Child Predators Accountability Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. 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.

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Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. 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.

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