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Version 55 · Passed Senate · Sep 29, 2025
Strengthening Child Exploitation Enforcement Act
This bill makes changes to federal criminal laws related to various offenses, particularly sexual abuse offenses against minors.
The bill revises the federal kidnapping statute by specifying that obtaining a victim by defrauding or deceiving a third party constitutes the offense of kidnapping. Additionally, for a kidnapping offense that involves a victim who has not attained the age of 16, the bill specifies that it is not a defense that the victim consented to the conduct of the offender, unless the offender establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the offender reasonably believed that the victim had attained the age of 16.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
The bill also revises statutes related to sexual abuse offenses against minors to specify the following:
that crossing international lines with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a child who has not attained the age of 12 constitutes aggravated sexual abuse (currently, the statute only references crossing state lines),
that the offense of sexual abuse of a minor also includes knowingly causing the intentional touching of any person by a person who has not attained the age of 16, and
that attempting to commit abusive sexual contact is also a crime that is subject to the same penalty as the completed offense.
People & committees
Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] · R–TX
Legislative record
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Held at the desk.
Received in the House.
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text: CR S6843-6844)
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
Senate Committee on the Judiciary discharged by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S6843-6844)
Senate Committee on the Judiciary discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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