[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 160 (Thursday, October 5, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6361-S6367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. Franken):
S. 1927. A bill to amend section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act
of 1965 in order to allow adjunct faculty members to qualify for public
service loan forgiveness; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I reintroduced the Adjunct Faculty
Loan Fairness Act, a bill that would enable faculty working less than
full-time to participate in the Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness
Program.
Contingent faculty members are like full-time instructors. They have
advanced degrees. They teach classes and spend many hours outside the
classroom preparing for class. They hold office hours, grade papers,
and give feedback to students. They provide advice and write letters of
recommendation. Students rely on them. Since most adjuncts have
advanced degrees and, as the 63 percent of graduate degree recipients
who borrow have an average of almost $59,000 in student loans, they are
among the 44 million Americans with student debt.
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The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is meant to encourage
graduates to go into public service by offering student loan
forgiveness for eligible Federal loans after ten years of full-time
work in government or the non-profit sector. Public service fields like
nursing, military service, and public health qualify. And many
education jobs qualify, including full-time work at public universities
and part-time work at community colleges in high-needs subject areas or
areas of shortage. But other faculty members, those who work part-time,
are not eligible for loan forgiveness because the law requires an
annual average of 30 hours per week to qualify for the program. For
adjunct faculty working on a contingent basis--many of whom may only
teach one or two classes while holding down other part-time jobs to
make ends meet--this requirement can be difficult or impossible to
meet, even when they are putting in more than 30 hours of work each
week.
The number of faculty hours given for each class is calculated
differently at different schools. Some schools give one hour per hour
in the classroom while others actually take into consideration the time
required outside the classroom. So, even as these faculty members are
working hard to provide quality instruction for their students, often
without the option of moving into a tenured, full-time position, their
public service is not recognized by the current Public Service Loan
Forgiveness program.
The Adjunct Faculty Loan Fairness Act of 2017 would solve this by
amending the Higher Education Act to expand the definition of a
``public service job'' to include a part-time faculty member who
teaches at least one course at an eligible institution of higher
education. They would still have to meet all the other requirements to
qualify for the public service loan forgiveness program, including
making 120 on-time payments while employed at a qualifying institution,
and they could not be employed full-time elsewhere at the same time. I
believe it corrects a major flaw in the current system and rewards
individuals for their contribution to public service rather than
penalize them for the number of hours they work.
This bill would benefit someone like Brittany, an adjunct professor
in southern Illinois. Brittany finished her graduate degree in 2013 and
still has over $70,000 in student loan debt today. This debt has
prevented her from attending law school, her longtime dream, and makes
it challenging to put money aside for her retirement. This debt is also
putting her children's future at risk--Brittany will still be paying
off her own loans when it is time for her now four-month old child to
attend college. This bill would ensure that Brittany, and thousands
like her, could secure their family's financial future by earning
credit towards the Public Service Loan Forgiveness for loan payments
made while teaching, regardless of the fact that she isn't full-time
faculty.
Unfortunately, for all their contributions to their colleges and the
students they work with, adjunct faculty like Brittany often don't have
the same employment benefits or job security as their colleagues. The
number of classes they teach every semester varies. To make ends meet,
these professors often end up teaching classes at more than one school
in the same semester, getting paid about $3,000 per class and making an
average annual income that hovers around minimum wage. This also means
that, in some parts of the country, they spend as much time commuting
as they do teaching.
Nationally, over half of all higher education faculty work on a
contingent basis. In the past, these were a minority of professors who
were hired to teach an occasional class because they could bring
experience to the classroom in a specific field or industry. Over time,
as university budgets have tightened and it has gotten more expensive
to hire full-time, tenure track professors, higher education
institutions have increasingly relied on adjuncts.
From 1991 to 2015, the number of part-time faculty in the U.S.
increased two and a half times from 291,000 to over 743,000. At the
same time, the percentage of professors holding tenure and tenure-track
positions has been steadily decreasing from 45 percent of all
instructors in 1975 to only 29 percent in 2015. The number of full-time
instructors, tenured and non-tenured, now makes up less than half of
all professors on U.S. campuses. Today, a majority of the 1.5 million
faculty employees at public and non-profit colleges and universities in
the United States work on a part-time, contingent basis.
