Hawley’s Legislation Combating Child Exploitation Passes Out of Committee, Included in Reconciliation

The Renewed Hope Act now heads to Senate floor following committee vote WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) provision to crack down on child exploitation advanced out of the Senate Homeland Security Committee as a part of the GOP reconciliation bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Senator Hawley successfully included his language to allocate $108.5 million for hiring 200 child exploitation investigators and forensic analysts. Currently, DHS has only seven forensic analysts for these cases. The effort follows key advocacy from former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, who testified to Senator Hawley’s subcommittee in March about the desperate need for more resources and tools at the federal level. The GOP reconciliation bill is expected to be taken up by the Senate later this week. “This will be a tremendous step forward to be able to do something very tangible and very immediate to help children who have been harmed in the worst possible way by the online world,” said Senator Hawley. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) plays a critical role in combating child exploitation online, yet currently lacks sufficient staff and resources to fully execute its mission. In a recent Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, Tebow testified that 338,000 unique IP addresses have downloaded, shared, or distributed child rape images in the United States in just a matter of months, but just a handful are being investigated. In addition, testimony revealed that as many as 89,000 unidentified child victims appear in these horrific materials. Senator Hawley’s provision, modeled on the Renewed Hope Act , will provide HSI with a generational investment to both identify and rescue these unidentified children. The provision would allow HSI to: Hire 40 new forensic analysts at the Victim Identification Laboratory at the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit of HSI Hire 30 new child exploitation investigators at the Victim Identification Laboratory of the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit of HSI. Hire 130 additional forensic analysts and child exploitation investigators at the offices of the Special Agents in Charge Establish a dedicated training program in victim identification for federal, state, and local law enforcement to better coordinate investigations