[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 43 (Thursday, March 17, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1561-S1568]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DIRECTING SENATE LEGAL COUNSEL TO BRING A CIVIL ACTION
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 377, which the clerk will
report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 377) directing the Senate Legal
Counsel to bring a civil action to enforce a subpoena of the
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 1 hour
of debate, equally divided in the usual form.
The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I rise today in support of S. Res. 377,
which is a resolution to enforce a subpoena of the Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations, which I chair. I will be joined shortly
by my colleague Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who is the
ranking Democrat on the subcommittee and whom I worked with as a
partner on this issue over the past year.
This is a subpoena that we issued to a group called backpage--
backpage.com. This resolution is intended to enforce that subpoena.
Backpage and its chief executive officer, Carl Ferrer, have not been
willing to cooperate with the committee. Unfortunately, we are at the
point where we have to seek the enforcement of our subpoena.
For nearly a year now, Senator McCaskill and I conducted a bipartisan
investigation into the scourge of human trafficking on the Internet
with a focus on sex trafficking involving children. In the past 5
years, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reported an
over 800-percent increase in reports of suspected child sex
trafficking, an increase the organization has found to be ``directly
correlated to the increased use of the internet to sell children for
sex.'' They testified before our subcommittee about this. They are the
experts. They see this huge increase being related to the Internet. In
other words, the destructive crime of sex slavery has moved from the
street corner to the smartphone.
[[Page S1562]]
An adult can now shop for underaged trafficking victims from their
computer screen. Sex traffickers are well aware that backpage.com, the
biggest one by far, offers them a quick and easy-to-use marketplace to
sell children and coerce adults.
Here is how the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
spells it out, describing this growing problem at a hearing I chaired
late last year:
Online classified ad sites such as backpage.com . . . allow
[sex traffickers] to remain anonymous, test out new markets,
attempt to evade public or law enforcement detection, and
easily locate customers to consummate their sale of children
for sex. Online sex trafficking also enables traffickers to
easily update an existing ad with a new location and quickly
move the child to another geographic location where there are
more customers seeking to purchase a child for rape or sexual
abuse.
This is from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. As
cochair of the Senate Caucus to End Human Trafficking, I have spent
many hours with those dedicated to fighting this crime and those who
are victimized by it. For victims, the toll of sex trafficking is
measured in stolen childhoods and painful trauma. For traffickers, it
is measured in dollars--often a lot of dollars. It is a problem, I
believe, that should command more attention around our country and
certainly here in the U.S. Congress.
The aim of our investigation is very straightforward. We want to
understand how lawmakers, law enforcement, and even private businesses
can more effectively combat this serious crime that thrives on the
online black market.
Traffickers have found refuge in new customers through Web sites that
specialize in advertising ``ordinary'' prostitution and lawful escort
services. A business called backpage.com is the market leader in that
industry, with annual revenues in excess of $130 million last year.
Backpage has a special niche: According to one industry analysis in
2013, $8 out of every $10 spent on online commercial sex advertising in
the United States goes to backpage.com. The public record indicates
that backpage sits at the center of the online black market for sex
trafficking.
Again, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has
reported that of the suspected child trafficking reports it receives
from the public, 71 percent involve backpage. Again, they have said
that of the suspected child trafficking reports they receive from the
public--and they have a 1-800 number; they get reports from the
public--71 percent involve backpage.com.
According to a leading anti-trafficking organization called Shared
Hope International, ``Service providers working with child sex
trafficking victims have reported between 80 percent and 100 percent of
their clients have been bought and sold on backpage.com.'' In fact,
this organization has documented more than 400 cases in 47 States of
children being sex trafficked on backpage.com.
Despite all this, backpage executives said they are committed to
combatting sex trafficking. The company claims that its internal
procedures for reviewing and screening the advertisements ``lead the
industry.'' That claim led us to ask a very simple question: What are
those industry-leading procedures? If they are so effective in the
fight against human trafficking, Congress and other lawmakers ought to
know about it. That is why Senator McCaskill and I asked backpage for
documents about their ad-screening practices--a process backpage calls
``moderation.'' We also asked for other information about their
business practices--fair questions, targeted questions, relevant
questions. The company has refused to answer them and refused to
cooperate.
We then took the next step and issued a subpoena to backpage's CEO,
Carl Ferrer, inquiring him to produce documents about backpage's
moderation practices, efforts to combat human trafficking, and
financial information. The company essentially told us no. Wrapping
itself in a privileged First Amendment argument, backpage refuses to
produce documents about its business practices and told us that the
company refuses to even look for documents--not just that they don't
have the documents, but they refuse to even look for them, a clear sign
of willful contempt for the Senate's process.
That is why we are here today on the floor. Senator McCaskill and I
gave backpage every opportunity to cooperate in good faith with our
investigation. We carefully considered its objections to the subpoena.
We actually issued a 19-page opinion, thoughtfully overruling their
objections and directing backpage to comply. They continued to
stonewall.
In the meantime, our investigation has not stopped. Our investigators
and lawyers found a number of third parties and other witnesses who had
information about backpage's practices and procedures. Along the way,
we discovered that from 2010 to 2012, backpage outsourced much of its
screening and, again, this moderation; meaning, looking at these ads
coming in, the screening and moderation they outsourced to others,
including to workers in India.
