February 10, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H1123 believe it’s important to advocate on I reserve the balance of my time. As a Nation, we are not judged by the behalf of all victims, especially our Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speak- way we treat the rich, the famous, the seniors. This is why I am a cosponsor er, I yield such time as he may con- powerful, the important folks that live of this important piece of legislation to sume to the sponsor of this legislation, among us; but we as a community in protect our elders. a former admiral, the gentleman from this Nation are judged by the way we Elder abuse is a serious issue facing Pennsylvania (Mr. SESTAK). treat the most vulnerable among us, the country, and whether abuse is hap- Mr. SESTAK. The previous bill was the weak, the innocent, the children, pening in homes or senior care facili- on Alzheimer’s. And, in my district, I and the elderly. That is how we will be ties, we must do what we can as a Na- had one of those patients. A few years judged as a Nation. It is important tion to protect these seniors. I believe ago, he was beat six times with a belt that we then pass this legislation to that because seniors are often unable buckle. One of his neighbors had de- help protect those innocent among us, to defend themselves from mistreat- mentia, and he was defrauded of $84,000 and in this bill it happens to be the el- ment and abuse, that we must work to- four months before he passed away. It’s derly. I urge adoption of this bill. gether to prevent violence from occur- why I submitted the Elder Abuse Vic- I yield back the balance of my time. ring in the first place. tims Act. Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speak- Currently, people over the age of 50 This incidence of elder abuse, wheth- er, prior to yielding back, I would like make up 12 percent of the Nation’s er it’s physical, financial, moral, de- to glance over at the other side of the murder victims and 7 percent of other grading—and I mean sexual—or these aisle and recognize my good friend, serious and violent crime. Our eldest types of exploitations are only growing Judge POE, who is probably well famil- seniors, 80 years of age and over, are in numbers. In my State of Pennsyl- iar with elder abuse and this general abused and neglected at three times vania, the third oldest in the Nation, topic, he having been a trial court the rate of all other senior citizens. between 2006 and 2007, and then 2007 judge down in Beaumont, Texas. Mr. H.R. 448, the Elder Abuse Victims and 2008, the incidences increased 39 Speaker, I strongly emphasize my sup- Act, sponsored by Representative percent. port of this legislation. SESTAK, helps protect our older Ameri- Yet, we are really not sure how many I yield back the balance of my time. cans from this type of abuse. Specifi- incidents there are. My colleague from The SPEAKER pro tempore. The cally, the bill authorizes the Depart- Georgia cited numbers may be more question is on the motion offered by ment of Justice to provide grants to than 51⁄2 million. But we don’t know. At the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. JOHN- State and local law enforcement agen- least 84 percent of them are reported to SON) that the House suspend the rules cies, prosecutors, and courts, to assist be unreported. and pass the bill, H.R. 448, as amended. in the investigation and prosecution of The issue is that we truly need to The question was taken. elder victimization. step back and have a look, a com- The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the In addition to physical abuse, these prehensive review of all the States and opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being grants also include identity theft, mail the agencies that are intent upon ad- in the affirmative, the ayes have it. fraud, and telemarketing fraud as dressing this issue to some degree and Mr. SESTAK. Mr. Speaker, on that I types of elder abuse. H.R. 448 author- come up with one uniform type of defi- demand the yeas and nays. izes the Department of Justice to also nition and standard by which we could The yeas and nays were ordered. award grant funding to local law en- begin to build up the correct reporting The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- forcement agencies and first responders requirements we need in order to prop- ant to clause 8 of rule XX and the that assist in locating the elderly that erly address this issue. Then we need to Chair’s prior announcement, further are missing. These grants will support step over and recognize that we do proceedings on this motion will be programs that monitor older Ameri- well, and need to do even better, for postponed. cans in an effort to prevent them from our women. f facing future harm. We appropriate $540 million towards In addition, the bill instructs the violence against women, and $6.9 bil- NATIONAL SILVER ALERT ACT OF Justice Department to carry out a lion for child abuse, but then recognize 2009 study of State laws and procedures re- it’s only a bit over $100 million for sen- Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speak- garding elder abuse and neglect and ex- ior abuse. And while we need to do er, I move to suspend the rules and ploitation. The study will give us a bet- more in those areas, we need to bring pass the bill (H.R. 632) to encourage, ter idea of where we stand and what this one up to a higher level for our enhance, and integrate Silver Alert more we can do as a Nation to address seniors. plans throughout the United States, to this serious problem. I speak in support of this growing authorize grants for the assistance of H.R. 448 also directs the Department population of ours. I do so because it organizations to find missing adults, to create a long-term plan on how to was well laid out by both sides of the and for other purposes. better prevent and detect elder abuse. aisle here that in addition to this one The Clerk read the title of the bill. The plan is also to focus on the treat- uniform comprehensive set of defini- The text of the bill is as follows: ment of victims, as well as to evaluate tions and standards, that we then need H.R. 632 current elder abuse programs. the proper grants given to the law en- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep- Mr. Speaker, everyone has a grand- forcement, as well as the prosecution, resentatives of the United States of America in mother, and the thought of our grand- as well as the victim advocacy citizens Congress assembled, mothers being neglected and abused is that are trying to do their best to ad- TITLE I—SILVER ALERT outrageous. Nothing made my blood dress this. COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK boil more as a judge to see a case where So, in conclusion, I speak in support SECTION 101. SHORT TITLE. some elderly person has been assaulted of this bill because I think Hubert This title may be cited as the ‘‘National and their case was on trial. Humphrey probably had it best: The Silver Alert Act 2009’’. Older Americans, whether they are moral test of a government is how well SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS. our parents, our grandparents, or our it does not only for those in the dawn For purposes of this title: neighbors, hold an important place in of life—the children—and those in the (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each our society. They have lived long lives shadows of life—the sick and the dis- of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and given much to their communities abled, the handicapped—but also those the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the and their families. The acts of abuse in the twilight of life, our seniors. United States Virgin Islands, Guam, Amer- ican Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the against them are intolerable, and they And so I request the support of all on deserve the protection that we can give Northern Mariana Islands. this bill. (2) MISSING SENIOR.—The term ‘‘missing them under H.R. 448. b 1845 senior’’ refers to any individual who— We passed a similar bill under sus- (A) is reported to, or identified by, a law pension in the last Congress, and I urge Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I enforcement agency as a missing person; and my colleagues to support this legisla- yield myself such time as I may con- (B) meets the requirements to be des- tion. sume. ignated as a missing senior, as determined VerDate Nov 24 2008 02:10 Feb 11, 2009 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K10FE7.088 H10FEPT1 wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with HOUSE H1124 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE February 10, 2009 by the State in which the individual is re- promoting Silver Alert plans, which shall in- (1) the issuance of alerts through the Sil- ported or identified as a missing person. clude— ver Alert communications network; and SEC. 103. SILVER ALERT COMMUNICATIONS NET- (A) to the maximum extent practicable, (2) the extent of the dissemination of alerts WORK. representation from the various geographic issued through the network.