For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 27, 2003
Statement by the President
As we take steps abroad to make the world a safer place for all, there are
important steps we can take at home to make America a safer place for
children.
I commend the House for acting today on legislation that will help
expand, enhance, and coordinate the successful Amber Alert system
across our nation. I look forward to legislation reaching my desk as
quickly as possible so that I may sign it into law.
The prevention and investigation of child abductions will always be
a top priority in my administration. That is why my administration
began taking steps last year to expand and improve the Amber Alert
system, including allocating existing federal resources to this effort
and appointing a federal coordinator within the Department of Justice.
Protecting our children is a shared priority for the American
people and federal, state and local authorities. We must use every
resource possible to find and safely return missing children to their
families and their homes, just as we will continue to use every tool
within the law to vigorously prosecute and severely punish those who
would do our children harm.
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