We obtained emails from the California company that managed those
India-based moderators, including emails with backpage's CEO and other
executives. These emails are deeply troubling. Our investigation showed
that backpage edits advertisements before posting them by removing
certain words, certain phrases, certain images. For instance, they
might remove a word or image that makes it clear that the sexual
services are being offered for money. Then they might post this
sanitized version of an ad. While this editing changes nothing about
the underlying transaction, it tends to conceal the evidence of
illegality. In other words, backpage's editing procedures--far from
being an effective anti-trafficking measure--serve to sanitize the ads
of the illegal content to the outside viewer.
We still don't know the full extent of backpage's editing practices.
How much of the illegal conduct--or even the fact that they were
selling minors online--was being concealed? Why? Backpage will not tell
us.
Then there is this email. It tells the moderators what to do if they
have doubts about whether a girl advertised on backpage is underage. I
am going to quote from this email. It says:
If in doubt about underage: The process should for now be
to accept the ad . . . however, if you ever find anything
that you feel is underage and is more than just suspicious,
you can delete the ad. . . . Only delete if you [are] really
very sure person is underage.
To be clear, we didn't get this information from backpage itself
because it refuses to provide it. This came from the contractor.
Backpage claims emails like this are protected by the First Amendment,
which is not accurate.
In November, Senator McCaskill and I released a bipartisan staff
report about our investigation and held a hearing to consider what to
do about backpage's noncompliance. I encourage Members to take a look
at this staff report. It is online. You can find it.
By the way, despite being under subpoena, backpage's CEO refused to
show up for the hearing we held. Shortly before the hearing date, he
simply informed us that he wasn't going to show up. This is something
Senator McCaskill and I will continue to focus on. But others did show
up for our hearing. We heard testimony from law enforcement,
prosecutors, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
confirming what we had come to suspect: Backpage is not really an ally
in the fight against human trafficking; they said it profits from it.
The general counsel of the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children told us that it had dozens of meetings with backpage about
improving the company's anti-trafficking measures, but those meetings
ended because the national center concluded that backpage was ``not
engaging in good faith efforts to deter the selling and buying of
children for sex on its Web site.''
The national center told us that ``[d]espite backpage's assertions,
it was adopting and publicizing only carefully selected sound
practices, while resisting recommended substantive measures that would
protect more children from being sold for sex . . . on backpage.com.''
For example, the national center noted that backpage did not ``hash''
its photos--a very low-cost technique for comparing digital images that
could help identify missing children.
The national center also noted that backpage has more stringent rules
to post an ad to sell a pet, a motorcycle,
[[Page S1563]]
or a boat than it does to sell a person. A user is required to submit a
verified phone number for selling a hamster but not in placing ads that
could involve the sale of a child for sex. Think about that.
The human toll of all this is staggering. It is hard to overstate the
traumatic effect of a minor being advertised on a daily basis on a site
like backpage.com.
In a recent lawsuit brought against backpage in Boston, the plaintiff
was a 15-year-old girl who had been raped over 1,000 times as a result
of being advertised on backpage.com--1,000 times. In the course of our
investigation, we also heard some similarly heart-wrenching stories.
For example, backpage receives reports from families pleading with it
to take down ads of their children. Here is one such email sent to
backpage that the national center shared with us. Remember, this is an
email from a parent about a child being sent to backpage. It said this:
Your Web site has ads featuring our 16-year-old daughter [
], posing as an escort. She is being pimped out by her old
[boyfriend], and she is underage. I have emailed the ad
multiple times using your website, but have gotten no
response. . . . For God's sake, she's only 16. . . . Stuff
like this shouldn't be allowed to happen.
This is from a parent pleading.
Even after receiving such reports, the national center tells us
backpage often does not remove the ad. Instead, the ad remains live on
the Web site, which allows the abuse of that child to continue. Imagine
as a parent or a grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister feeling
helpless in the face of backpage not even being willing to take down an
ad of a family member.
It is sometimes hard to square backpage's public statements about its
business practices with the reality on the ground. For example, the
national center recently was searching for a child who was missing--and
by the way, still is missing--and found she appeared in a sex
advertisement on backpage. Sadly, that is pretty common. What made this
case even more incredible was that backpage ad actually contained a
missing-child poster of that same child. So the ad advertising sex
actually used the missing-child poster of that child. That poster had
the child's real name on it, real age, real picture, and the date she
went missing. The other pictures in the ad included topless photos. We
certainly would like to know what supposedly market-leading screening
and moderation procedures missed that one. And that, Madam President,
is exactly why we need the documents we have asked for from backpage,
documents we have subpoenaed from backpage. Without them, we can't
really evaluate how sex trafficking is proliferated in these online
marketplaces. We can't really evaluate how Congress can do a better job
fighting against this crime. We can't help the many prosecutors at the
local level who are trying to stop this practice or the attorneys
general around the United States of America who are trying to stop this
practice. We can't really help to stop this from happening.
To be clear, our purpose is absolutely not to shut down any
particular company or to deter protected advertising for lawful
services. This is not an attempt to shut down something that is lawful
on the Internet, it is an attempt to stop something that is unlawful,
and nor are we even looking for information about individual
advertisers. In fact, Senator McCaskill and I have made clear that
backpage should redact from any documents they send us any of the
personally identifying information about its users. We don't need that.
