“It is our obligation to protect our children against child sexual exploitation. We must provide the necessary resources to protect our most vulnerable citizens – children - so they will not fall victim to such despicable acts.”

Sen. Shelby founded and serves as co-Chairman of the Senate Caucus on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children. He also founded the Financial Coalition to Fight Child Pornography, which works with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and its international organization to combat the dissemination of child pornography.

On October 13, 2008, the Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2008, which was cosponsored by Senator Shelby, was signed into law. This measure combines the PROTECT/Combating Child Exploitation Act and the SAFE Act to make improvements to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the CyberTipline reporting system used by NCMEC.

While serving as ranking member of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee (CJS), Senator Shelby secured $325.7 in the fiscal year 2010 CJS bill for programs to combat child abduction and exploitation. This funding includes the following programs:

• Federal Bureau of Investigation Innocent Images Program - $52.7 Million
• Child Sexual Predator Elimination Grant Program - $12 Million
• DNA Initiative and Forensic Sciences Funding - $186 Million
  • $151 million for Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Reduction Initiative
  • $35 million for Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Grants
• $30 Million for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
• $5 Million for Jimmy Ryce Law Enforcement Training Center
• $30 Million to combat internet crimes against children
• $3 Million for the Missing Children Office within the Department of Justice
• $5 Million for the AMBER alert program
• $2 Million for management and administration