Combatting Child Exploitation Act of 2008

Senate Bill 1738 Unanimously Passed

In the midst of the current financial crisis and the need for Congress to hold extended sessions in order to deal with these matters, the United States Senate has also taken the time to unanimously pass Senate Bill 1738, which is now known as the "Combatting Child Exploitation Act of 2008".

Lead sponsors for this Bill are Senator Joe Biden (D), Senator Orrin Hatch (R), Representative Wasserman Schultz (D), and Representative Joe Barton (R), making this a truly bipartisan bill.

Many said it would not happen, that it could not be done. Most people were resigned to having this matter swept under the rug as more and more news of financial distress and bailouts dominated the airwaves and demanded the attention of Congress.

However, more than half a million Americans contacted their state senators, pleading with them to make the passage of Senate Bill 1738 a priority. Our senators heard our voices and unanimously passed the bill.

This proves, once again, that caring people are not passive. When the media is properly used, as in the airing of this matter on the Oprah Winfrey Show, people will respond in order to pass laws to better protect our children. Most of us truly are motivated by the needs of others, especially when those needs involve the protection of vulnerable, innocent children.

According to information on Protect.org, only 2% of these crimes are currently being investigated as hundreds of thousands of children are being sexually abused and exploited, many in real time, as pedophiles watch the vile acts being perpetrated against the child.

The technology is already available which will allow police officers to pinpoint the location of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. The only thing missing was the funding which would set up computer forensic labs, improve the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and hire enough police officers to follow through and place these individuals under arrest, thereby releasing innocent children from their captors.