Norton on House Floor Presses Her Bill for Collecting and Publishing National Demographic Data on Missing Children

*Watch Norton's Floor Remarks*

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today spoke on the House floor to urge consideration of her bill (H.R. 2096) to require the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to collect and publish broad demographic characteristics, including race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, of missing children. Norton pressed for her bill as the House debated H.R. 1808, the Improving Support for Missing and Exploited Children Act. She believes she can get provisions of her bill included in that bill before it is signed into law.

"There has been an increase in public awareness in the District of Columbia and across the nation of the often underreported issue of missing children, particularly African American girls," Norton said. "My bill updates the demographic subsets of children recorded, many of whom are the most susceptible to sex trafficking and other forms of exploitation."