Illinois colleges rely heavily on adjuncts. In 2015, 52 percent of
all faculty at all Title IV degree-granting institutions in the state--
more than 31,700 faculty employees--worked on a part-time basis. This
is a 32.4 percent increase in part-time faculty in Illinois compared to
a 7 percent increase in full-time faculty since 2002.
This bill does not fix the growing reliance by our higher education
system on part-time professors who are underpaid and undervalued. But
it would ensure that members of the contingent faculty workforce are no
longer unfairly excluded from the loan forgiveness program for public
servants. I would like to thank my colleague, Senator Al Franken from
Minnesota, for joining me in this effort. I hope my other colleagues
will join us to ensure this program benefits faculty members who
provide our students with a quality education.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1927
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Adjunct Faculty Loan
Fairness Act of 2017''.
SEC. 2. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR ADJUNCT FACULTY.
Section 455(m)(3)(B)(ii) of the Higher Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)(3)(B)(ii)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``teaching as'' and inserting the
following: ``teaching--
``(I) as'';
(2) by striking ``, foreign language faculty, and part-time
faculty at community colleges), as determined by the
Secretary.'' and inserting ``and foreign language faculty),
as determined by the Secretary; or''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(II) as a part-time faculty member or instructor who--
``(aa) teaches not less than 1 course at an institution of
higher education (as defined in section 101(a)), a
postsecondary vocational institution (as defined in section
102(c)), or a Tribal College or University (as defined in
section 316(b)); and
``(bb) is not employed on a full-time basis by any other
employer.''.
______
By Mr. FLAKE:
S. 1937. A bill to authorize appropriations for border infrastructure
construction, to provide conditional resident status to certain aliens,
and to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to include grounds of
inadmissibility and deportability for alien members of criminal gangs
and cartels, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. FLAKE. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Border
Security and Deferred Action Recipient Relief Act, which I am
introducing.
This bill offers solutions to the serious problems facing us with
regard to border security, while at the same time addressing the needs
for a legislative solution for those issues faced by the children who
were brought here through no fault of their own.
With respect to the border, this bill provides $1.6 billion in
funding for border security measures that the President requested and
the House has already approved in a bipartisan vote. As an Arizonan, I
am more than familiar with the steps we need to take to increase border
security. We have a better situation on the border than we have had in
a while, but there are still measures that need to be taken.
In addition to the appropriate barriers that will aid in preventing
illegal crossings, we need access roads that actually get to the
border. If there is one issue I hear from property owners, ranchers,
Border Patrol agents, and others near the border, it is that they need
better access. We have had an issue with regard to roads that are used
by the Border Control that are paid for by the county. It is a
situation that needs to be resolved, and it will benefit all of us who
travel near the border. This bill addresses that. The road issue was
also raised by the GAO. I requested a study on behalf of my
constituents,
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along with my colleagues, to see what we could do with the roads and
access situation. GAO came back with recommendations, and this would
implement some of the recommendations.
The bill also aids law enforcement by ensuring the swift deportation
of individuals determined to be members of violent gangs and drug
cartels.
I would also like to thank Congresswoman Barbara Comstock for her
leadership on this issue by sponsoring the Criminal Alien Gang Member
Removal Act, which passed the House.
With respect to the children brought here through no fault of their
own, this bill takes a measure that has already earned bipartisan
support in the House of Representatives, the Recognizing America's
Children Act, which provides a solution for the DACA kids. These young
immigrants were brought here as children and simply know no other
country. For all intents and purposes, these young people consider
themselves Americans. If we can protect these DACA recipients and
provide solutions to better secure our borders at the same time, that
is a win-win.
The President and Congress both want to improve border security. We
both want to respond to the threat of dangerous gangs and drug cartels.
We both want to arrive at a legislative solution for the rescission of
the DACA Program that benefits those who want to contribute to their
communities and to the American dream. This bill is the best way to
thread the needle and deliver what the President has asked for, what
the Congress wants, and what my constituents in Arizona deserve. These
issues are far too important for us to delay.
To be clear, I will work with anyone to support any number of
proposals that accomplish these goals, but I believe that the
straightforward approach of the Border Security and Deferred Action
Recipient Relief Act, which I am introducing today, is the best chance
we have to put this bill on the President's desk.
