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A bill to fund a federal program that aims to combat the online sexual exploitation of children received near-unanimous support in a House vote on Tuesday—with the exception of a single Republican.
The PROTECT Our Children Act of 2022, which will reauthorize the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program for state and local law enforcement agencies, was passed in a 421-1 vote. The bill had been approved by the Senate in November.
The only House lawmaker who voted against the legislation was GOP Rep. Tom McClintock, who currently represents California's 4th district but won the state's redrawn 5th district in November's midterms.
In a statement to Newsweek, McClintock explained he voted against the bill over concerns about how the $60 million set aside in next year's federal budget for the initiative would be spent.
"Although the cause is vitally important, as with most grant programs, there is no independent audit of its effectiveness," McClintock told Newsweek.
"My observation is that much grant money disappears into the salaries of various groups and agencies who will write glowing reports of their work and apply for more grants next year."
McClintock said that such grants are now become the third biggest expenditure of the federal government, behind only Social Security and national defense, and their worth need to be scrutinized.
"We give away a half-trillion dollars a year in this manner—roughly $4,000 from an average family's taxes—with little oversight, little accountability, little follow-up and little results. Meanwhile, the problems they are supposed to solve seem to get worse," the congressman added.
The bipartisan bill was co-sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, including John Cornyn (R-TX), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), among others.
"Law enforcement officers need access to every available tool to prevent the perpetrators of online child exploitation from committing future abuse," said Sen. Cornyn in a statement issued after the bill was approved by the House.
"By providing the necessary resources to counter the pervasive threat of cyber-crimes, this bill would help law enforcement respond to the alarming number of children who are targeted, and I urge the president to sign this legislation into law as soon as possible."
Sen. Blumenthal added: "The PROTECT Our Children Act supports law enforcement by helping identify online child exploitation and investigate abusers and predators. Reauthorizing the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program is critical to this important mission."
The act will now be sent to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it.
The PROTECT Our Children Act, originally passed in 2008, paved the way for the creation of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program, a national network of 61 coordinated forces representing thousands of state and local law enforcement agencies that are dedicated to investigating and developing effective responses to internet crimes against children.
The PROTECT Our Children Act is supported by child protection organizations including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and Rights4Girls.
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more