Overview
- The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted 8-5 Tuesday to fold $108.5 million for child-exploitation work into a roughly $72 billion Department of Homeland Security reconciliation bill.
- The plan funds 200 hires at Homeland Security Investigations, including 40 forensic analysts and 30 investigators at the Victim Identification Laboratory plus 130 more in field offices.
- It also creates a victim-identification training program for local, state, and federal police and blocks using the money for immigration or customs enforcement.
- Backers, including Tim Tebow, cite a severe staffing gap as reports flagged 338,000 U.S. IP addresses sharing abuse images and up to 89,000 unidentified child victims.
- The package now heads to the Senate floor this week after Chairman Rand Paul moved to table Sen. Maggie Hassan’s bid to shift Secret Service upgrade funds to the same mission.