______
By Ms. HEITKAMP (for herself, Mr. Tester, Mr. Franken, Mr.
Heinrich, Mr. Merkley, and Ms. Warren):
S. 1942. A bill to direct the Attorney General to review, revise, and
develop law enforcement and justice protocols appropriate to address
missing and murdered Indians, and for other purposes; to the Committee
on Indian Affairs.
Ms. HEITKAMP. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss and bring
awareness to the obligation that we have to never forget what is
happening to way too many Native American women in this country.
For too long, the disproportionate incidents of violence against
Native American women have gone unnoticed, unreported, or
underreported, and it is time to address this issue head-on. That is
what I intend to do today and in the remaining days of my time in the
Senate, until we actually get a bill passed.
There is no official database or requirement for information
collection regarding the number of missing and murdered Native women.
In most cases, the only records of them are records that have been
provided to us by the families and friends of the victims. It is
critical that Congress push the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI
to work with Tribal communities to come up with culturally appropriate
protocols for responding to cases of missing and murdered Native women.
I would like to take this time to honor Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind,
whose story has been told on the news in North Dakota and nationally
and who has been on the forefront of my mind since introducing this
bill.
On August 19, Savanna, a 22-year-old member of the Spirit Lake Tribe,
who was 8 months pregnant, went upstairs to her neighbor's apartment in
Fargo, ND, after being invited to try on a dress for alterations. While
she was there, what awaited her in that apartment were truly horrific
acts of violence. Although Savanna's baby daughter survived and is now
safe with her father and grandparents, that was the last time anyone
who loved Savanna saw her alive.
After 8 days of searching for Savanna by the family and the
community, her body was finally found by chance by kayakers in a nearby
river. Her body was wrapped in plastic and duct taped. Her death was an
incredible tragedy and, unfortunately, one that happens way too often
to Native women.
While the news of Savanna's death was heard around the world,
thousands of indigenous women are murdered and disappear each year,
with many of those cases being ignored or forgotten.
Over my decades in public service, I have worked with Tribal
communities on issues that involve violence against Native women. In
response to those talks and to this latest tragedy, today I am
introducing legislation that would help tackle the barriers to bringing
justice for missing and murdered Native women across the country.
My bill, which is named after Savanna, would work to improve Tribal
access to Federal databases for missing persons. It would promote
interjurisdictional collaboration by establishing protocols for
responding to cases of missing and murdered Native Americans, and it
would require the collection of data related to missing and murdered
Native women.
Native women are an inherently vulnerable population whose voices are
still not heard by most people in power. Across rural North Dakota,
women living on reservations face unique challenges when dealing with
violence. Lack of access to emergency services, lack of access to law
enforcement officers, lack of access to an AMBER Alert system, and
confidential victim services that are not provided--these all act as
barriers to women getting the help that they desperately need.
Unfortunately, there is no official database or mandated database
collection on the total number of missing and murdered Native women in
our country. This has added to not knowing what the actual magnitude of
this epidemic really is and has resulted in several Tribal members
sending me stories and handwritten lists of the names of missing and
murdered women that people have gathered just from their collective
memory.
I would like to share some of the stories that I have been so honored
to receive from family members. Telling these stories--and giving me
the ability to tell these stories--is not easy because every time you
tell the story, you relive the story. These tragedies still hurt
deeply. Even years after the murder, they still absolutely relive that
experience. I know they have given me these stories to tell for one
simple reason: because they pray and they hope and they dream that
giving me these stories may change the outcome for some other family.
I am going to start by talking about these wonderful women--these
beautiful women. Up at the far right-hand corner with her beautiful
baby is Stella Marie Trottier-Graves. Stella Marie was born and grew up
in Belcourt, ND, and was a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of
Chippewa. She spent many years traveling the world with her husband,
who served in the U.S. Air Force, and their three children. The family
lived in Florida, Germany, Japan, and Arizona. Everywhere they went,
Stella quickly made friends and proudly shared her Chippewa culture.
She was loved and adored by all who met her for living an adventurous
and fearless life.
In July 2009, Stella and her family moved back to Belcourt, ND, and
she started to attend Turtle Mountain Community College. On September
16, 2010, Stella and her cousin were at the local bar when she decided
to stay behind with other people they knew. According to witnesses,
Stella left with another couple to continue the evening out.
