Hawley Urges Senate to Pass His Provision Included in Reconciliation Bill to Rescue Trafficked Kids

Hawley Urges Senate to Pass His Provision Included in Reconciliation Bill to Rescue Trafficked Kids

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

WASHINGTON - In a floor speech today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) urgedhis colleagues to pass his provision added to the GOP reconciliation package to rescue trafficked children. This comes after Senator Hawley successfully included his language in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill to allocate $108.5 million for hiring 200 child exploitation investigators and forensic analysts. The GOP reconciliation bill to fund DHS is expected to be taken up by the Senate sometime this week.

"In the Homeland Security Funding Bill that this body will take up in short order, there is the largest investment in anti-child trafficking in the history of this body," said Senator Hawley. "This is a moral challenge for this body to stand and protect the most vulnerable among us, our children, to stand and protect those who need it most. To say that we will no longer sit back and make excuses, but we will act to save, we will act to rescue, we will act to help the weak, we will act to save children."

Senator Hawley thanked his friend Tebow for partnering with him on the legislation, saying, "I particularly want to thank my dear friend and a terrific advocate for children across this country, Tim Tebow. Together, he and I worked on this legislation to create these 200 new investigators to get out there and go rescue kids, new programs for state and local law enforcement, and with his support and the support of my colleagues, it is now in this legislation. I hope in 48 hours' time or less, Mr. President, that we will be able to say we have voted to send these rescuers out onto the streets. We have voted to save these children. The time is now."

Senator Hawley's provision, modeled on the Renewed Hope Act, will provide HSI with a generational investment to both identify and rescue these unidentified children. The provision would allow HSI to:

• Hire 40 new forensic analysts at the Victim Identification Laboratory at the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit of HSI
• Hire 30 new child exploitation investigators at the Victim Identification Laboratory of the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit of HSI.
• Hire 130 additional forensic analysts and child exploitation investigators at the offices of the Special Agents in Charge
• Establish a dedicated training program in victim identification for federal, state, and local law enforcement to better coordinate investigations

Watch the full speech HERE.

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