(WASHINGTON, DC) – Congressman Dennis Moore (Third District -- Kansas) voted for a bill today that creates a national network of AMBER Alert systems to aid in the recovery of abducted children. The legislation passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 410-14.

The AMBER (America’s Mission Broadcast Emergency Response System) Plan is a partnership between local broadcasters and law enforcement agencies. It was created in Dallas-Fort Worth after the tragic abduction and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington, Texas in 1996. The missing child alert program has now expanded to 30 local plans and 37 statewide plans.

“I am pleased we are working toward the goal of child safety,” Moore said. “While this is a positive step, a stand alone bill could have been passed today and signed by the President tomorrow. Instead, this process will cause unnecessary delays.”

The Child Abduction Prevention Act (H.R. 1104) includes provisions from the Frost/Dunn bill (H.R. 412) that focused solely on AMBER Alert. The Senate passed a stand alone AMBER Alert bill in January by a vote of 92-0. It would formally establish a national AMBER Alert coordinator at the Department of Justice, create grants to fund communications systems, such as electronic highway message boards and authorize grants to help train and educate police.

H.R. 1104 also addresses lifetime supervision for sex offenders, increased penalties for sex crimes against children and prohibitions on sex tourism. Because these other provisions were included, the bill will now go to conference for further debate instead of directly to the President.

The AMBER Alert bill gained momentum following the safe recovery of 15-year-old Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City. Her father, Ed Smart, has championed efforts to strengthen the AMBER Alert system by providing state and local AMBER Alert plans with important resources.

“I can’t express enough how our children can’t wait another day for the National AMBER Alert to be signed into law by President Bush,” Ed Smart wrote in a letter to legislators. “Please, please, please pass the stand alone AMBER Alert legislation NOW.”

Moore helped establish the Kansas City AMBER Alert program in 1999 as one of the first in the nation. The system has contributed to the safe return of a 16-month-old child and a 4-year-old child. In response to the success of the Kansas City program, Kansas launched a statewide Amber Alert program in October 2002.

“I was Johnson County District Attorney for 12 years. I saw child kidnappings that might have ended sooner and with a better result if an Amber Alert system had been in place,” Moore said. “That’s why I led the effort to bring Amber Alert to Kansas City and why we should implement the program nationwide.”