Stella's body was later found in a male Tribal member's pickup in an
open field on the reservation. It wasn't until 13 days later that the
family was officially notified by law enforcement of Stella's death.
Throughout the investigation, there were a lot of rumors and
misinformation, which made it difficult to find the murderer or the
murderers. People who were with Stella the night of her death said that
they were never questioned, and information provided was never followed
up on. No one has ever been charged or convicted for this murder, and
the last hours of Stella's life remain unknown.
Stella was an incredible woman who was loved by all who knew her. Her
family, her children, and her Tribe deserve justice.
Monica Wickre is pictured here with those beautiful earrings and the
red
[[Page S6364]]
shirt. Monica was a 42-year-old mother of three who was born and raised
in Belcourt on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa reservation and
lived near Aberdeen, SD.
After a night out with friends on April 7, 1993, Monica never
returned home. Her relatives grew concerned when they had not heard
from or seen Monica for several days. Eventually, the family filed a
missing persons report and started to talk to friends and neighbors.
The detective assigned to the case worked closely with the community
and the family and assured them he was working diligently on this case.
In June of that year, a canoeist found Monica's badly decomposed body
in the James River outside Aberdeen. Throughout the next several years,
new detectives were assigned to the case, each having to basically
start over and work with limited notes, interviews, and evidence from
the previous investigators. A couple of times, the police told the
family that they had a suspect or were close to arresting someone for
Monica's murder, but there was never enough information to charge the
suspect. This has resulted in nearly 25 years of heartache for Monica's
family and her friends.
Monica's family wants justice for their daughter, sister, and mother,
and they all want closure. Although the case is no longer active, the
family continues to bring awareness about Monica's case in the hope
that someone will come forward with information that will, in fact,
help solve it.
Monica Lisa Two Eagle is the woman with the dark hair in the floral
print shirt. She was a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and one of 14
children. She was kind, caring, and athletic. In the winter of 1979,
Phil Two Eagle saw his sister Mona Lisa, who was in her early twenties,
leave the siblings' house and get into a red-and-white pickup with a
couple of men. Mona Lisa never returned.
In the following days, the family and local law enforcement searched
for her on horseback. Taking it upon themselves, they searched for her
on horseback. About 2 weeks after she went missing, Mona Lisa's father
and brother found her frozen in a pasture near their home. She had been
beaten, possibly raped, and left alone in a blizzard. Rumors ran wild
that family and law enforcement tried to solve the crime, but, even to
this day, no one was ever convicted or even charged. The two men who
were last seen with Mona Lisa all those years ago are still running
free, while the family lives every day with the lack of justice.
Lakota Rae Renville, the woman in the black-and-white photo, is the
last victim I want to talk about. I want to thank her family, who are
here today and who have honored me and trusted me with her memory. I
want to help them understand how grateful I am, but I also want them to
know that sharing her story will help raise awareness about the crimes
of missing and murdered indigenous people.
Lakota was a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Bands of North
and South Dakota, who, despite being shy and reserved, had a solid
group of friends who supported her and even helped her excel in school.
After graduation, Lakota spent time taking care of her family,
especially her nieces and nephews.
In 2005 Lakota met a man online and unexpectedly relocated to
Missouri, unbeknownst to her family. With most details still unknown 12
years later, the family is left with more questions than answers. What
they do know is that she was forced into sex trafficking and
manipulated against her will.
In October of 2005, Lakota's family was called and told that her body
was found badly beaten, wrapped in carpet padding and a blanket in an
open gravel pit in Missouri. Local investigators brought in and
subsequently let go dozens of suspects and, to this day, have not
brought her murderer to justice.
Lakota was never given a chance to become a mother or pursue that
bright future that surely lay ahead of her. She was robbed of a life
she had yet to experience, a life that was certain to be filled with
love from her family and deep appreciation from her family.
These are not isolated cases. This goes on every day in America.
I want to make a point of how discouraging it, so many times, when
you see events unfolding where it may be that a young girl goes missing
in a Caribbean island and the world is turned upside down looking for
her or when we hear a story of someone who comes from maybe a more
affluent and wealthy family who goes missing and we turn over every
stone to find them. Yet that is not the story for very many indigenous
women.
