Missing Children’s Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023

Mr. Speaker, I thank Madam Chair, Ms. Foxx, very much for the time.

Mr. Speaker, every 40 seconds in America a mother or father will experience the worst nightmare, a missing child. The reason can be as benign as a simple misunderstanding or a serious abduction by a stranger.

In fact, nearly half a million children are reported missing every year, but astonishing as that number is, the real number could be much higher since many children are not reported missing.

However, Mr. Speaker, it didn't always used to be this way.

In the 1970s when I grew up--hard to believe that--but when I grew up in the 1970s, I remember that we had unfettered play activities outside as long as you are home before the streetlights came on. We were there for dinner. Unsupervised outdoor activity was a safe, integral part of adolescence and we lived in a high-trust society. Though, over time that image of society slowly faded away due to several high-profile child abductions, including the tragedy of Adam Walsh.

Now, the world feels much less safe.

Each year, threats to our children grow just as the avenues for reaching them are expanding. Predators are more sophisticated about how they gain access to children, their actions are more brazen, and those threats have found a way into our homes.

The proliferation of the internet and smartphones have enabled child sex trafficking and other forms of child exploitation. Consequently, the number of reports of online photos and videos of children being sexually abused is at record levels.

Bottom line: Our children deserve to grow up in a safe environment. It is our duty to protect our most precious and vulnerable citizens and for our law enforcement to be prepared to respond efficiently and quickly when the unthinkable happens.

That is where the Missing Children's Assistance Act, the MCAA, comes in. Enacted in 1984, the MCAA allowed the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, to serve as the national resource center with the goal of protecting children from abduction, exploitation, and abuse.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children helps locate missing children and provides support for victims of abduction, exploitation, and abuse. The organization works tirelessly to prevent these tragedies from occurring in the first place, creating a safer world for our children.

Here are some numbers, Mr. Speaker, and they are big numbers, too. In 2023, NCMEC received 148,695 calls, and the organization assisted law enforcement, families, and child welfare with 28,886 cases of missing children, recovering 88 percent of those cases. For 40 years, NCMEC has led the fight to protect children across the Nation, recovering more than 400,000 missing children.

By supporting NCMEC, we contribute to the safety and well-being of all children, ensuring they can grow up in an environment where they are protected, nurtured, and allowed to flourish.

That is why I am proud to join Representative Joe Courtney to introduce the companion to this bill. The Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023 makes critical updates to help the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children better support youth who are missing, to reduce child sexual exploitation, and to prevent child victimization. This bill also provides critical transparency requirements to better assess the performance of specific scientific techniques and NCMEC's forensic partners to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Specifically, this bipartisan, bicameral bill will improve NCMEC's ability to assist law enforcement to:

Identify, locate, and recover missing and exploited children;

Develop educational materials to reduce the risk of child sex trafficking, online enticement, sexual extortion, and cyberbullying;

Provide education and technical assistance to help conduct background checks on individuals working with children;

Offer support to missing and exploited children and their families; and

Facilitate requests to have child sexual abuse materials removed from the internet.

As the father of three, I can't imagine the pain of having a missing or exploited child. It is why I am voting ``yes'' on this bill, the Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023. I strongly urge the entire body, all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to join me and support this bill and uphold our solemn duty to shield children from exploitation and danger.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2051) to reauthorize the Missing Children's Assistance Act, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on S. 2051.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act, which authorizes the support for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC. NCMEC is the national clearinghouse and resource center for protecting missing and exploited children.

Protecting our country's most vulnerable children has long been a national priority. That is why Congress created the Missing Children's Assistance Act, MCAA, in 1984 to provide Federal coordination of State and local efforts to recover and support missing and exploited children.

At the opening ceremony for NCMEC, President Reagan proclaimed, ``All Americans, and especially our youth, should have the right and the opportunity to walk our streets, to play and to grow and to live their lives without being at risk.''

Ever since, NCMEC has dutifully served as the national resource center to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation, and prevent child victimization. Reauthorizing the MCAA is imperative in today's times of unparalleled and evolving threats to children, both online and out in public.

S. 2051, the Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023, is bipartisan legislation that renews the MCAA through fiscal year 2028 and takes critical steps in helping NCMEC better respond to crimes affecting children across the country.

A companion bill, H.R. 5224, was introduced in the House by Representatives Bean and Courtney, and I thank them for their work on this important issue.

S. 2051 would improve NCMEC's ability to assist law enforcement to identify, locate, and recover missing and exploited children; develop educational materials to reduce the risk of child sex trafficking, online enticement, sexual extortion, and cyberbullying; provide education and technical assistance for conducting background checks on individuals working with children; offer support services to missing and exploited children and their families; and facilitate requests to have child sexual abuse material removed from the internet.

In fact, NCMEC's commitment also extends globally, collaborating with international organizations to combat the issue of child exploitation. Such collaborations ensure a united effort against international trafficking threats, particularly in a world increasingly interconnected online and ever evolving with the advent of artificial intelligence.

