Herrera Beutler doesn't care about abducted children?

Normally we always ask the other side to respond, but we are going to go out on a limb here and say we’re pretty sure Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler does care about abducted children.

But this is a press release sent out last week by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:

“DCCC Press” dccc_press@DCCC.ORG 3/17/2011 1:38 PM >>>

AMBER Alert Program Placed in Jeopardy by Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler’s Vote

After there have been 532 children successfully recovered as a result of the Department of Justice’s AMBER Alert Program, Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-03) voted today to cut critical AMBER Alert infrastructure making it harder to safely recover an abducted child. In her partisan zeal to defund NPR, Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler opposed an effort to protect NPR’s vital role in disseminating AMBER Alerts. The AMBER Alert program is a partnership between law-enforcement and broadcasters that activates an urgent bulletin in child-abduction cases. Under an agreement with the Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NPR was designated as a disseminator of AMBER Alerts.

“It’s unbelievable that Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler would put at risk the critical infrastructure to disseminate AMBER Alerts that save abducted children’s lives,” said Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “In the latest partisan zeal from Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, she literally voted to put children’s lives at risk. Everyone knows we need to cut spending and reduce the debt, but no one should think damaging the AMBER alert system is an acceptable way to do it.”

Background

Today, Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler opposed a measure to ensure that NPR would still be able to “receive Federal funds to broadcast or otherwise disseminate alerts issued by the AMBER Alert communications network regarding abducted children.” The amendment was offered by Representative Betty Sutton. [H.R. 1076, Vote #191, 3/17/11]

AMBER Alerts Save Lives. According to the DOJ’s AMBER Alert website, there have been 532 successful recoveries with 120 total Amber Alert plans nationwide. In calendar year 2009, 207 AMBER Alerts were issued in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands involving 263 children. Of those 207 cases, 166 resulted in a recovery, 45 of which were successfully recovered as a direct result of those respective AMBER Alerts being issued. [Department of Justice, AMBER Alert statistics; 2009 AMBER Alert report]

NPR is designated as a disseminator of Amber Alerts via arrangements with the Department of Justice and the National Center for Exploited Children. [Rep. Sutton Floor Remarks, 3/17/11]

For Immediate Release, March 17, 2011

CONTACT: Jennifer Crider & Jesse Ferguson (202) 485-3440