When you look at the importance of what we do today, probably the
most important thing we can do is to tell these stories, and from
telling these stories we have an opportunity to really change. We can't
ignore that frequently for Native people, they are not wrong to believe
that they are the forgotten people of this country. Way too often, the
first Americans become the last Americans.
Under the Savanna's Act, the Attorney General, in cooperation with
the Secretary of the Interior, must consult with the Tribes on how to
improve Tribal access to Federal criminal information databases, such
as the National Crime Information Center and the National Missing and
Unidentified Persons System. We need to ensure that Tribal law
enforcement has up-to-date information on missing Native women and
better communication--in fact, essential--with Federal, State, and
local law enforcement agencies and Tribal law enforcement agencies so
cases like the ones you have heard of today don't go unnoticed or
uninvestigated.
Jurisdictional issues are a huge barrier in Indian Country to
responding to and prosecuting crimes committed on Tribal lands.
Standardized protocols must be established in order to give a quicker
response to Native women going missing. The complexity of jurisdiction
on Tribal lands can slow down an investigation, but it is not an
excuse. It can waste crucial time at the beginning of an investigation
or a case, but it is not an excuse. If we do not act rapidly, we know
we lose precious time to prevent homicides and to bring a woman safely
home and help apprehend the perpetrators.
In one case study alone done by the National Institute of Justice, 97
percent of Native women experience violence by a non-Native
perpetrator. This number emphasizes what I have long said, that
historical trauma is a major factor of violence against Native women,
and perpetrators feel that Tribal lands give them a free pass from the
law. This can no longer be tolerated, and jurisdictional issues must be
addressed. It cannot be the excuse for inaction.
Although we don't know the total number of missing and murdered
Native women, it is clear, from all of the stories and from the
statistics that we do have, that the rates at which Native American
women experience violence is intrinsically related to the likelihood of
their going missing, being murdered, and forced into sex trafficking.
Here are just some of the statistics collected by the National
Institute of Justice, the Government Accountability Office, and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding violence against
Native women. In 2016, 5,712 cases of missing Native women were
reported to the National Crime Information Center, and 125 of those
cases were in my State of Dakota alone. On some reservations, Native
women are murdered at more than 10 times the national average. I want
to repeat that. On some reservations, Native women are murdered at more
than 10 times the national average.
American Indians and Alaskan Natives are two times more likely to
experience rape or sexual assault compared to all other races.
In 2010, we found that the U.S. attorneys declined to prosecute
nearly 52 percent of violent crime that occurred in Indian Country.
Homicide is the third leading cause of death among American Indians and
Alaskan Native women between 10 and 24 years old.
These high rates of violence, including domestic violence, sex
assault, and human trafficking, must stop. We must work together to
combat domestic violence and human trafficking in Indian Country.
Just last week, the Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing to
discuss the lack of services provided for Indian Country regarding the
horrific acts of violence and human trafficking of Native women. Just
yesterday, while questioning one of the officials at the Department of
the Interior about the need to do training in human trafficking at our
casinos, he simply said:
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I thought you were going to ask me about Indian gaming. I quickly said:
I am asking you about Indian gaming because all of this works together.
If we do not work together in every institution of the Federal
Government, in every institution of the State government, and in every
institution of Tribal government, we will never make progress in
providing the security that we have in this building, and the security
that we enjoy as White women will never be realized for women living on
the reservation in Indian Country. We cannot let this continue.
There are countless more stories like Savanna's, Stella's, Mona
Lisa's, Monica's, and Lakota's that we will never know. It is time for
Congress to recognize this epidemic and take action to prevent these
stories and find out just how many stories there really are. It is time
to give voice to these voiceless women. It is time to bring their
perpetrators to justice and give a voice to the families who are
struggling even today--sometimes decades later--to understand how this
can happen in America. They seem to be second-class citizens.
I think that is what we know. I am working with very many of my
colleagues on the other side. This isn't a partisan issue.
I have been joined by my wonderful colleague from the great State of
Alaska. I think the first time we ever met, this was the topic of
conversation: What is the security for Indian children, security for
Indian women, and Alaskan Native women? We knew because both of us have
traveled extensively in our States and spent a lot of time in the
indigenous populations.
When family members ask us why this is happening, we frequently don't
have an answer.
