Child Predators Accountability Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6715) to prohibit sexual exploitation and sexually explicit depictions of minors, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6715.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the state of child protection in our Nation and around the world is deeply alarming and demands our immediate and undivided attention.

Sadly, in today's world and today's age, child sexual abuse material, better known as CSAM, has never been more prevalent.

According to a study from February 2025, 1 in 12 children worldwide have been subjected to online sexual exploitation or abuse. Even more troubling: The vast majority of child sexual abuse, over 90 percent in many documented cases, is perpetrated by someone whom the child knows or is related to, whether family members, trusted adults, or acquaintances.

These are not distant strangers. They are often people with direct access to our children, making the betrayal all the more heartbreaking.

We, in Congress, have a duty to act decisively. We must commit ourselves fully to making the internet and our entire society a safer place for America's children and children everywhere.

My bill, the Child Predators Accountability Act, strengthens the criminal code to hold perpetrators accountable and to protect our children.

Under current law, the definition of ``sexually explicit material'' requires that a child be engaged in sexually explicit conduct for the material to qualify. This narrow wording has created a dangerous loophole.

In one egregious case, a defendant produced a sexually explicit video that included a child who was merely present, passive, and not actively participating. Since the child was not deemed to be ``engaged in'' the act, the conviction for distributing CSAM was overturned. The predator was let off the hook for using a child due to a technicality in the statute.

Mr. Speaker, this cannot stand. We cannot allow one rogue case to lead to a domino effect of bad case law and less protection for these vulnerable children. No predator should escape accountability simply because they included a minor in the frame but did not physically touch or direct them in the explicit conduct.

Such content is profoundly abusive. It exploits the child's presence, dignity, and vulnerability for depraved purposes. It inflicts lasting harm and deserves to be unequivocally classified as CSAM.

My bill delivers a precise, necessary fix. It amends the law to clarify that the depiction of a minor would qualify

as sexually explicit conduct, regardless of whether the minor participated in such conduct, if the defendant intentionally included the minor in the visual depiction. This closes a loophole and equips prosecutors and law enforcement with clearer tools that will ensure justice for the victims.

The Child Predators Accountability Act is a straightforward, commonsense measure that will help hold exploiters accountable and prevent future abuses.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join with me in defending our children by voting in favor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Arizona.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the members of the Committee on the Judiciary for unanimously supporting this bill in markup. I am grateful for my colleagues who have all risen to speak today and to the ranking member and leadership on the other side that have worked together with us.

Mr. Speaker, I urge swift passage of my legislation, the Child Predators Accountability Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am rising in strong support of H.R. 6715, the Child Predators Accountability Act of 2025.

Mr. Speaker, the decision that the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina references out of the Seventh Circuit, United States v. Howard, threatens to significantly limit prosecutors' ability to hold some of the worst child predators to account legally. The question may appear to be technical, but the human consequences are grave and brutally simple.

Title 18 of the United States Code, section 2251(a), criminalizes the production of child sex abuse material. For decades, prosecutors have used the law to target predators who prey on children or who produce ghastly images of child sex abuse, but the Seventh Circuit's ruling in the Howard case in 2020 jeopardized prosecutors' ability to go after these dangerous people until they actually abuse the child and create an image of the abuse.

The Howard decision narrowed the scope of section 2251(a), holding that the mere physical presence of the minor in a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct does not automatically violate the statute. To obtain a conviction for production of CSAM in the Seventh Circuit, the child in the photo, video, or image must themselves be engaged in the explicit conduct.

This is an absurd reading that we can and must legislatively resolve. The Howard ruling undermines the ability to prosecute common scenarios involving the surreptitious recording of kids; for example, when criminals plant concealed cameras in bathrooms, locker rooms, and bedrooms to record sexually explicit images of children who are unaware that they are even being filmed.

Criminals who record themselves sexually violating very young children, such as infants and toddlers, who are too young to understand that they are being filmed in sexually explicit scenarios could also conceivably avoid prosecution under the pinched reasoning of the Howard decision.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6715 would make clear that even the passive use of a child in the production of child sex abuse materials is a crime, and it will eliminate any confusion caused by the Seventh Circuit's ruling in Howard.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support the legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. McBath), my good friend who is the ranking member on the Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Georgia.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we seem to have the bipartisan convergence that we need to reverse the error of the interpretation that is in the Howard decision to make sure we can always hold accountable the perpetrators of this seriously corrosive crime.

H.R. 6715 strives to right this wrong, and I am proud that we are acting in a bipartisan way to do that. I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his work on this bill and the bipartisan work from the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, which has worked on this, and I appreciate that very much.

