U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., and John Walsh, founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, made the following statement after the Senate passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006:

“Today, the Senate took a giant step forward to keep America’s children safe. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act will protect our children from predators lurking in their neighborhoods or enticing our children online. As a father of three sons, I am proud to have worked with John Walsh to help honor the memories of so many children who have been taken from us by violence. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Childhelp and my colleagues worked tirelessly on this critical legislation, and I look forward to the House passing this important bill and the president signing it into law next week.”

Three weeks ago, Sen. Frist set July 27, as the goal for completing a child predator’s bill. This date coincides with the 25th anniversary of the tragic abduction and murder of Adam Walsh, the six-year-old son of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children founders John and Revé Walsh.

"This may be the toughest piece of child protection legislation in 25 years and a great example of bipartisan politics,” said Mr. Walsh. “The passage of this bill is a testament to Majority Leader Frist's leadership and the hard work of so many others."

There are more than 550,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, but more than 100,000 are currently unaccounted for and may be victimizing other innocent children. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 creates a national sex offender registry which will close loopholes in the current system that allow some sex offenders to evade law enforcement and put our children at risk.

The legislation also contains provisions that will protect children from violent crime and sexual exploitation, toughen criminal penalties for crimes against children, prevent child abuse and child pornography, and combat internet predators.

Statistics on child abuse, neglect and assault:
Of the estimated 24 million child Internet users, one in five has received unwanted sexual solicitations.

One in five girls and one in 10 boys will be sexually victimized before adulthood.

Every day, four children die as a result of child abuse and neglect.

A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds.

Child pornography is an estimated $20 billion commercial industry fueled by the Internet.

Senator Frist Floor statement from this evening:
http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Speeches.Detail&Speech_id=440