Top Democrat objects to Josh Hawley’s proposed legislation for tougher sentences for child pornographers

"Reserving the right to object, I have to ask myself, why now? Why does the junior Senator from Missouri bring this bill to the floor of the United States Senate today?" said Durbin.

Durbin continued on to state that the child pornography sentencing guidelines were originally considered in 1984, and considered again in 2003, 2005, and 2012.

"We know in 2012, the Sentencing Commission said to Congress and to the world, you need to do something here. These guidelines that you promulgated don't reflect the reality of today. We know as well that the guidelines were written, some were written, in an era when the materials we're talking about were physical materials, and we now live in a world of internet and access to not just tens and hundreds but thousands of images, if that is your decision," he continued.

Durbin continued on to say that Hawley has brought forth this legislation now solely because Congress is considering the nomination of Jackson to the Supreme Court.

"I don't know exactly how many years the Senator from Missouri has been in the Senate, but to my knowledge, this is his first bill on this subject that he has presented in the last few weeks, and I wonder why. Why now?" Durbin said.

"Are there valid questions about sentencing guidelines? Certainly, there's no question about it. I said as much and he quoted me. The Sentencing Commission told us over a decade ago, in 2012, you've got a problem here. The world has changed, and the law doesn't reflect it. But this is the first time to my knowledge that the senator from Missouri, or any Republican senator, has tried to enact legislation on the subject. Why now?" Durbin said. "Well, I know why."

"Because we are now considering the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. And this senator has suggested over the course of the last two weeks in hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, that somehow this judge, this judge aspiring to the Supreme Court, is out of the mainstream when it comes to sentencing in child pornography cases," said Durbin. "It's no coincidence that the Senator from Missouri comes to the floor today, while judge Jackson's nomination is pending on the Senate calendar, and has been discharged from our committee by a bipartisan vote of the Senate last night."

Following Durbin's objection to the bill, Hawley wrote on Twitter: "I just went to the Senate floor to try to pass a bill toughening sentences on child pornographers. And the Democrats blocked it, again calling the child porn crisis a 'conspiracy theory.' And that tells you everything you need to know."

Hawley’s bill, called the "Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act," or the "PROTECT Act Bill of 2022," would implement harsher penalties for those convicted of possessing child pornography, and prohibit judges from issuing sentences lower than the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The bill amends Section 3553(b)(2) of title 18 of the United States Code, and states that those convicted of a child pornography offense should receive a sentence "that is not less than the minimum period in the sentencing range."

The bill's introduction came after the Senator grilled Jackson over her seemingly lenient sentences in a number of cases involving child pornography offenders, where she sentenced them to time less than federal guidelines.