That is not what we are about. What we are interested in are facts that
will enable smart legislation on a critical issue of public concern. We
hope our investigation will help to combat this process directly but
also will help to generate legislation here in the Congress.
This civil contempt resolution before us today--S. Res. 377--will
enable us to get those facts. It was reported out of the full committee
unanimously. I wish to thank Senator Ron Johnson, the chairman of the
committee, and Senator Tom Carper, the ranking member of the committee,
and all of our colleagues on the committee for their unwavering support
for this investigation.
This will be the first time in more than 20 years that the Senate has
had to enforce a subpoena in court. I can't think of a time when it has
been more justified. To my colleagues who are wondering about this,
again, I hope they will look at our report and see why it is so
important that we move forward with enforcing this subpoena.
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has a long history of
investigating crime that infiltrates interstate commerce and affects
our Nation's health and safety. In our era, the crime of human
trafficking has become a scourge, and Congress needs to know everything
it can to be able to better fight it. No investigation of that subject
could omit backpage.com. Again, as we have heard from these outside
groups, the vast majority of this sex trafficking that is going on
online is through this very site. The National Association of Attorneys
General has described backpage as a ``hub'' of ``human trafficking,
especially the trafficking of minors.'' That is the attorneys general
around the country.
Unfortunately, this is an issue that affects all of our communities.
It knows no ZIP Code.
Madam President, before I yield the floor, I ask unanimous consent to
have printed in the Record a number of statements in support of the
resolution from the Nation's leading anti-trafficking organizations,
including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
``Rights4Girls applauds the Senate's passage of this
important resolution that will provide much needed
accountability and insight into Backpage.com's business
practices--practices that have led to the trafficking and
exploitation of children all across this country. We are
especially grateful to Senators Portman and McCaskill for
their leadership in advancing this resolution and for their
dedication to protecting our nation's most vulnerable
children.''--Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director and Co-Founder,
Rights4Girls
``I commend the Senate, particularly Senators Rob Portman
and Claire McCaskill, for their leadership on the
investigation into Backpage and their dedication to assisting
victims of child sex trafficking and their families. I am
outraged at the business practices Backpage continues to
engage in and that they are not being held accountable for
facilitating and profiting from child sex trafficking on
their website. Backpage is a shopping mall for people who
want to exploit children and they shouldn't be able to
continue profiting on the rape of children without
repercussions. These creeps keep hiding behind the veil of
the First Amendment while knowingly allowing children to be
trafficked for sex on their website. This isn't about
prostitution or sex between consenting adults, this is about
children being purchased for rape and sexual abuse.--John
Walsh, human and victim rights advocate and creator of
America's Most Wanted
``The Subcommittee's efforts to investigate the practices
of Backpage.com and demand answers in an effort to prevent
the sex trafficking of children on that website and others
like it is critical to our work to end sex trafficking.
Shared Hope proudly supports the resolution and the
Subcommittee's important work. We are grateful to you for
your bravery and diligence.''--Shared Hope International
Shared Hope International,
Vancouver, WA, March 16, 2016.
Hon. Rob Portman,
Chair, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Washington,
DC.
Hon. Claire McCaskill,
Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations,
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.,
Dear Chairman Portman and Ranking Member McCaskill: Shared
Hope International is writing to strongly support the
resolution directing the Senate Legal Counsel to bring a
civil action to enforce a subpoena issued by the Subcommittee
to the Chief Executive Officer of Backpage.com, Carl Ferrer
(S. Res. 377). We thank you for your brave leadership on this
investigation and dedication to assisting the victims of
online commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking.
Shared Hope International was founded and exists to end sex
trafficking of women and children and assist the victims
through restoration and access to justice. Since 1998, we
have implemented programs and advocated for laws and policies
that would ensure victims of sex trafficking are protected,
served and honored as victims. Increasingly, the victims we
serve have been sold for sex on the internet, and most often
the website named is Backpage.com. In fact, NCMEC reports
that 71% of all child sex trafficking reports to the
CyberTipline relate to Backpage ads. Shared Hope documented
495 cases representing at least 548 child victims who were
sold for sex on Backpage.com in nearly every
[[Page S1564]]
state in the U.S. These are cases we identified through media
coverage, which means they represent only a fraction of the
total number of cases. Our partners indicate most of the
youth they serve in recovery programs were sold on the site.
A study by YouthSpark in Atlanta, Georgia, found 53% of
children receiving care from service providers across the
country were bought and sold for sex on Backpage.com.
The Subcommittees efforts to investigate the practices of
Backpage.com and demand answers in an effort to prevent the
sex trafficking of children on that website and others like
it is critical to our work to end sex trafficking. Shared
Hope proudly supports the resolution and the Subcommittee's
important work. We are grateful to you for your bravery and
diligence.
Sincerely,
Linda Smith,
(U.S. Congress 1995-99, Washington State Senate/House 1983-
94), Founder and President, Shared Hope International.
____
National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children,
Alexandria, VA, March 15, 2016.
