REPORT Act

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 474, the REPORT Act. I am pleased to cosponsor the House version of this legislation with my colleague and friend from Florida. I thank Representative Lee for her leadership on this bill. The REPORT Act would strengthen the ongoing collaboration between law enforcement and technology providers to combat sexual exploitation of children.

The exploitation of children through the proliferation of child sex abuse material, frequently referred to as CSAM, can be stopped only with cooperation across many different sectors of American society, from law enforcement to victims' groups to local leaders and technology providers.

The REPORT Act would enable this cooperation and encourage much greater reporting to the CyberTipline, operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC.

This legislation would also modify how photos and videos of child sex abuse are stored by providers, would change reporting requirements for platforms, and would give law enforcement more time to investigate these cases. By making updates to the law, the REPORT Act will help law enforcement evolve with the threat, as consumption of child sexual abuse content permeates new technology spaces.

Advancements in technology, from generative AI to social networking platforms, clearly benefit society. Technology has brought us cutting- edge medical and therapeutic breakthroughs, the ability to keep in touch with loved ones far away, and opportunities for budding entrepreneurs and artists who leverage technology to reach their audiences without costly barriers to entry.

However, there is also a dark side. Law enforcement experts and victims' advocates agree: Advancements in technology have led to an explosion of images depicting child sexual abuse available and distributed online.

Demand for new and more egregious photos and videos drives the market for this material, resulting in the continued grotesque abuse and exploitation of children.

Through their comprehensive efforts, the Internet Crimes Against Children, or ICAC, task forces, which represent more than 5,400 local, State, and Federal law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies, are making progress in identifying and rescuing victims of child sex abuse material.

However, the growth of the problem continues to outpace the resources

available to identify and locate victims, especially since law enforcement, prosecutors, the tech industry, and other organization must continually contend with the emergence of new technologies, like AI, which further complicates their efforts.

Under the process for reporting child sexual abuse material today, electronic service providers, or companies that offer a platform through which users can communicate, are required to report instances of CSAM to the CyberTipline. After a tip is reported, the company works with NCMEC to share relevant information. NCMEC reviews the incoming reports and then refers them out to the appropriate law enforcement agency, typically a regional ICAC task force.

To date, NCMEC reports that the CyberTipline has received more than 92 million reports since it began in 1998, the majority of them from electronic communication service providers.

NCMEC's Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed more than 331 million images and videos. That is more than 25 million images each year. That is grotesque. While most children reflected in the images remain unknown, more than 19,300 victims have been identified.

I commend the successes of NCMEC and other law enforcement agencies in identifying and rescuing victims, but we cannot be satisfied while so many CSAM victims remain unidentified. That is why the REPORT Act is an important first step to increasing the effectiveness of CSAM reports and better protecting victims from child sexual abuse.

The Senate passed this bill by unanimous consent, with the support of law enforcement groups, the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC, and technology providers. With passage of the bill today, the next stop will be President Biden's desk.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Lee for her extraordinary leadership to protect all of our children.

In conclusion, the REPORT Act takes an important step toward combating the proliferation of child sexual abuse material online and protecting victims from future abuse. I thank Representative Lee for her leadership in introducing the House version of this bill. I am proud to cosponsor it with her. I thank our Senate partners for sponsoring this legislation. This is about our children.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 474) to amend title 18, United States Code, to strengthen reporting to the CyberTipline related to online sexual exploitation of children, to modernize liabilities for such reports, to preserve the contents of such reports for 1 year, and for other purposes.

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 S. 474, the bill now under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, the bill we are here to discuss today is the Revising Existing Procedures on Reporting via Technology Act, or REPORT Act.

This is a strong bipartisan bill that provides additional tools to investigate and catch criminal purveyors of child sex abuse material, or CSAM.

The exploitation of children through CSAM remains a serious problem both within the United States and abroad. We have heard extensive testimony about these issues in our two victims' focused hearings in the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance of the Judiciary Committee, one in September and one earlier this month.

Reports of CSAM continue to grow exponentially, with 3,000 reports in 1998 growing to more than 1 million in 2014 and 36.2 million in 2023.

We have gaps in Federal law that prevent the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC, from preserving reports of CSAM, which hinders law enforcement from holding these predators accountable.

With the growing proliferation of CSAM on the internet, NCMEC, Homeland Security investigations, and other entities that protect children need additional support and investigative tools to bring these predators to justice.