When President and CEO of NCMEC Michelle DeLaune was asked by the Education and the Workforce Committee at a recent hearing how concerned on a scale of 1 to 10, she was

about AI threats to children, DeLaune responded an 11.

Earlier this year, Big Tech CEOs testified before the Senate and received sharp criticism for rampant child exploitation on their platforms. Those CEOs have blame to share, but the House of Representatives has a duty to fulfill.

Passing the Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023 means we will ensure NCMEC has the tools needed to protect America's most vulnerable children today and in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bean), Chairman of the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

The successes of NCMEC over the past 40 years and the need for its continued funding have been well established. Today, NCMEC, with its 450 employees, operates a unique public-private partnership that is the essential formula for effective governance, working with families, law enforcement, schools, community leaders, and nonprofits.

In 2023 alone, NCMEC received 148,695 calls, and the organization assisted law enforcement, families, and child welfare with 28,886 cases of missing children and recovered 88 percent of those cases.

With the passage of S. 2051, the Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023, we can ensure continuing success for

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2051. All children deserve a safe, loving home and to have their basic needs met.

When a child goes missing or suffers abuse, families experience unimaginable pain and horror. For children, the trauma is much worse. Many survivors of exploitation or abuse suffer physical and mental harm that can impact them for the rest of their lives.

This pain has grown in recent years. We have seen a disturbing exponential rise in reported exploitation and child abuse cases, particularly online. For example, in 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, received a staggering 36 million reports of child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation from public and electronic service providers, such as Facebook or Google on its CyberTipline.

Members from both sides of the aisle have long agreed that NCMEC is essential to protecting and supporting exploited children, as well as restoring hope to parents and loved ones. Today, NCMEC is working diligently to keep pace with innovative technology and get ahead of evolving threats to our children's safety.

I am grateful that our colleagues Representatives Courtney and Bean came out together to introduce the Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act, which makes several improvements to NCMEC that the Chairwoman outlined a few minutes ago.

The bottom line is that we are working to renew the authorization of NCMEC's grant program and to ensure that they have the necessary tools to protect America's most vulnerable children.

Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I support the legislation and urge my colleagues to support it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney), a senior member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Vulnerable youth are at heightened risk of endangerment. Additionally, LGBTQ+ youth face disproportionate rates of experiencing homelessness, often caused by fleeing abuse or rejection by family members. No child should be in harm's way or exploited because of who they are. The majority of missing child cases reported to NCMEC involve endangered runaways.

Importantly, NCMEC works with a diverse group of stakeholders, uses trauma-informed practices, and uses a case management approach to ensure that it meets the needs of each child individually, taking into consideration their diverse needs.

I am grateful to Representatives Courtney and Bean for introducing the House companion bill. This legislation makes several important improvements to NCMEC's grant program and, importantly, reauthorizes it. I call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues to rise today in strong support of the Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023. This bill is the Senate companion to H.R. 5224, which I co-led with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bean), a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

This bipartisan legislation renews the Missing Children's Assistance Act and makes critical updates to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, to find missing children, reduce child exploitation, and prevent child victimization.

Since Congress first authorized the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children through the MCAA in 1984, NCMEC has assisted in over 400,000 cases to successfully recover missing children. In 2022 alone, NCMEC assisted law enforcement, families, and child welfare agencies with 27,644 cases of missing children who were recovered.

Again, NCMEC operates critical programs to help these children, including a 24-hour toll-free hotline, a cyber tip line to report suspected child exploitation, and a forensic science unit to help find long-term missing children.

NCMEC is also essential to combat child abuse and exploitation online, which is growing at an exponential rate, as we heard from my colleagues on the floor a few minutes ago.

Unfortunately, the Missing Children's Assistance Act and the authorization of NCMEC expired at the end of fiscal year 2023. Letting the authorization for NCMEC continue to lapse will put the safety of children at risk, which is particularly troubling as there has been a disturbing and exponential increase in reports of child abuse and exploitation, particularly online.

As we have heard from Chairwoman Foxx, the bill doesn't just merely reauthorize the law. It also introduces updates and improvements to allow NCMEC to perform its duty with higher efficiency.

Mr. Speaker, NCMEC has made a big impact on the State of Connecticut. I know that because my wife, Audrey Courtney, is a pediatric nurse practitioner at Connecticut Children's Hospital, working in its child protection unit. That unit provides highly skilled medical help to victims of child abuse and assists law enforcement in the apprehension, arrest, and prosecution of perpetrators. NCMEC is instrumental to her work and the work of her highly skilled and diligent colleagues.

Hopefully, Mr. Speaker, someday we will reach a time when there is no need for NCMEC. Unfortunately, we are not there today in 2024. Therefore, it is our solemn duty to America's vulnerable children to move forward and pass this bill. I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Madam President, I understand the Senate has received the House message to accompany S. 2051.

I ask the Chair lay before the body the House message to accompany S. 2051.

The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 2051) entitled

``An Act to reauthorize the Missing Children's Assistance

Act, and for other purposes.'', do pass with an amendment.

Motion to Concur

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate concur in the House amendment to S. 2051 and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.