[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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