Defense package including legislation to protect kids online stalls in Senate
The National Defense Authorization Act now includes a measure to combat online child sex abuse material, proposed by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, but Democrats refused to advance the act Tuesday in…
The National Defense Authorization Act now includes a measure to combat online child sex abuse material, proposed by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, but Democrats refused to advance the act Tuesday in protest to the ongoing war with Iran.
“I said, if they want my vote for the defense bill, they need to include this important legislation to protect kids, to protect victims of child porn and to get child porn off of the tech platforms,” Hawley told Heartlander News Thursday.
Hawley’s STOP CSAM Act would restrict online child exploitation and allow victims to sue Big Tech platforms for exposing them to such material, according to a press release. Hawley said he and his wife are among the millions of American parents who are terrified of online sexual predation.
“We need to help parents and victims. And this bill would do it,” Hawley said. “It would take child porn off of the internet, off of these platforms, and it would give victims of child porn the right to sue companies that put the porn on their platforms.”
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, co-led the legislation, which unanimously passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in June 2025. Hawley negotiated to include the act in the NDAA – an annual “must-pass” policy package that designates $1.15 trillion in defense funds for fiscal year 2027. The bill would provide $1.1 trillion to the Department of Defense, $41 billion to the Department of Energy and $11 billion to other defense-related policies, according to The Hill.
But the Senate failed to reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to open voting on the NDAA Tuesday. Senators voted across party lines, except Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, who voted no in order to reintroduce the act at a later time.
Hawley did not discuss the NDAA’s temporary pause but called his bill “the toughest bill ever to pass related to child porn and the internet,” adding that he hopes the package passes soon.
“We’ve got to get the porn off of the internet for our kids,” he said. “We’ve got to stop people from tracking our kids online, and we’ve got to give parents the right to stop predators who are coming after our kids on these digital platforms.”