Hon. Rob Portman,
Chairman, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.,
Hon. Claire McCaskill,
Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations,
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Portman and Ranking Member McCaskill: On
behalf of the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children (NCMEC) and the families and children we serve, I am
writing to express our strong support for your resolution
directing the Senate Legal Counsel to bring a civil action to
enforce a subpoena issued by your Subcommittee to the Chief
Executive Officer of Backpage (S. Res. 377). We commend you
for your leadership on this investigation and your dedication
to assisting victims of child sex trafficking and their
families.
NCMEC is a private, non-profit organization that for over
31 years has been designated by Congress to serve as the
national clearinghouse on issues related to missing and
exploited children. In this role, NCMEC has learned a great
deal about child sex trafficking, including its pervasive
growth online and the devastating impact this crime has on
children and their families. We know that sex trafficking is
a crime that takes place in nearly every community in the
United States and increasingly children are sold for sex
online on websites like Backpage.com.
NCMEC receives reports of child sex trafficking through
intakes of missing child cases, requests for analytical
assistance, and reports to the CyberTipline, the reporting
mechanism for child sexual exploitation crimes. In recent
years, NCMEC has witnessed an increase in missing and
exploited child cases involving the online trafficking of
children for sex. In 2015, NCMEC assisted with approximately
10,000 reports regarding possible child sex trafficking, but
we know this is only a small fraction of suspected child sex
trafficking victims in this country.
Even more concerning is that a majority of child sex
trafficking cases reported to NCMEC involve ads posted on
Backpage.com. More than seventy-one percent (71%) of all
child sex trafficking reports submitted by members of the
public to NCMEC relate to Backpage ads. We also have seen a
disturbing trend of runaway children trafficked on
Backpage.com. Today, when we are looking for a runaway child
who we have reason to believe might be trafficked,
Backpage.com is the first place we look for the child.
We have long been alarmed about Backpage's business
practices that fail to prevent children from being sold for
sex on its website. The work of your Subcommittee to
investigate these practices and to demand answers is to be
widely commended.
NCMEC is proud to lend our support to this important
resolution, and we hope the Senate's work can uncover more
information regarding the use of online websites, such as
Backpage.com, to traffic children. We are grateful for your
dedication to the safety of our nation's children and look
forward to continuing to work with you and others who are
working tirelessly to halt the terrible tragedy of online
child sex trafficking.
Sincerely,
John F. Clark,
President and CEO.
____
Polaris,
Washington, DC, March 16, 2016.
Hon. Rob Portman,
Chairman, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Claire McCaskill,
Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations,
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Portman and Ranking Member McCaskill: On
behalf of Polaris, a non-profit organization working to end
human trafficking and restore freedom to victims and
survivors, I am writing to express my strong support for S.
Res. 377, which directs the Senate Legal Counsel to bring a
civil action to enforce a subpoena issued by your
Subcommittee to the Chief Executive Officer of Backpage. I
appreciate your tremendous work on this investigation and
your leadership in the fight to ensure victims of child sex
trafficking and their families receive justice.
Since 2007, Polaris has operated the National Human
Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), a 24-hour, national,
confidential anti-trafficking hotline and resource center
created and overseen by the Department of Health and Human
Services. Additionally, in March 2013, Polaris launched our
BeFree textline, allowing trafficking victims and concerned
citizens to use text message to contact us for help.
In 2015, the NHTRC received 1,383 cases involving sex
trafficking of a minor, and Polaris received 22 cases through
our BeFree textline involving sex trafficking of a minor. In
these two sets, Backpage was specifically referenced in 222
cases. In total, the NHTRC has received 5,810 minor sex
trafficking cases since 2007, BeFree has received 66 cases
since 2013, and Backpage has been referenced in 595 cases.
Backpage's business practices have long been a major source
of concern for Polaris and the anti-trafficking community as
a whole. We wholeheartedly support your Subcommittee's
investigation into Backpage, and we think that S. Res. 377 is
critical to ensuring Backpage is held accountable for its
shocking, blatant disregard for your investigation. We are
proud to stand with your Subcommittee in this fight to stop
child sex trafficking, and we hope the Senate will
unanimously pass S. Res. 377.
Sincerely,
Brad Myles,
CEO.
Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on
this resolution and vindicate the authority of Congress to obtain
information necessary for sound legislation to protect the most
vulnerable among us.
We are going to hear shortly from Senator Claire McCaskill, who has
been a partner of mine in this effort from the beginning. This
investigation has taken about a year. We have done it thoughtfully and
carefully. Again, I wish to express my gratitude to her for her support
for the legislation. We wanted to wait until she was back in Congress--
she was home taking care of some important health matters--in order to
take up this vote today. I know she will express her own strongly held
views on this.
I just want to say I hope all of my colleagues--Republicans and
Democrats alike--will look at this issue and realize this is an
opportunity for us to go on record supporting an investigation that
could lead to legislation that can actually help to protect those most
vulnerable among us.
With that, I yield the floor.
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, today the Senate will vote on S. Res.
377, a resolution directing Senate legal counsel to bring a civil
action to enforce a subpoena of the Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations, PSI, against Carl Ferrer, chief executive officer of
backpage.com LLC, ``backpage''. I support this resolution in
furtherance of PSI's bipartisan investigation into businesses that
directly or indirectly facilitate sex trafficking.