I know that in my State jurisdictional issues provide some barriers
to actually getting this done, but that is an excuse. We need to do
better.
With that, I want to yield the floor to my wonderful colleague from
the great State of Alaska, who once again is joining me and leading her
side of the aisle to bring attention to these issues.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I want to acknowledge and thank the
Senator from North Dakota. She has been a champion for the Native
people, the indigenous people around the country, including in my State
of Alaska. Whether it is working to address the issues related to
childhood trauma, which so many of our young Native children face, or
the issues relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, and human
trafficking--these are scourges that we see directed, unfortunately, at
so many of our Native women in the State of Alaska, in the State of
North Dakota, and around the country.
She has cited the statistics. I think sometimes we just get numb by
the statistics. When you are told that you are four times the national
average, that sounds bad. But what does that mean? When you put a face
to it, when you hear the tragedy repeated through the stories, these
are not just statistics that we are speaking of. These are real women.
These are our sisters. These are our neighbors. These are our friends,
and these are human beings who deserve to be respected in their lives
but also respected in other tragic deaths. How we work to address these
difficult issues needs to be a focus and a priority for us.
So I appreciate what the Senator from North Dakota is doing in
bringing attention to our Nation's lackluster--and that is kind of a
polite term here--response to the tragedy of missing and murdered
Native women and girls.
I am proud to lend my voice to the proposition that Congress, in the
exercise of our trust responsibility to our Native peoples, has a
responsibility to do more. You would think that that trust
responsibility demands us to be paying even closer attention, and yet
it seems that we just withdraw from that, that that responsibility is
not acknowledged.
Now, it is not often here in the United States that we benchmark our
treatment of indigenous peoples against Canada, but in this case, there
is actually a compelling difference between Canada's national response
to the tragedy of missing and murdered Native women and our seeming
indifference here in the United States.
Down in southeastern Alaska, right across on the Canadian side, lies
a town called Prince Rupert. It is in British Columbia. The Alaskan
ferry comes in from Washington State and stops in Prince Rupert and
then moves into Alaska. Prince Rupert is also the terminus of Highway
16, and the locals refer to Highway 16 as the ``Highway of Tears.''
They refer to it as the ``Highway of Tears'' because it is a road on
which Native women and girls have vanished for decades now. The
question is, How many? Who is disappearing? Some would say as few as 12
and perhaps as many as 43. CBS News devoted a segment of its news
magazine show ``48 Hours'' to the Highway of Tears.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed 54 million Canadian
dollars to a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous
women and girls. I will admit that there is some controversy over
whether the national inquiry is actually fulfilling its mission, but my
point here is that Canada stepped up. They have acknowledged that this
is an issue, that this is a problem, and they have responded to the
disproportionate victimization of Native women and girls, and they have
done so in a tangible way. Here in the United States, as my friend and
colleague has noted, we are more than a bit late in acknowledging that
the problem even exists.
Earlier this year, the Senators from Montana--both Senator Daines and
Senator Tester--were successful in designating May 5, 2017, through a
resolution, as the National Day of Awareness on Missing and Murdered
Native Women and Girls. The resolution recites that some Tribal
communities face murder rates that are 10 times the national average,
as Senator Heitkamp has noted. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, homicide was the third leading cause of death
among Native women between the ages of 10 and 24 years and the fifth
leading cause of death for Alaska Native women between 25 and 34 years
of age. So we are trying to raise attention and awareness. We are
trying to shine a spotlight on this issue.
I certainly think it is high time that Federal law enforcement answer
the question, Why? Why is the murder rate for Native women so high, and
why are we not addressing it in a comprehensive fashion? The Senator
from North Dakota has pointed out that in many areas, jurisdictional
issues are at play, and I agree. That is not an excuse. We acknowledge
that we have challenges with jurisdictions. Let's figure this out.
Women are disappearing and dying.
In Alaska, it is not so much jurisdictional issues; it is the fact
that in far too many of our communities, we lack any law enforcement
presence. We might have a VPSO--a village safety police officer--but
they are not armed. They are very limited in terms of their ability to
provide for levels of enforcement. More frustrating than so much of
that is that women who have been victimized feel as though reporting
doesn't get them anywhere because there is no follow-through. There is
no prosecution. There has been no effort that will allow them to have
any level of recourse, much less justice, visited upon them.
