WASHINGTON, DC— U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) commended the Senate Committee on the Judiciary for holding a hearing today entitled “Helping Law Enforcement Find Missing Children.” Senator Casey has introduced bipartisan legislation to help locate missing children.
“Today’s hearing calls attention to the fact that we need to do more to assist law enforcement officials as they investigate cases of missing children. My bill addresses one part of this issue, clarifying that the IRS has the authority to release information to aid in missing children investigations,” said Senator Casey. “I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on the Committee on the Judiciary to advance legislation that will enable more missing children to be reunited with their families.”
Senator Casey is the author of S. 246, the Recovering Missing Children Act, a bipartisan bill to aid in the recovery of missing children by providing a new tool to help law enforcement officials locate missing children and their alleged abductors. The legislation amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit the disclosure of relevant tax return information explicitly for the purpose of aiding criminal investigations into missing or exploited children.
Senator Casey also sent a letter in December to Attorney General Eric Holder and IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman asking the Department of Justice and the IRS to work with each other and with Congress to improve the resources available to law enforcement officials.
The hearing featured witnesses from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and others.
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