About the bill
Apparently some forms of child selling are still legal under federal law.
Context
It is illegal under federal law to provide or facilitate child prostitution. However, a loophole still allows the sale of a child for non-sexual purposes, such as financial gain or black market adoptions.
News stories of the sort include a Mississippi woman who tried selling her two-week-old grandson for $2,000 and a car, and a Texas woman who sold her 7-year-old son for $2,500 to pay off drug debts.
Although some states have criminalized all forms of child sales, such a blanket ban does not currently exist under federal law.
What the bill does
The Keeping Infants Domestically Safe (KIDS) Act would criminalize the selling of minors for any reason — not just for …
Sponsor and status
116th Congress (2019–2021)
This bill was introduced on April 11, 2019, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote.
Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in subsequent sessions of Congress in new bills, or added to larger bills (sometimes called omnibus bills).
4 Cosponsors (4 Republicans)
Position statements
What legislators are saying
“Capito, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Expand Federal Law to Protect Children From Being Sold”
—
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito [R-WV]
(Co-sponsor)
on Apr 16, 2019
History
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Apr 11, 2019
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Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. |
S. 1164 (116th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number S. 1164. This is the one from the 116th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 116th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2019 to Jan 3, 2021. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
How to cite this information.
We recommend the following MLA-formatted citation when using the information you see here in academic work:
“S. 1164 — 116th Congress: Keeping Infants Domestically Safe Act of 2019.” www.GovTrack.us. 2019. September 22, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/s1164>
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Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