As we talk about these issues of jurisdiction and law enforcement and
the rates that we see, I think we need to be clear that the discussion
today--the call for justice--is not driven by statistics and rates. It
is driven by their faces. It is driven by the loss of people's
daughters, people's siblings, people's friends, including Savannah and
Stella and Nicole and Mona Lisa. These are all real people, real women
with names, with faces, with families.
In Alaska, the face we so often associate with the lack of progress
when it comes to addressing the issue of missing and murdered Native
women is the face of Sophie Sergie. This year marks the 24th
anniversary of the death of Sophie Sergie from Pitkas Point. This is a
Yup'ik village in southwest Alaska.
On August 26 of 1993, Sophie was found dead in the women's bathroom
dorm on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. She was raped. She
was shot dead. It is believed that her body remained in that bathroom
for some 13 hours before it was found. The murder weapon was never
recovered. That case is still a cold case 24 years later. But we don't
forget Sophie Sergie, just as
[[Page S6366]]
we don't forget the women the Senator from North Dakota has shared
stories about. We cannot forget these women.
Unlike the tragedies along the Highway of Tears, we really don't know
how many Native women and girls have gone missing and murdered. That is
a big part of the problem. But I will tell my colleagues that if you
ask advocates for Native women, the answer comes back: It is no secret.
We all know somebody. We all know somebody who has gone missing,
somebody who has been murdered.
That was the testimony of Tammy Jerue. She is the executive director
for the Alaska Native Women's Resource Center, and she testified before
a congressional briefing last February. Tammy told the briefing that
her organization has documented as many as 50 names of women. When we
think about it, numbers on that order were significant enough for Prime
Minister Trudeau to commission a national inquiry. So it causes us to
ask the question, What about us? What number do we have to get to
before there is a call to action, before we wake up and say: This is
not acceptable. This is not acceptable that our Native women are
disappearing, are being murdered.
Native women are asking why Federal law enforcement has no protocol
for addressing the crisis in our Indian Country, why there is a lack of
coordination among criminal justice agencies in this country to set
aside the jurisdictional challenges and investigate these tragedies in
an effective manner, and why there is a lack of victim services.
In the Indian Affairs Committee, we had a hearing on human
trafficking, sex trafficking. It was pretty revealing about the lack of
victim services--specific--that could be there to help our Native
victims. Right now, the families of missing and murdered Native women
in Alaska have to cover the cost of a traditional burial. They have to
cover the cost of immediate long-term counseling, and so many other
expenses they can't afford. We maintain a victims of crime fund here in
this country to address these sorts of costs, but there is no dedicated
Tribal funding stream. We have had some pretty bipartisan efforts here
in the Senate to establish one, but we haven't even been able to do
that bare minimum to provide for the victims.
The issue we are discussing today is tragic and frustrating. It is
depressing. But to remain silent is to truly further marginalize Native
women and girls, and that is unacceptable. Perhaps we are not going to
devote tens of millions of dollars to a national inquiry; However, it
is high time that we acknowledge a problem that has failed to make
headlines in this country, because you first have to acknowledge that a
problem exists to make headway in addressing that problem.
So, again, I thank the Senator from North Dakota for her strong and
steadfast advocacy on behalf of not only our Native women but our
Native children, our indigenous peoples across this country. I
appreciate all that is being done, and I look forward to working with
her again as we try to shine a brighter light on a very tragic
situation.
______
By Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Reed, Mr.
Kaine, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Franken, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Van
Hollen, Mr. Markey, Mr. Carper, Ms. Warren, Ms. Hirono, Mr.
Cardin, Mr. Booker, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Sanders, Mrs. Murray, Mr.
Blumenthal, and Ms. Harris):
S. 1945. A bill to regulate large capacity ammunition feeding
devices; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1945
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Keep Americans Safe Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended
by inserting after paragraph (29) the following:
``(30) The term `large capacity ammunition feeding
device'--
``(A) means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, helical
feeding device, or similar device, including any such device
joined or coupled with another in any manner, that has an
overall capacity of, or that can be readily restored,
changed, or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of
ammunition; and
``(B) does not include an attached tubular device designed
to accept, and capable of operating only with, .22 caliber
rimfire ammunition.
