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Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 25, 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Minors and Children Criminal Justice


EFFECTIVE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY PROSECUTION ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - September 25, 2008)

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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the bill we are considering today combines two bills the House passed last November to strengthen the Justice Department's ability to prosecute child pornography. The first fixes a glaring loophole in the Federal statute prohibiting possession of child pornography, which a Federal appeals court last year said requires as an essential element of the offense proof that the images, here kept on a computer desk, had actually crossed State lines.

Our colleague, Nancy Boyda of Kansas, introduced H.R. 4120 to clarify that this statute covers conduct ``in or affecting interstate commerce,'' not just ``in commerce.'' This small change will have great legal significance, allowing that statute to reach the full extent of Congress' commerce clause powers.

Trafficking in child pornography is national and international in scope, and even conduct that may appear wholly intrastate necessarily affects interstate commerce. This will ensure that our laws reach to their maximum extent, and it is important, because child pornography is one of the worst things that exists in our culture.

The Senate also inserted another House-passed bill, H.R. 4136, introduced by Chris Carney of Pennsylvania. It adds child pornography proceeds to the money laundering statutes and fixes another loophole that allowed Internet users to get around the laws against possessing child pornography simply by not downloading or saving the images.

Mr. Speaker, these two combined measures will be a tremendous help in the effort to put a stop to this disgusting, abominable exploitation of children and to bring to justice those who traffic in it.

I want to commend Congresswoman Nancy Boyda and Congressman Christopher Carney for their sustained commitment to pursuing this effort so that we can see it enacted into law now.

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