Backpage officials have publicly acknowledged that their website may
have been used by criminals to engage in sex trafficking, including the
trafficking of children. Identifying and shutting down the tools that
help criminals engage in such illegality is critical to preventing
these crimes. We must do all we can to stop these criminals and to
support the survivors. That is why I support this resolution and why I
have worked tirelessly to enact legislation to prevent human
trafficking in the first place and to provide resources for trafficking
victims so that they can begin to rebuild their lives.
Last year the chairman and ranking member of PSI jointly launched a
bipartisan investigation to examine businesses that directly or
indirectly facilitate sex trafficking. Backpage is one of the companies
that PSI has been investigating, but it is not the only one. PSI aims
to learn as much as possible about these businesses so that the Senate
can craft appropriate legislative and policy responses to combat sex
trafficking and child exploitation.
On October 1, 2015, and in accordance with subcommittee rules, PSI
voted on a bipartisan basis to issue a subpoena to backpage's CEO, Carl
Ferrer. This subpoena was issued only after backpage failed to comply
with a subpoena issued earlier in the year and after several backpage
employees refused to testify. The subpoena required,
[[Page S1565]]
among other things, the production of backpage's policies and practices
with respect to reviewing advertisements for potential criminal
activity, information on how backpage cooperates with law enforcement,
data on how many advertisements backpage denies or deletes, and
information relating to revenue earned through adult advertisements. To
date, backpage has refused to comply with the subpoena.
On November 19, 2015, PSI held a hearing about backpage.com. At this
hearing, the senior vice president of the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children testified that 71 percent of reports of suspected
child trafficking it receives involve backpage. The hearing also raised
significant concerns about backpage's willingness to cooperate with law
enforcement. PSI issued a subpoena compelling the testimony of Carl
Ferrer at the hearing, but he refused to appear.
The refusal of backpage to comply with the subpoena compelled the
full Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to vote
unanimously in favor of the resolution now before us. The resolution
authorizes Senate legal counsel to begin to take action to enforce the
subpoena in Federal court. PSI's investigation is exactly the type of
oversight the Senate should be conducting. The subject matter is one of
utmost importance, and PSI's efforts have been jointly conducted by the
chairman and ranking member of PSI since the investigation began. Most
importantly, the requested documents are critical to understanding how
online sex trafficking is effectuated and to finding ways to stop it.
Authorizing Senate legal counsel to enforce a Senate subpoena is a
very serious matter that should not be taken lightly. This action
should be taken only in the most limited of circumstances and should
never be pursued for partisan or political motives. Given the serious
nature of this investigation and the unanimous support by all members
of the committee and subcommittee throughout the process, I support
this resolution.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, I wish to express my strong support
for the resolution to enforce the subpoena against backpage's CEO Carl
Ferrer.
From my work as chairman and now ranking member of the Select
Committee on Intelligence, I know how important congressional
investigations can be to ensure that we have all the facts, and that is
the type of issue before us today.
In this case, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is
conducting a bipartisan investigation into the use of the Internet to
facilitate sex trafficking, particularly sex trafficking of minors. As
my colleagues know, this has been an area I have worked to address
legislatively, including in an amendment to the Justice for Victims of
Trafficking Act that passed 97-2 that makes it a Federal crime to
knowingly advertise minors for commercial sex. I believe the
Investigations Subcommittee's work can inform the work of the Congress
as a whole to better protect vulnerable children trafficked over the
Internet.
Backpage is a Web site that allows for the advertisement of
commercial sex online. In 2013, it was estimated that $8 out of every
$10 spent on online sex advertising in the U.S. goes to backpage.
Moreover, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has
itself determined that backpage is linked to 71 percent of all
suspected child sex trafficking reports that it receives from the
public through its ``CyberTipline.'' Thus, this bipartisan
investigation naturally involves questions about the specifics of how
backpage operates.
As I understand it, the subcommittee's subpoena seeks documents to
help explain backpage's current policies and practices. These questions
involve, among other things, whether backpage edits the content of ads
before they are published, whether backpage might be more helpful to
law enforcement with the data it collects, and whether backpage has
resources sufficient to further prevent trafficking on its site. But
backpage has refused to comply with this subpoena.
Where an investigative subcommittee is conducting a bipartisan
investigation into the most horrific crimes committed against young
people, it is the right thing to do for the Senate to enforce this
subpoena through the legal process.
I would like to also share about a case that arose in my State very
recently. Last week, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
arrested three individuals charged with abducting a 20-year-old woman
and transporting her to the Bay Area to sexually exploit her. The
victim was initially kidnapped in Palmdale, where she was viciously
assaulted and then moved 6 hours north to Oakland, where her pictures
were taken and posted to backpage.com. She was then driven back down to
Orange County and had a gun pointed at her by one of her attackers. The
victim was fortunately able to make some panicked calls to her mother
while taken captive, and the L.A. Sheriff's office was able to find her
in a motel and rescue her. The suspects were then captured and now face
a litany of charges. This all occurred just weeks ago.
The point is sex trafficking, facilitated by the Internet, continues
to plague communities all over the country.