``(31) The term `qualified law enforcement officer' has the
meaning given the term in section 926B.''.
SEC. 3. RESTRICTIONS ON LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING
DEVICES.
(a) In General.--Section 922 of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by inserting after subsection (u) the
following:
``(v)(1) It shall be unlawful for a person to import, sell,
manufacture, transfer, or possess, in or affecting interstate
or foreign commerce, a large capacity ammunition feeding
device.
``(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the possession of
any large capacity ammunition feeding device otherwise
lawfully possessed on or before the date of enactment of the
Keep Americans Safe Act.
``(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to--
``(A) the importation for, manufacture for, sale to,
transfer to, or possession by the United States or a
department or agency of the United States or a State or a
department, agency, or political subdivision of a State, or a
sale or transfer to or possession by a qualified law
enforcement officer employed by the United States or a
department or agency of the United States or a State or a
department, agency, or political subdivision of a State for
purposes of law enforcement (whether on or off-duty), or a
sale or transfer to or possession by a campus law enforcement
officer for purposes of law enforcement (whether on or off-
duty);
``(B) the importation for, or sale or transfer to a
licensee under title I of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 for
purposes of establishing and maintaining an on-site physical
protection system and security organization required by
Federal law, or possession by an employee or contractor of
such licensee on-site for such purposes or off-site for
purposes of licensee-authorized training or transportation of
nuclear materials;
``(C) the possession, by an individual who is retired in
good standing from service with a law enforcement agency and
is not otherwise prohibited from receiving ammunition, of a
large capacity ammunition feeding device--
``(i) sold or transferred to the individual by the agency
upon such retirement; or
``(ii) that the individual purchased, or otherwise
obtained, for official use before such retirement; or
``(D) the importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or
possession of any large capacity ammunition feeding device by
a licensed manufacturer or licensed importer for the purposes
of testing or experimentation authorized by the Attorney
General.
``(4) For purposes of paragraph (3)(A), the term `campus
law enforcement officer' means an individual who is--
``(A) employed by a private institution of higher education
that is eligible for funding under title IV of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.);
``(B) responsible for the prevention or investigation of
crime involving injury to persons or property, including
apprehension or detention of persons for such crimes;
``(C) authorized by Federal, State, or local law to carry a
firearm, execute search warrants, and make arrests; and
``(D) recognized, commissioned, or certified by a
government entity as a law enforcement officer.''.
(b) Identification Markings for Large Capacity Ammunition
Feeding Devices.--Section 923(i) of title 18, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``A
large capacity ammunition feeding device manufactured after
the date of enactment of the Keep Americans Safe Act shall be
identified by a serial number and the date on which the
device was manufactured or made, legibly and conspicuously
engraved or cast on the device, and such other identification
as the Attorney General shall by regulations prescribe.''.
(c) Seizure and Forfeiture of Large Capacity Ammunition
Feeding Devices.--Section 924(d) of title 18, United States
Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)--
(A) by inserting ``or large capacity ammunition feeding
device'' after ``firearm or ammunition'' each place the term
appears;
(B) by inserting ``or large capacity ammunition feeding
device'' after ``firearms or ammunition'' each place the term
appears; and
(C) by striking ``or (k)'' and inserting ``(k), or (v)'';
(2) in paragraph (2)(C), by inserting ``or large capacity
ammunition feeding devices'' after ``firearms or quantities
of ammunition''; and
(3) in paragraph (3)(E), by inserting ``922(v),'' after
``922(n),''.
SEC. 4. PENALTIES.
Section 924(a)(1)(B) of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by striking ``or (q)'' and inserting ``(q), or (v)''.
SEC. 5. USE OF BYRNE GRANTS FOR BUY-BACK PROGRAMS FOR LARGE
CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES.
Section 501(a)(1) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control
and Safe Streets Act of 1968
[[Page S6367]]
(34 U.S.C. 10152(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(I) Compensation for surrendered large capacity
ammunition feeding devices, as that term is defined in
section 921 of title 18, United States Code, under buy-back
programs for large capacity ammunition feeding devices.''.
SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by this
Act, or the application of such provision or amendment to any
person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the
remainder of this Act, the amendments made by this Act, and
the application of such provision or amendment to any person
or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.
____________________