Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman Sensenbrenner) for his leadership on this issue, and I would also like to extend my appreciation to the chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), for introducing this bill and for all of his leadership on this issue.
I am proud to serve as a member of the Subcommittee on Crime where the bill was first heard, and also to be a cosponsor of H.R. 3209.
Mr. Speaker, our communities are struggling every day to meet the demands of our citizens and prepare for all kinds of potential terrorist attacks. They are working around the clock to develop and strengthen protocols to respond swiftly and safely in the event of an attack.
But our communities are doing all of this with very limited resources. Every time a threat is identified, authorities spring into action, donning protective gear, bolstering hospital staffing, coordinating local, State, and Federal efforts, and calling upon additional law enforcement personnel to respond.
These reports from our citizens are critical. We certainly want to encourage people to continue to be vigilant and report suspicious activity. A false alarm, however, is a false alarm. But every time a suspected threat turns out to be a hoax, it costs the taxpayers an enormous amount.
In Los Angeles, a man who phoned in an anthrax threat because he wanted to avoid appearing in bankruptcy court that day, his call succeeded in shutting down the court and the courthouse, and cost taxpayers $600,000.
In addition to closing down the very functioning of government, it is a tremendous waste of our precious resources. The resources that could be going into prevention and training are wasted. The manpower that is required to respond to a hoax is wasted. The funding that could be used to hire additional emergency personnel is wasted.
While millions of dollars are going into the effort to combat terrorism, we frankly do not have a dollar to waste. We simply cannot allow reports that come from hoaxes to clog up the investigation of other potentially life-threatening dangers. Our citizens need to be acutely aware that hoaxes have consequences. It shakes our sense of safety; the fear that many citizens are struggling to cope with continues to grow as a result of hoaxes; there are financial consequences; and there are community consequences. There ought to be criminal consequences.
The Anti-Hoax Terrorism Act of 2001, H.R. 3209, would create criminal and civil penalties for falsely reporting a chemical, biological, or nuclear threat. This would include threats that are in written or verbal form, as well as those communicated through physical actions. It is legislation that should not be necessary, but, regrettably, is certainly needed now. Those who would prey on the fears of the American public should be punished.
As America works to regain its footing and return to as much of a normal life as possible, hoaxes only serve as a cruel joke on the American public. Those who would commit the ultimate prank on this Nation must be aware that they are, in effect, serving as accomplices to terrorism. They are interrupting murder investigations, and they are obstructing justice.
According to the FBI, there are an estimated 7,000 agents spread out across the country investigating possible sources and suspects in the anthrax attacks. Can we really afford to have even one of those agents pulled off the killer's trail because of a hoax?
Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow these hoaxes to go unchallenged. We do not have a minute to waste, we do not have a dollar to waste, we do not have an investigator to waste, we do not have a citizen to waste. The time for anti-hoax legislation is now. I urge the House to adopt the strongest possible measure.
Again, I want to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman Sensenbrenner) and the gentleman from Texas (Chairman Smith) for bringing this bill to the floor today.