I recently met with John Clark, the new president and CEO of the
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The National Center
reported that over the last 5 years, there has been an 846 percent
increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking and that this
increase is ``directly correlated to the increased use of the Internet
to sell children for sex.'' That is sobering.
Every day in America, vulnerable victims are advertised over the
Internet and exploited by traffickers. I believe the Congress must get
to the bottom of it, try to understand how it is happening, and do all
that we can to stop it. So I fully support enforcement of this subpoena
and urge my colleagues to do the same.
I thank the Chair.
Mr. PORTMAN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to support S.
Res. 377, a resolution to enforce a subpoena of the Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations against backpage.com and Carl Ferrer,
the company's chief executive officer. This action comes as part of the
subcommittee's ongoing investigation into the sex trafficking of minors
and the unfortunate and increasing role of the Internet in facilitating
this horrific crime.
Before I go much further, I would like to express my deep
appreciation to the chairman. Senator Portman has been tenacious. He is
committed. He is forcing us as a body to address an issue that is so
unpleasant that many times we shy away from it because we would rather
talk about more pleasant subjects and issues that are less emotional.
But it is what is happening in America and in the world, and thanks to
the leadership of Senator Portman, it is being addressed in a
forthright manner that alerts all of us and, indeed, alerts the world.
I very much appreciate the great work he has done on this issue. I know
he remains committed for as long as he is a Member of this body, and we
are incredibly grateful for his friendship and his leadership.
This marks the first time in 20 years that the Senate has been
required to enforce a subpoena in court. I have been in Congress for a
long time, and I have never seen anything quite like it. As part of the
subcommittee's fair and deliberative investigation into human
trafficking and child exploitation on the Internet, we have encountered
a company that, instead of doing everything in its power to assist in
protecting the most vulnerable in our society, has decided to focus its
energies on stonewalling congressional efforts to do so.
Let me be clear. As is always the case in this unsavory underside of
society, it is about money. Backpage.com is the market leader in
commercial sex advertising. It was valued at over $600 million in 2015,
with over $130 million in annual revenue, and their business model is
dependent on the revenue generated from this part of its Web site.
[[Page S1566]]
Backpage claims to be a leading partner in the fight to combat child
sex trafficking by screening advertisements for evidence of trafficking
and taking deliberate steps from preventing illegal activity from
appearing on its Web site. But the company has refused to produce
documents that could verify this claim, and the facts gathered by the
subcommittee from other sources indicate this is not the case.
As Senator Portman has indicated, backpage has been linked to
hundreds of human trafficking cases, including those of children. The
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has gathered data
that indicates that the vast majority of suspected child trafficking
reports it receives from the public include postings made on backpage.
Identifying what screening procedures are in place and the
effectiveness of these efforts in curbing trafficking are an important
part of this investigation.
Thanks to the leadership from the Senator from Ohio, it is hard to
think of a more worthy use of the Senate's investigative authority than
examining the methods used to facilitate the buying and selling of
children for sexual exploitation. This investigation is designed to
guide Congress as we consider ways to combat human trafficking and
identify what can be done to protect children and eliminate this crime.
Enforcement of this subpoena is necessary to accomplish that goal and
to protect the prerogative of the Senate to investigate matters of
consequence to our national interest. I appreciate Senators Portman and
McCaskill's truly bipartisan efforts to investigate matters of
consequence to our national interest. I appreciate their efforts to
shed light on this difficult issue, and I appreciate their commitment
to defending the Senate's role in addressing it.
I hope and believe that vote will be 100 to 0, as we strongly support
Chairman Portman's right to obtain the information he believes is
necessary to the subcommittee's investigation concerning human
trafficking. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this
important resolution.
I know that my friend and colleague Senator Portman knows that one of
the areas where human trafficking is most intense are those States that
are on the border, and our southern border is obviously penetrated
regularly by these human traffickers. I would like, as a representative
of the people of my State of Arizona, where this issue is of particular
importance, to thank Senator Portman and Senator McCaskill for their
unending worthy and important efforts on this issue.
By passing this legislation, we will send a message to others. We
will send a message to others, I say to my colleague from Ohio, that
they can run but they can't hide.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from
Arizona. He has been a leader on this issue for many years. For people
who don't know, Cindy McCain, the wife of the Senator from Arizona, is
an international leader on this issue dealing with human trafficking
all over the world and also sex trafficking here at home. I appreciate
his passion and his commitment to it. As a former chair and a ranking
member of this committee, I look to him for counsel and advice on how
we conduct ourselves. He has been very helpful in this specific issue,
and I thank him.
I yield to the Senator from Minnesota for such time as she may
consume.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota is recognized.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator McCain for his
work. I started to work on some of these backpage issues in conjunction
with Senator McCain's wife Cindy McCain, as well as with Senator
Heitkamp. We took a trip to Mexico focusing on the trafficking going on
across the border with that country.
I want to thank Senators Portman and McCaskill for leadership on this
really important resolution. Just last year, five St. Paul residents
were charged with running a multistate sex trafficking ring. One of the
alleged victims was 16. Those underage girls were being advertised on
backpage, and the ads were placed in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa,
Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois.
