[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 16 (Friday, January 30, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF OBSERVING THE NATIONAL SLAVERY AND 
                      TRAFFICKING PREVENTION MONTH

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 60, submitted 
earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 60) supporting the goals and ideals 
     of observing the National Slavery and Trafficking Prevention 
     Month from January 1 through February 1, 2015, to raise 
     awareness of, and opposition to, modern slavery.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, today I have submitted a resolution 
with Senator Kirk recognizing January as National Slavery and 
Trafficking Prevention Month. We are pleased to be joined by Senators 
Leahy, Toomey, Klobuchar, Coons, Rubio, Murray, Wyden, Brown, Shaheen, 
Gillibrand, Kaine, Heitkamp, King, and Markey in sponsoring this 
resolution.
  January 1 is the anniversary of the effective date of the 
Emancipation Proclamation, and February 1 is the anniversary of the 
date that President Abraham Lincoln signed the joint resolution sending 
the Thirteenth Amendment--which abolished slavery--to the States for 
ratification.
  In 2009, the Senate unanimously approved a resolution I introduced to 
establish January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. That resolution 
was made to raise awareness of, and opposition to, the human 
trafficking. It is important that we continue to bring attention to and 
raise awareness of this horrific practice.
  Human trafficking is a crime in which persons are forced to work 
against their will in sweatshops, prostitution rings, farms, private 
homes, and other enterprises. The traffickers use force, threats of 
force, and coercion to ensure that their victims believe they have no 
other choice but to work for their captors. Frequently, human 
trafficking goes undetected because the victims are not only afraid of 
their traffickers, but they have been taught by their traffickers to 
fear law enforcement.
  Human trafficking is estimated to be a $32 billion criminal 
enterprise, making it the second largest criminal industry in the 
world, behind the drug trade. A 2014 Urban Institute study found that 
pimps in Atlanta can make nearly $33,000 in just one week, which 
amounts to over $1.7 million a year. The overwhelming majority of sex 
trafficking victims in the United States are American citizens--83 
percent by one estimate from the Department of Justice.
  Unfortunately, children are often victims of this horrendous crime. 
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has reported 
that one in seven endangered runaways are victims of sex trafficking.
  Many of these children continue to be exploited into adulthood. A 
study of women and girls involved in street prostitution in my hometown 
of San Francisco found that 82 percent had been physically assaulted, 
83 percent were threatened with a weapon, and 68 percent were raped.
  Unfortunately, such abuse is common around the world. According to 
the United Nations, there are nearly 21 million people currently 
serving in some form of involuntary servitude. The United Nations also 
reported that in 16 percent of the 138 countries studied, there was not 
one trafficking-related conviction between 2007 and 2010.
  Over the past decade, Congress has taken action to enhance the tools 
available to prosecute perpetrators of human trafficking and to assist 
and protect trafficking victims. We passed the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act of 2000 and, 8 years later, passed the William 
Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. These 
laws strengthened Federal efforts to combat international and domestic 
human trafficking by expanding administrative subpoena authority, 
increasing penalties for traffickers, and authorizing the Justice 
Department to seek preventive detention of those charged with 
trafficking offenses.
  Despite these important laws, further action is needed. Earlier this 
year, Senator Portman and I introduced the Combat Human Trafficking Act 
of 2015. This bill would reduce the demand for human trafficking, 
particularly the commercial sexual exploitation of children, by holding 
buyers accountable and making it easier for law enforcement to 
investigate and prosecute all persons who participate in sex 
trafficking.
  In addition, I am pleased to join Senator Kirk in introducing the 
Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act or the SAVE Act. This bill 
would strike at child sex trafficking where it is increasingly 
occurring--the Internet--by prohibiting Internet companies from 
profiting from allowing their websites to be used to traffic children.
  We must act with urgency to end the practice of human trafficking. 
For every day we wait, more lives are damaged by this horrible 
practice.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in observing National Slavery and 
Trafficking Prevention Month to draw attention to human trafficking and 
to renew our collective efforts to eliminate this practice in the 
United States and around the world.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed 
to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or 
debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 60) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')

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