The ranking member, the whole committee, and the entire Committee on the Judiciary has banded together, which if you ever watched the Judiciary Committee, you would know that this is a remarkable time.

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the support that we have here because anyone who exploits a child for sexual purposes must face full accountability and must face the full measure of the law.

There cannot be loopholes or technicalities that would let predators slip through the cracks, and when we find them, this body has to fix that. Protecting minors from sexual exploitation remains a core priority for our Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance.

A recent decision by the Seventh Circuit in United States v. Howard exposed a dangerous gap in current law. Both of the previous speakers have spoken to that, but that really is the crux of this. The court overturned a conviction for producing child sexual abuse material because the minor--a sleeping, clothed child--was merely present in the video, not touched, actively involved, or engaged.

In that case, the defendant filmed himself in sexual conduct near his 9-year-old niece. The court ruled that he did not use her under existing statute because she was passive. That interpretation is utterly unacceptable.

Predators should not evade justice simply because the child whom they exploit is unaware. The harm is real. The intent is clear. This loophole weakens 18 United States Code, section 2251(a), and related statutes, making it harder to prosecute offenders and easier for exploiters to walk free and then exploit others and create more victims.

The Child Predators Accountability Act of 2025 closes this gap by clarifying that a minor is engaged in sexually explicit conduct when the offender intentionally includes the child in the depiction, even passively. This is a straightforward, bipartisan fix that ensures that Federal law captures these heinous acts and imposes the penalties that they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, I commend law enforcement for their tireless work of protecting children, and I commend the work of this committee and the lead sponsor of this bill, Mr. Harris.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6715 so that every child predator is fully held to account. Let's do this today. Let's get it out of the Senate quickly and get it up to the President's desk to be signed and enacted immediately.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Raskin for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6715, the Child Predators Accountability Act of 2025.

The safety of our children is foundational to a secure and just society. Yet this foundation is broken every time a child is victimized.

Due to narrow interpretations, prosecutors have sometimes been required to prove that a child was visibly, actively participating in sexual conduct in order to bring charges, but exploitation doesn't always look the same. A child does not have to be visibly active for harm to be real, lasting, and devastating.

Tell me, what would it mean for the child victims if we required more?

The properly named Child Predators Accountability Act makes an important and very necessary clarification for a circuit split that could allow predators to evade justice. By making it uniformly illegal to depict a minor in sexually explicit material, regardless of whether that child appears to be actively participating, this change strengthens the law so that predators can no longer hide behind technical loopholes while continuing to exploit our children, making sure that anyone who dares to prey on the most vulnerable will face consequences for their crimes. This legislation would clarify Federal standards nationwide and restore consistency in how these horrific offenses are prosecuted, ensuring that justice does not depend solely on geography or jurisdiction.

The protection of our children from monstrous crimes transcends political television. I call on each and every one of my colleagues to pass this legislation and send a very clear and strong message that the exploitation of children will be met with the full, unyielding, inescapable force of justice. This bill empowers law enforcement and prosecutors by giving them unified and stronger tools to pursue cases and dismantle these exploitation efforts.

Mr. Speaker, when the law is clear, justice can move more swiftly and more effectively, allowing

victims to begin the long process of healing with the knowledge that their government is standing with them and for them.

This legislation is about protecting the most vulnerable among us.

The time for action is now. I support the Child Predators Accountability Act, and I urge all my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6715, the Child Predators Accountability Act, and I thank my colleague from North Carolina for his leadership in advancing this important legislation.

Protecting our Nation's children is among the most solemn responsibilities entrusted to Congress.

Our criminal statutes must be clear and effective so that individuals who exploit children are held fully accountable under the law. When ambiguity exists, it can undermine enforcement and allow dangerous conduct to fall outside the reach of existing statutes.

Recently, a court decision in United States v. Howard highlighted a technical gap in Federal child exploitation law, one that exposed the need for greater clarity in how certain conduct is defined and prosecuted.

In that case, the Court interpreted existing statutory language in a way that limited accountability, even though a child's image was used in sexually exploitative conduct.

Mr. Speaker, that outcome underscores an important reality. A child is harmed whenever their image is intentionally placed into a sexualized setting. The absence of physical contact or active participation does not eliminate the harm or the violation.

This is an issue that I have personally heard about from law enforcement officers who work on these cases every day. I commend Mr. Harris, Chairman Biggs, and Chairman Jordan for ensuring that we address it through the Child Predators Accountability Act, and I thank my colleagues for joining with us in this important work.

H.R. 6715 closes a dangerous loophole. It restores clarity, strengthens enforcement, and reaffirms our commitment to protecting children and upholding justice.

Mr. Speaker, there should be no ambiguity when it comes to the criminal nature of the sexual exploitation of children. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6715.