In Southwest Minnesota, an operation involving backpage resulted in
charges against 48 men around the towns of New Ulm and Mankato, the
town my husband grew up in. These cases prove that sex trafficking
isn't just happening in some faraway place. It is happening right now
in the United States of America. It is happening in our own
neighborhoods. It is happening in oil patches in North Dakota. It is
happening in Cleveland, and it is happening in St. Paul. These are real
stories with real people.
In 2014 I spoke to the trafficking advocacy group Polaris when they
released their State-by-State rankings of efforts to fight human
trafficking. They said then:
The scope and scale of human trafficking within the United
States presents a daunting challenge to policymakers, service
providers, law enforcement, and advocates. Originally, human
trafficking was thought to be more of a problem in other
countries, but now it is known to be happening in our
backyards. It is estimated that there are hundreds of
thousands of victims of sex and labor trafficking inside our
borders.
We have learned more about human trafficking through the advocacy and
dedication, as I mentioned, of our friend Cindy McCain and her work at
the McCain Institute. Their 2014 report actually focuses specifically
on this advertising.
When I was a prosecutor for 8 years, yes, we had trafficking--of
course, we did--and, yes, we had child pornography, but I would say we
didn't see this tsunami of advertising that we see now. Why? The
Internet has made it easier. We love the Internet. It has allowed us to
communicate in ways, but it has expanded demand for sex trafficking
victims because of the fact that it is easier to do than it used to be.
What the McCain report shows is that the availability of potential
victims of domestic minor sex trafficking exceeded researcher
expectations, with no less than 38 different Web sites advertising
victims who showed indications of being juvenile sex trafficking
victims, with at least 4 Web sites providing customer feedback and
soliciting recommendations of victims of sex trafficking.
The McCain report went on to say: ``In Phoenix, during 10 days of ad
screening, 34 ads were identified as possibly depicting minor victims
with duplicate ads resulting in 81 distinct tips of domestic minor sex
trafficking.''
Last year we successfully passed the Justice for Victims of
Trafficking Act that Senator Cornyn and I led. We are making good
progress in implementing this bill. Senator Cornyn and I met recently
with Attorney General Lynch. They are working hard. Ongoing work not
only includes this resolution and is the focus on the advertising of
illegal sex trafficking but also partnering with the private sector.
Senator Warner and I have introduced the Stop Trafficking on Planes
Act or the STOP Act, which is built on the work of the industry to
train flight attendants and train people on the planes to find the
victims. I note this investigation led by the Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations is a bipartisan attempt to address a serious issue. I
urge my colleagues to join me in supporting S. Res. 377. This is just
one element of this fight against sex trafficking, but it is an
important one because people should not be allowed to violate the
Senate rules, they shouldn't be allowed to skirt hearings, and they
shouldn't be allowed to get away with this kind of behavior. Backpage
and others of its ilk are not just a vehicle for advertising this
crime, they are actually a vehicle for expanding this crime and hurting
more people.
I appreciate the work of Senator Portman and Senator McCaskill.
Thank you.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Minnesota for
her strong support of this resolution today, which again is just
enforcing a subpoena that is targeted and focused on information that
can help us to be able to legislate in this matter. I hope all of my
colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join us in this effort. I
also thank her for broader work on this issue, specifically the
leadership role she has played as a former prosecutor in trying to get
at this problem of sex trafficking online.
[[Page S1567]]
Senator Klobuchar is absolutely right. The Internet has provided so
many wonderful things for our economy and for our society. Yet there is
a dark side, isn't there. That dark side is shown as clearly as
anywhere with regard to backpage; the fact that this sex trafficking
has been made more efficient through the Internet and specifically
through this one Web site that contains the vast majority of sex
trafficking and commercial sex.
Again, I refer you to my comments I made earlier. We talked about the
fact that there is a girl who is currently missing. The National Center
for Missing & Exploited Children has been trying to find her. They put
up posters about her, and recently she appeared on a sex advertisement
on backpage. Again, this is more common than you would expect.
What made this case even more incredible to me was the backpage
actually contained a missing child poster of that same child. So the
missing child poster that the national center had put out there for all
of us to help find her shows up on backpage.com as an advertisement for
this young girl. This poster had the child's real name, real age, real
picture, and the date she went missing. Other photos in that ad
included topless photos of this girl. She is 16 years old.
This is another example of where there is a problem that must be
addressed. Our investigation is to create the information for us to be
able to legislate wisely on this issue.
I see my colleague from New Hampshire has joined us. We wish to hear
from her. She is another former attorney general of a State and has
been involved in this issue for many years and is an active member of
the caucus we talked about earlier to try to combat trafficking.
I yield to my colleague, the Senator from New Hampshire, such time as
she may need.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I thank Senator Portman and Senator
McCaskill for their strong leadership on the Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations, of which they are the chair and ranking member, on such
an important issue because enforcing the subpoena--the resolution we
have before us to enforce the subpoena is critical.
As you heard today, I was attorney general of New Hampshire. I had
the opportunity to work with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task
Force. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reports
that of suspected child trafficking reports it receives from the
public, 71 percent involve backpage.com.
What is the resolution about? It is about the fact that Senator
Portman, Senator McCaskill, and the committee they lead has asked
legitimate questions and asked for documents from backpage.com.
