Courtney Announces the Recovering Missing Children Act Passes the House

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) announced that the bipartisan Recovering Missing Children Act which he co-leads with Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) passed the House of Representatives late last night with unanimous consent. The bill will allow law enforcement, with a warrant, to access tax returns that would help investigators locate abducted children. Law enforcement is currently granted similar access to IRS records when investigating some federal crimes such as terrorist acts, or tracking down a fugitive, but not in missing children investigations. The Senate is expected to pass the bill and send it to President Obama.

"I am pleased that this important piece of legislation was able to gain strong bipartisan support in the House,” said Courtney. “My colleague Rep. Erik Paulsen and I first introduced this bill in 2011, and have remained strong advocates for its passage since that time. Missing children investigations are incredibly complex and challenging for our law enforcement officials to solve. This bill will provide them with important tools and make new information available that can help to generate leads in these difficult cases. I hope the Senate will now quickly take up this legislation so that we can get law enforcement the resources they need to bring these children home safely.

“Critical information that would help locate abducted children is right at law enforcement’s fingertips, but they aren’t able to access it,” said Paulsen. “The Recovering Missing Children Act fixes this problem by allowing investigators in missing children cases to use resources that could lead directly to the child and abductor. This bill is about bringing these children home and reuniting them with their loved ones.”

Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, said: “The Recovering Missing Children Act will add the special case of a missing child to the current list of circumstances in which the IRS may release tax information. Missing children cases are complex and difficult to solve. Giving law enforcement access to these specific tax documents could significantly increase the chances of success. It is for that reason we strongly support the bill.”

The Recovering Missing Children Act is supported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children along with law enforcement organizations like the Fraternal Order of Police, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, the National Association of Police Officers, and the Major County Sheriffs Association. A 2010 New York Times piece titled ‘I.R.S. Sits on Data Pointing to Missing Children’ which discusses the issue in depth is available here.

The bill is expected to be quickly passed by the Senate before being sent to President Obama’s desk for his signature.

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