Proposed Aid To Child-Safety Group Riles Colleagues
By Andrew Noyes

Controversy is brewing over a House-passed Internet bill that would direct $25 million to a nonprofit provider of online child safety curricula over a five-year period. Child-safety advocates complain that it is unfair to funnel that much money to a single organization.

The legislation, H.R. 4134, would authorize $5 million annually through 2012 for Carlsbad, Calif.-based i-Safe. The House passed it by voice vote Tuesday, less than a week after California Democrat Linda Sanchez introduced it.

In an attempt to pacify critics, the legislation also would direct $5 million annually to the Justice Department for a competitive grant program whereby other Web safety groups could vie for funding, said Michael Torra, Sanchez's chief of staff. A Senate companion bill has not been introduced, he said.

"Authorizing i-Safe ensures that this program, which has already helped over 3 million children in all 50 states, will be able to continue its work," Sanchez said Wednesday. The group has a "proven track record for teaching kids how to be safe on the Internet."

Torra said i-Safe has received $11 million in appropriations since 2002, but the measure is the first stand-alone bill introduced to authorize an amount. The group did not receive an earmark in fiscal 2007 and, if the Senate does not pass the bill, it will be without federal money in fiscal 2008, an i-Safe spokesman said.