We have heard the horrific stories of things that have happened and
have been reported. Senator Portman referenced a recent report in
Boston about a 15-year-old girl who had been raped over 1,000 times as
a result of being advertised on backpage.com.
Of course, we have heard horrific stories about children. In one
Pennsylvania case, a defendant forced a minor to have sex with
approximately 15 different men in one encounter where she was
threatened with a weapon--advertised on backpage.com, so it is pretty
straightforward.
In a Florida case, a trafficker drugged and threatened to kill a 14-
year-old girl so he could sell her for sexual services online--
backpage.com.
In a California case, a trafficker forced two women to work as
prostitutes through beating and threatening them with sexual violence--
backpage.com.
These are very legitimate questions that have been asked to inform
our policy decisions of backpage.com. Yet they will not produce the
documents that have been asked of them, to ask how they were screening
to ensure they aren't taking illegal actions when it comes to child sex
trafficking and trafficking of women and men and boys and girls. Yet
they will not answer that. The CEO of backpage.com was subpoenaed to
testify, and he refused to appear here.
If backpage.com is not doing the things in some of these reports that
have come forward and is not acting illegally, then they will come and
talk to us about this. The CEO of backpage would not try to hide behind
the First Amendment, making arguments that don't bear out under the
First Amendment because we are talking about illegality, the
trafficking of children in horrific ways--then this is a legitimate
inquiry for this committee.
I again commend Senator Portman and Senator McCaskill.
I urge the Members of the Senate to support this resolution to
enforce this subpoena so we can ensure that we get the information this
committee needs to inform our policy decisions to address a very
important issue that is putting children at risk, that is harming
families, that is harming men and women who are being trafficked, and
we need to get to the bottom of it.
I yield the floor back to Senator Portman.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. PORTMAN. I thank my colleague from New Hampshire.
Let me just say I already talked about Senator McCaskill in my
remarks, but she has been a terrific partner on this issue and many
others. She has a passion for it as a former prosecutor, someone who
understands this issue well.
I yield all remaining time to Senator McCaskill.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, last year a 15-year-old girl wandered
into an emergency room in St. Louis, told a horrific tale, asking for
help. She had been trafficked across truckstops throughout the Midwest,
taken from truckstop to truckstop, and sold to truckers for sex--all
through backpage. As we debate this today, it is important we stay
focused on that 15-year-old girl and don't get lost in the process of
the Senate.
This is a valid investigation. This is an important investigation.
What we are doing today is making sure the Senate can do its work under
the Constitution. Backpage has refused to cooperate. It has refused to
willingly cooperate. It has refused two legitimate and duly authorized
subpoenas concerning backpage asking for information at the heart of
the investigation.
Under any circumstances, I find it shocking that a company would
refuse a lawful subpoena of the U.S. Senate, would ignore a lawful
subpoena of the U.S. Senate. It is particularly outrageous given that
backpage has already admitted that serious criminal activity, including
sex trafficking of children, occurs on its site. Backpage simply has no
excuse for not complying with these legal subpoenas.
During our November 19 hearing, I promised that while the
subcommittee would move forward carefully and cautiously, we would not
go quietly into the night, and on some day in the near future we would
use the Senate's enforcement measures to compel cooperation from
backpage. Today is that day. While we stay focused on that 15-year-old
girl, I know I speak for the chairman--and I wish to give the chairman
great accolades for our working relationship. It is not always easy to
reconcile differences in positions, differences in policy, and staffs
working together, but he didn't give up. We both stay at it, and we are
both determined to work on this committee in a bipartisan fashion. I am
very grateful to him for his effort in that regard.
As we think of that 15-year-old girl and the information we need, we
also need to think that a bigger principle is at stake; that is, if we
ignore backpage's refusal, what does that say to companies in the
future when we need information in order to do our job? That you can
give the back of your hand to the U.S. Senate and there will be no
consequences? Obviously, that is a slippery slope I don't think we
should go down. I don't think the Founding Fathers would want us to go
down that slippery slope.
That is why today is the day we say enough. We go with this vote to
the courts and we get enforcement of these legal subpoenas so we can
truly find out what, if any, role backpage has had in the highly
illegal and immoral practice of trafficking children for sex.
I yield the floor.
I yield back all remaining time for the Democrats.
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of our time.
[[Page S1568]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back.
The question occurs on adoption of the resolution.
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr.
Vitter).
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer)
and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 38 Leg.]
YEAS--96
Alexander
Ayotte
Baldwin
Barrasso
Bennet
Blumenthal
Blunt
Booker
Boozman
Brown
Burr
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Coats
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Corker
Cornyn
Cotton
Crapo
Daines
Donnelly
Durbin
Enzi
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Flake
Franken
Gardner
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hatch
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Heller
Hirono
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Kaine
King
Kirk
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Lee
Manchin
Markey
McCain
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Mikulski
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Paul
Perdue
Peters
Portman
Reed
Reid
Risch
Roberts
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Schatz
Schumer
Scott
Sessions
Shaheen
Shelby
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Udall
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
NOT VOTING--4
Boxer
Cruz
Sanders
Vitter
The resolution (S. Res. 377) was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the preamble is
agreed to and the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid
upon the table.
(The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in the Record of
February 29, 2016, under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
____________________