Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. 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.

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