Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow appeared on Capitol Hill this past week to urge lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee to pass legislation to better combat child exploitation, trafficking, and abuse — describing the effort as a fight «for people who cannot fight for themselves» and in their «darkest hour of need.» 

Tebow, the founder and chair of his eponymous Tim Tebow Foundation, used the impassioned testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee to shore up support for the Renewed Hope Act of 2026, or bipartisan legislation that seeks to increase federal resources to fight child exploitation and abuse. 

Framing the crisis as a «fight for people who cannot fight for themselves in their darkest hour of need,» Tebow said his foundation is working «imperfectly, but in every way that we can» to support the fight against child exploitation, including by providing additional support to law enforcement, and funding long-term restoration efforts to support victims.

His foundation currently provides support for some 52 safe homes, and is in the process of expanding the support to an additional 19 homes.

«It is a thin line between tortured and treasured,» Tebow told lawmakers Tuesday. «And you are that thin line,» he said, urging the chamber to take swift action to approve the bill.

«I spent way too much of my life chasing a much less important MVP,» Tebow added. «I want to spend the rest of my life chasing the most vulnerable people.»

The Renewed Hope Act of 2026, which cleared House committee markup earlier this year, seeks to establish a dedicated workforce of more than 200 analysts, investigators, and forensic specialists working within DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, to «deconflict, coordinate, and synchronize child sexual exploitation investigations.» 

The bill would equip and specially train officers on victim identification, location, and rescue operations for unknown children or children identified in sexual abuse databases.

Support for the legislation comes as the number of unidentified child victims in exploitation databases has surged in recent years. According to the Tim Tebow Foundation, there are an estimated 57,000 unidentified victims of child trafficking. The foundation emphasizes that these children remain hidden from official statistics and protection systems — as echoed by others who testified in Tuesday’s emotional hearing.  

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Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, speaks at a hearing. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In the last six months alone, Tebow noted that more than 338,000 unique IP addresses based in the U.S. have been identified trading child sexual abuse images across so-called «peer-to-peer» networks.

«Every day, [these children] are praying that we are going to respond,» Tebow said in his testimony. «But how are we going to respond?»

«I am deeply grateful to the members of Congress on both sides of the aisle who are coming together to support the Renewed Hope Act of 2026. This legislation gives our nation the opportunity to build a stronger rescue team of analysts and investigators so that children who are suffering can be identified and protected. This is a problem we can solve.»

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, has long prioritized issues of child trafficking, which he assailed as a «scourge» on our society.

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«I am convening this subcommittee hearing to expose how our youth are groomed, exploited, and overlooked by the existing system,» he said this week. «Congress must dismantle the criminal networks that profit from exploiting the most vulnerable among us and put an end to child trafficking.»

Fox News Digital’s Scott Thompson contributed to this report. 

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A más de una semana del inicio de la guerra en Medio Oriente, el régimen iraní afirmó en la madrugada del domingo haber atacado bases estadounidenses en Kuwait y Bahréin, bombardeos que habrían provocado incendios en infraestructuras clave, mientras países del Golfo Pérsico denunciaron una “escalada de violencia” del conflicto en Medio Oriente.

Por su parte, el Ejército de Israel intensificó sus bombardeos en la capital de Líbano. Las autoridades castrenses anunciaron el “ataque preciso” en Beirut contra altos comandantes de la Fuerza Quds de la Guardia Revolucionaria iraní.

El Consejo de Cooperación del Golfo (CCG) criticó los bombardeos de Irán contra Kuwait y Bahréin: el secretario general del organismo, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, condenó los “nefastos ataques iraníes contra infraestructuras” y sostuvo que reflejan una “escalada de violencia” de Teherán para desestabilizar la seguridad regional.

El ejército israelí informó haber atacado varios depósitos de combustible en Teherán utilizados por las fuerzas armadas iraníes para operar infraestructura militar. Las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel (FDI) también afirmaron también haber dirigido ataques contra aviones de combate F-14 iraníes en el aeropuerto de Isfahán, así como contra sistemas de detección y defensa aérea.

Desde Estados Unidos, el presidente Donald Trump no descartó este sábado la posibilidad de enviar tropas aIráncon el fin de controlar las reservas de uranio enriquecido del país: “Quizá en algún momento lo hagamos. Sería fantástico”. En paralelo, el primer ministro Benjamin Netanyahu prometió “muchas sorpresas” en la siguiente fase del conflicto que se extiende por toda la región.

A continuación, la cobertura minuto a minuto:

Debate on Capitol Hill continues to rage over whether President Donald Trump started a «war» with the strikes he carried out against Iran last weekend, a key consideration for whether the president must look to Congress for authority to continue Operation Epic Fury.

Where Republicans see a narrowly tailored attack designed to prevent a U.S. adversary from securing nuclear capabilities, Democrats see a conflict that could easily spill into a broader one.

«Congress is not supposed to be an after-the-fact spectator, the Constitution makes plain,» Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Fox News Digital.

«President Trump has not said, like in Venezuela, ‘this is a police operation,’ that it’s ‘an arrest,’» Kaine said, comparing the strikes to the January capture of Nicolás Maduro.

Democrats like Kaine have blasted Trump for dragging the U.S. into a conflict that, in their view, looks a lot like a war — something only Congress has the power to declare. It is that determination that makes them believe lawmakers should use the War Powers Act of 1973 to curb Trump’s powers in Iran.

That law prevents the president from continuing hostilities against a foreign power that extends past 60 days.

Republicans like Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., see no reason to invoke the War Powers Act, given the scope of the current conflict.

A measure to kill a Democrat-led war powers resolution aimed at handcuffing Trump’s military operations in Iran passed on Wednesday in a 53-47 Senate vote.

«I mean, even if you disagree with this, I just don’t think you can dispute [that] they’re complying with the statute. The president has the authority under Article II to do what he has done so far,» Hawley said, referring to the Constitution’s military power granted to the country’s commander in chief.

Last Saturday, the U.S. conducted a series of strikes in collaboration with Israel, targeting the country’s military leadership and killing its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Trump administration has framed the attack as a necessary campaign to halt Iran’s work towards obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Although Hawley supports the administration’s work so far, he has a firm red line in mind for where the conflict would require Congressional say-so.

«Ground troops would be a different deal,» Hawley said. «But [Trump] just said, ‘We’re not going to do ground troops,’ so, I just say to my Democrat friends — I think they’re just looking for something to vote against the president on.»

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Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, pictured during a Senate hearing in Jan. 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Democrats remain unconvinced.

Some Democrats noted that the language the administration has used suggests it views the conflict as something more than isolated strikes.

«The president and the secretary of state have called it a war. So have the generals. If we’re at war, Congress has to provide authorization,» Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said.

Other Democrats, like Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., attacked the administration’s stated reason for the attack.

«There was no imminent threat to the United States. There were threats to Israel, but in terms of an imminent threat, there was not one.  Consequently, this is the president’s war of choice,» Warner said.

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The sun sets behind a plume of smoke rising after a U.S.–Israeli military strike in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

«You have to come before Congress,» Warner added.

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To Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the consideration should deal less with technicalities and more with consideration of the cost that could come with Trump’s attacks.

«The American people make the decision on going to war because it’s their sons and daughters that will lose their lives. I still think that’s the case, regardless of who the president might be,» Durbin said.

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