The REPORT Act will extend the duration for which evidence submitted to the CyberTipline is preserved from 90 days to 1 year.

This will allow law enforcement agencies the much-needed time to conduct comprehensive investigations and strengthen the legal framework against online predators.

This bill will strengthen existing law that requires providers to report to law enforcement as soon as reasonably possible after obtaining information about CSAM.

Currently, many providers maintain an adequate reporting system. However, the REPORT Act will increase fines for companies that fail to meet these standards and will further penalize companies that repeatedly fail to report exploitative contact.

I thank all of the advocates who helped us get where we are today with this bill, including the American Conservative Union, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, International Justice Mission, Rights4Girls, PACT- USA, Raven, the Tim Tebow Foundation, and so many more.

I cannot thank them enough for all that each of them does to protect and advocate on behalf of child victims in both the United States and abroad.

I also thank my colleagues across the aisle for their support of this bill, including Representative Madeleine Dean, Representative Lucy McBath, and Representative Glenn Ivey.

Lastly, I thank law enforcement for their tireless efforts to protect children, including Homeland Security Investigations and the Internet Crimes Against Children task forces across the country.

This legislation will make a significant impact on our ability to investigate and prosecute child predators. I am thrilled this bill passed out of the Judiciary Committee 23-0, and I am thrilled to see it brought before this Chamber for a vote today.

Simply put, the legislation is crucial. It is supported by law enforcement, advocacy groups, and tech companies alike. It is bipartisan, it is common sense, and it will save lives.

I urge all my colleagues to pass the REPORT Act and take this important step to protect children.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Dean. It was a privilege to cosponsor this important legislation with her.

I urge my colleagues to support this important bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I submit to the Senate a budget scorekeeping report. The report, which covers fiscal year 2024, was prepared and submitted as a letter by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. This information assists the Senate Budget Committee in determining if budgetary points of order lie against pending legislation.

CBO's report shows the effect on spending and revenues of congressional action through April 15, 2024. Between CBO's last report on December 13, 2023, and April 15, 2024, Congress passed eight pieces of legislation with effects on direct spending or revenue. These include two appropriations bills passed in March, P.L. 118-42 and P.L. 118-47, that completed the fiscal year 2024 appropriations cycle in line with the bipartisan agreement enacted last summer.

CBO's report included three tables, tables 1, 2, and 3. Tables 1 and 2 show that current budgetary levels are within allowable amounts for budget authority and outlays. The allowable levels include an adjustment for the Senate-passed national security supplemental, P.L. 118-50, which had not yet

been enacted into law when the table was prepared. These tables also show that revenue is below the allowable amount, due to the rescissions of IRS mandatory funding in the last appropriation bill, P.L. 118-47, which reduces revenue and increases the deficit.

Table 3 shows the Senate's Pay-As-You-Go scorecard, which reflects $36.4 billion of net deficit increase, entirely due to IRS funding rescissions.

The Democratic staff of the Budget Committee prepared three addendum tables to supplement CBO's report, tables A, B, and C.

Table A compares the mandatory spending of each authorizing committee against the enforceable allocations under section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act. It shows that 11 of the 16 authorizing committees are compliant with their allocations, either because no legislation with significant budgetary costs was enacted, the legislation was deficit-neutral and qualified for an allocation adjustment that was subsequently filed, or the legislation reduced spending.

Table B updates CBO's table 1, the Senate current level report for spending and revenues, to reflect the enactment of P.L. 118-50, the national security supplemental, which was passed by the House and Senate and was signed into law by the President after CBO prepared its report.

Table C updates CBO's table 3, updating the Senate Pay-As-You-Go scorecard to reflect six bills that have passed by the House and Senate since the release of CBO's report, five of which have been signed into law by the President.

I ask unanimous consent that CBO's letter, accompanying tables, and the addendum be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I expect that the Senate will soon pass by unanimous consent the Blackburn-Ossoff REPORT Act. This bill will strengthen the Nation's centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children, operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to better protect children from online sexual abuse and exploitation. Senators Blackburn and Ossoff worked closely with me to make important changes to this bill to require that the upgraded CyberTipline be secured consistent with Federal cybersecurity best practices, so that hackers are not able to steal and then distribute the extremely sensitive images and videos documenting abuse that are stored in this system. I sincerely appreciate their partnership on this important issue.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 85, S. 474.

I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendment be withdrawn; that the Blackburn substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.