(WASHINGTON) -- ``Congress has a duty to make sure that federal aid to public schools and libraries isn't the means by which kids are exposed to hard-core and child pornography -- and passing the Children's Internet Protection Act (S.97) is a sure-fire way for Congress to safeguard our kids,'' said Jan LaRue, senior director of Legal Studies at Family Research Council (FRC). ``We appreciate the work of the Conference Committee and the desire of Congress to wrap up the session, but this needs to be brought to the floor now.''

The Children's Internet Protection Act is part of the House-Senate Conference Report on the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill. The bill requires public schools and libraries that accept a federal subsidy for Internet access to utilize blocking technology that restricts access to illegal pornography. ``According to the bill, schools and libraries that receive a federal subsidy may use it to pay for filtering technology, but the decision on the selection and administration of filtering would be left solely in the hands of local school and library officials,'' Mrs. LaRue said.

``People who are opposed to mandatory filtering are misinformed and out-of- date with new technology, because no site or information is ever permanently blocked. If a site is wrongly blocked, it can be unblocked within a few minutes by the school or library server, or within 24-48 hours by the filtering company or Internet service provider. That poses no greater burden on students or library patrons than when a book they want is checked-out, unavailable, or misfiled. Schools and libraries have never provided unlimited access to all of the books and information in the world, so why is unlimited and immediate access to all information required on the Internet?

``Who in their right mind thinks the government should provide kids with access to bestiality and all of the other pornographic perversions available on the Internet?'' Mrs. LaRue asked.

In addition to FRC, the Children's Internet Protection Act is strongly supported by several other conservative pro-family groups, including Focus on the Family, American Family Association, Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, National Law Center for Children and Families, Enough is Enough, and Morality in Media. The groups joined in a letter sent to Congress today urging passage of the bill by the end of the session.