[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 71 (Monday, May 11, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2765-S2766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND TRADE

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise to draw attention to the 
international plight of human trafficking and its relationship to our 
Nation's trade agenda.
  According to the State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report, 
``Human trafficking'' is about recruiting, harboring, transporting, 
providing or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex 
acts through the use of force, fraud or coercion. It is an unacceptable 
global scourge that must end and cannot be rewarded by any trade 
agreement.
  Sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced marriage, debt bondage, and 
the sale and exploitation of children around the world should be a 
global cry for justice. But as Benjamin Franklin once said: ``Justice 
will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as 
those who are.''
  Today, we are all outraged at the violence, the psychological terror, 
and the greed that drives human trafficking. We are outraged that there 
are 50 million refugees and displaced people around the world, the 
largest number since World War II, many of whom are targets of 
traffickers. We are outraged that 36 million women, children, and men 
around the world are subjected to involuntary labor or sexual 
exploitation. We are outraged when we hear that over 5 million of them 
are children, that forced labor generates about $150-plus billion in 
profits annually, the second largest income source for international 
criminals next to the drug trade.
  For the victims of these crimes, the term ``modern slavery'' more 
starkly describes what is happening around the world, and it must end.
  The Trafficking Victims Protection Act requires that the State 
Department annually publish a Trafficking in Persons Report, known as 
the TIP Report, which ranks each country based upon the extent of 
government action to combat trafficking.
  Tier 3 in that listing is the worst of these rankings. It indicates 
that a government does not comply with the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act's minimum standards, and it is not making significant 
efforts to do so. Tier 3 countries are those that have not even taken 
the most basic steps to address their human trafficking problem and 
have not provided protection for trafficking victims.
  In the most recent TIP Report published, the State Department ranked 
23 countries as tier 3. Countries such as North Korea, Iran, and Cuba 
have flaunted international legal norms and threatened to upend global 
security.
  I am most disappointed to say that Malaysia--a middle-income country 
by most standards, a party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership 
negotiations--has the resources and the wherewithal to address human 
trafficking within its borders but has for years failed to take 
sufficient action to warrant an upgrade on the TIP Report. So it is 
unfortunate that the scale of the human trafficking problem in Malaysia 
is vast, and it is in sectors that will directly benefit from increased 
trade when TPP trade agreement is concluded.
  The State Department's 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report states:

       Many migrant workers on agricultural plantations, at 
     construction sites, in textile factories, and in homes as 
     domestic workers throughout Malaysia are exploited and 
     subjected to practices indicative of forced labor, such as 
     restrictions on movement, deceit and fraud in wages, passport 
     confiscation, and imposition of significant debts by 
     recruitment agents or employers.

  Most disappointingly, the State Department wrote last year that the 
Malaysian Government was neglecting the problem. The 2014 TIP Report 
continues:

       Malaysian authorities continued to detain trafficking 
     victims in government facilities for periods of time that 
     sometimes exceeded a year; victims had limited freedom of 
     movement and were not allowed to work outside the facilities. 
     The government provided minimal basic services to those 
     staying in its shelters; NGOs--with no financial support from 
     the government--provided the majority of rehabilitation and 
     counseling services. . . . The government identified 650 
     potential victims in 2013--significantly fewer than the 1,096 
     potential victims identified in 2012. It reported fewer 
     investigations (89 compared to 190) and fewer convictions 
     (nine compared to 21) compared to the previous year.

  Furthermore, in January, 2013, the Malaysian Government implemented a 
policy that places the burden of paying immigration and employment 
authorization fees on foreign workers rather than on employers, 
increasing the risk of workers falling into debt bondage. And, while 
nearly a year has passed since the State Department issued its 2014 
report--as recently as April 17, this past month--the U.S. Ambassador 
to Malaysia said the Malaysian Government needs to show greater 
political will in prosecuting human traffickers and protecting their 
victims if the country hopes to improve on its current lowest ranking 
in the TIP Report.

