Congressman-elect wants children's publications prosecuted if pornographic imagery is shown

Congressman-elect Cory Mills, a Florida Republican, hasn't even been sworn into Congress yet, but he already has big plans for his first piece of legislation, which he says will make it a federal crime for publishers to distribute children's books with sexually explicit images.

"As soon as I get sworn into office, there's a publishing house bill I plan to introduce," Mills told the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show on Tuesday night.

"This bill will actually make any type of publication or any type of distribution of inappropriate pornographic materials by publishing houses like Scholastic or McGraw Hill or anything like that, a federal felony," he explained. 

Mills, an Army combat veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and Bronze Star recipient, served in the Trump Pentagon before returning to his home in Florida and winning the 7th Congressional District race in November, flipping a blue seat to Republicans. A father, Mills championed parents' rights through his campaign.

Children's books that have been deemed too sexual or inappropriate have been making headlines lately in some places around the United States, including Dearborn County, Michigan and Loudoun County, Virginia.

Parents from multiple states have been coming to school board meetings, expressing concern about specific books that contain graphic and sexual imagery that they don't believe should be available for their children to look at. 

Mills said his legislation would hold children's publishing firms accountable if they distribute books with sexual imagery. 

"They would actually be prosecuted under a felony offense if they tried to distribute pornographic or inappropriate material to our children who are under age in our public libraries," he stated. 

According to Mills, the parental rights movement is still in full force and isn't going anywhere anytime soon. 

"We have to stop the indoctrination," he said in explaining his motive for the legislation. "We have to stop the sexualization. We have to empower parental rights, and that's what this is about."

Mills and other lawmakers will be sworn in Jan. 3 when the 118th Congress begins.