Casey Calls For Hearing In Wake Of Penn State

Citing the Penn State scandal, Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is pushing for a hearing to discuss strengthening laws that require Americans to report incidents of child abuse.

“The tragic events reported from Penn State have been a shock to the nation’s conscience,” Casey said in a statement. “It is clear we need to examine the federal laws that are designed to protect children from this type of heinous abuse.”

The Pennsylvania Democrat sent a formal request to Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the Chair and Ranking Member of a Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families.

Meanwhile, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) said today that she will soon file legislation that would end federal funding to public institutions that fail to report incidents of sexual abuse.

“The failure of top university officials to act on reports of Mr. Sandusky’s alleged sexual misconduct, even after it was reported to them in graphic detail by an eyewitness, possibly allowed a predator to walk free for years - continuing to target new victims,” Jackson Lee said in reference to former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. “Equally disturbing is the lack of action and apparent lack of concern among those same officials, and others who received information about this case, who either avoided asking difficult questions or chose to look the other way. My legislation will hopefully put an end to situations like this.”

This report was updated at 10:54 a.m.