  It is precisely to combat crimes such as these that Congress has 
taken action this year to fight modern slavery. Earlier this year, the 
Foreign Relations Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Corker, 
held an important hearing on human trafficking on February 4. On April 
22, Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey held a House subcommittee 
hearing examining the State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report, 
emphasizing the need to maintain the integrity of the tier ranking 
system.
  On that same day, April 22, the Senate voted 99 to 0 for the Justice 
for Victims of Trafficking Act, authored by Senator Cornyn. Later that 
day, in the Committee on Finance, a bipartisan group of 16 Senators 
voted for my amendment to prohibit fast-track procedures from applying 
to any trade agreement with a country ranked as tier 3--the worst 
ranking.
  Congress has never before approved a free-trade agreement, much less 
fast-tracked one, with any country while it was ranked tier 3, and I do 
not believe we should start now.
  I want to be clear. The amendment I offered and which was adopted 
with a bipartisan vote in the Committee on Finance is not meant to 
single out Malaysia or any other country. My antitrafficking provision 
to the fast track bill is a simple bipartisan statement of our American 
values. Contrary to the administration's comments, my amendment is not 
a poison pill. I don't know when trying to fight human trafficking 
becomes a poison pill. Nothing could be further from the truth.
  Senator Cornyn, perhaps the Senate's strongest advocate for victims 
of human trafficking, voted for my amendment. Senator Portman, the 
former U.S. Trade Representative, voted for my amendment. Senator 
Wyden, the ranking member of the Committee on Finance and coauthor of 
the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act, 
also voted for my amendment.
  In total, 10 members of the Committee on Finance who voted for my 
amendment also voted for the fast-track bill. I cannot believe we would 
have seen such a strong bipartisan vote from so many Senators who 
support fast track if this amendment were truly a poison pill.
  Now, the administration has recently said this amendment would remove 
our ability to use our trade dialogue to encourage countries to take 
action on human trafficking. But I want the record to reflect the fact 
that trade negotiations with the United States have not improved most 
countries' human trafficking performance. It is clear that years of 
engagement with Malaysia on this issue, even with the carrot of the TPP 
negotiations hanging before it, have not been enough to generate action 
from the Malaysian government.
  Of the 17 countries the United States has entered into trade 
agreements with since 2001--the first year of the Trafficking in 
Persons Report--eight have not improved their trafficking in persons 
rankings since their trade deals entered into force. So for almost a 
decade and a half, eight have not improved their rankings since the 
trade deals entered into force, and three countries

[[Page S2766]]

have actually had their trafficking in persons rankings downgraded 
after their trade deals entered into force.
  The facts are abundantly clear. Free trade negotiations have never 
been a successful tool in encouraging other countries to improve their 
performance on combating human trafficking.
  Now, I understand the administration's concerns over the effect of my 
amendment on the current TPP negotiations. But I hope that as the State 
Department finalizes the 2015 report, there is no undue influence to 
move countries around in order to benefit the administration's trade 
agenda. The integrity of the TIP report is at stake. And rest assured 
the Congress will provide the appropriate oversight to ensure that 
integrity. After all, in the State Department's own words, the TIP 
Report ``is the U.S. Government's principal tool to engage foreign 
governments on human trafficking.''
  Furthermore, I now understand the administration is reaching out to 
human rights groups, seeking compromise language that would address the 
concerns about human trafficking in our trade partners that I and 
others have spoken of. So I am pleased the administration recognizes 
the validity of my position as adopted by the Committee on Finance and 
agrees that it is appropriate to address human trafficking in this 
trade bill.
  Let me close by saying I want to remind my colleagues that the fast 
track negotiating authority is precisely the point at which Congress 
lays down the rules, the conditions, and the principles by which the 
administration is granted our constitutional prerogative to negotiate 
international trade deals. Any suggestion that the bipartisan statement 
of negotiating principles of the Senate Committee on Finance is an 
interference with the administration's prerogatives gets that 
constitutional relationship backwards. We set the terms. The 
administration follows those terms in their negotiations. It is not our 
job to trim our principles to match the deal they have already 
negotiated.
  This goes to the very heart of our congressional duties and to the 
heart of our constitutional power over international trade, and I 
believe it goes to the heart of the debate over fast-track authority 
itself that we began in the Committee on Finance and will soon engage 
on here on the Senate Floor as early as tomorrow. Do we set the terms 
by which our trade powers are delegated to the administration or do 
they dictate the terms they will accept?
  That brings me to the question of the trade bill we may be 
considering as early as tomorrow. We do not know whether the hard-
fought product of the Committee on Finance will be respected. We do not 
know if a major trade preference package or long-awaited trade 
enforcement reforms will be included. When we are asked to vote on 
cloture tomorrow, at least at this point, will we be voting for a blank 
piece of paper? How can any Member in their right mind vote to move 
forward when they do not even know what they are moving forward on?
  I have asked to see the text, because I want to see, among other 
things, whether the amendment that was adopted by the Committee on 
Finance on human trafficking is in there. I am told we don't have it. 
It is nearly 7 o'clock the evening before we will vote at 2:30 
tomorrow. How do Members of the Senate vote in blank on the most 
significant trade bill we have had in well over a decade? That is not 
good enough for me, and it should not be good enough for the Senate.
  So I hope as we move forward to consider a fast-track bill, my 
colleagues will bear in mind the importance of protecting the process 
of the Senate Committee on Finance, just as we have protected the 
process of every committee that has a bill brought to the Senate Floor. 
That is why I am asking my colleagues to keep this amendment in the 
bill and help fight the scourge of modern slavery in the countries we 
trade with.
  The bill reported by the Committee on Finance puts a strong emphasis 
on our need to match the actions we take on human trafficking at home 
to those we take in the international arena. And while we may not agree 
with the specifics of our trade policy, I hope when the fast-track bill 
comes to the floor, the Senate will stand together, reaffirming our 
commitment to holding our trading partners accountable for their lack 
of action on combating human trafficking.
  With that, I yield the floor.

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