'' of minors, of course, clearly does not mean that the majority of users, or even a substantial minority, must be minors to qualify a Web site to participate, nor does it mean any particular quantity. The intent here is simply to permit the participation of any Web site that draws many minors; otherwise the law's purpose and effectiveness would be undermined.

As amended, the bill further allows social networking sites to employ contractors to assist with the checking process, but intends that these contractors will be subject to the same requirements that protect privacy interests.

The legislation still sets out a system for checking Internet identifiers and includes more robust privacy protections. Web sites may obtain a list of offenders' Internet identifiers from DOJ but only in a protected and secure form. Only after making a match can the Web site view the Internet identifier in unprotected form and request specific additional items of personal information about the registered sex offender. Web sites will require this additional information in order to ensure that people who are not registered offenders are not wrongly blocked from using their Web sites.

Moreover, as a qualification for the use of the checking system, social networking Web sites must provide the Attorney General a description of policies and procedures for protecting all shared information and policies for allowing users the ability to challenge their denial of access. This mechanism seeks to ensure a process to identify and remove false positives from sex offender registries. If a Web site discovers incorrect information, the Web site is required to inform DOJ and the State registry so that they can correct the information.

There is now a new section modifying minimum standards required for electronic monitoring units used in the sexual offender monitoring pilot program established under the Adam Walsh Act. DOJ agrees that this change is needed. This will open up program participation to many more States and companies.

The legislation no longer includes the stand-alone criminal offense for knowing failure to register an Internet identifier. That provision was deemed unnecessary because existing law clearly criminalizes the failure to register information that the Attorney General requires convicted sex offenders to register under SORNA. The KIDS Act, relying on section 114(a)(7) of SORNA, specifically mandates that this required information include Internet identifiers. Thus, under the existing SORNA framework, as enhanced by the KIDS Act, failure to register Internet identifiers as required will be treated as any other registration violation punishable under 18 USC Sec. 2250(a)(3).

This bill represents a vital step toward giving both law enforcement and businesses the tools they need to protect children from online sexual predators and toward making the Internet a safer place for children to communicate with their peers.

The use of the Internet as a communications tool will continue to expand, and it is important that we put safeguards in place, so that our children can continue to benefit from advances in communications technology without putting them in harm's way.

I thank the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, MySpace, Facebook, Enough is Enough, RAINN, the American Family Association, the National Association of School Resource Officers, and the American Association of Christian Schools for endorsing the KIDS Act. I thank my colleagues for their support of this important bill and urge the President to sign it quickly into law.