House Passes Walberg-Backed Bills to Help Vulnerable Children, Combat Human Trafficking

Washington, D.C.—Today, the House passed the Improving Support for Missing and Exploited Children Act, bipartisan legislation Congressman Tim Walberg co-sponsored and helped advance through the Education and the Workforce Committee. H.R. 1808 strengthens efforts of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to recover missing children and support youth who are the victims of violent crimes. Click here to watch Congressman Walberg's remarks on the House floor.

"Abuse and exploitation of children robs them of their childhood and a chance to reach their full potential in life. No child should experience this most heinous of crimes," said Congressman Walberg. "The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children plays a critical role in helping vulnerable children, and this bipartisan bill will support and enhance their work to carry out their vital mission. To take additional steps to protect the most vulnerable, the House also passed important measures to crack down on the perpetrators of human trafficking and help victims rebuild their lives."

In addition to H.R. 1808, the Improving Support for Missing and Exploited Children Act, the House also passed the following bills so far this week to protect the most vulnerable:

H.R. 695, Child Protection Improvements Act
Ensures that youth-serving organizations have access to national background checks on prospective staff and volunteers through the FBI's database.

H.R. 883, Targeting Child Predators Act
Protects valuable information used to prosecute and convict child predators by requiring Internet Service Providers to wait 180 days before notifying customers in child predator cases that law enforcement officials requested information attached to a specific IP address.

H.R. 1188, Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act
Reauthorizes the two primary programs of the Adam Walsh Act—the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and Sex Offender Management Assistance Program—for five years and makes targeted changes to make the system more efficient and just.

H.R. 1625, TARGET Act
Authorizes the State Department and law enforcement agencies to target international human traffickers by offering financial rewards for their arrest or conviction.

H.R. 1809, Juvenile Justice Reform Act
Reauthorizes the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act to better support states and local entities as they explore and implement ways to serve at-risk youth and juvenile offenders.

H.R. 1842, Strengthening Children's Safety Act
Makes communities safer by enhancing penalties for sex offenders who fail to register in the national sex offender registry when they have a prior state conviction for a violent crime.

H.R. 1862, Global Child Protection Act
Combats global sex tourism by closing loopholes that allow child predators to go unpunished for their abuse of children overseas.

H.R. 2473, Put Trafficking Victims First Act
Provides training to prosecutors on investigating and processing cases with a trauma-informed and victim-centered approach, and encourages states to provide appropriate services to victims of trafficking.