[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 28, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S1291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TARGETED REWARDS FOR THE GLOBAL ERADICATION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 311, H.R. 1625.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 1625) to amend the State Department Basic 
     Authorities Act of 1956 to include severe forms of 
     trafficking in persons within the definition of transnational 
     organized crime for purposes of the rewards program of the 
     Department of State, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill, 
which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign Relations, with 
an amendment to strike all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu 
thereof the following:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Targeted Rewards for the 
     Global Eradication of Human Trafficking'' or the ``TARGET 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) Trafficking in persons is a major transnational crime, 
     as recognized by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 
     2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.; division A of Public Law 106-
     386).
       (2) Trafficking in persons is increasingly perpetrated by 
     organized, sophisticated criminal enterprises.
       (3) Combating trafficking in persons requires a global 
     approach to identifying and apprehending the world's worst 
     human trafficking rings.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
     the Department of State's rewards program is a powerful tool 
     in combating sophisticated international crime and that the 
     Department of State and Federal law enforcement should work 
     in concert to offer rewards that target human traffickers who 
     prey on the most vulnerable people around the world.

     SEC. 3. REWARDS FOR JUSTICE.

       Section 36(k)(5) of the State Department Basic Authorities 
     Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708(k)(5)) is amended--
       (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 
     ``means'';
       (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses 
     (i) and (ii), respectively, and moving such clauses, as 
     redesignated, 2 ems to the right;
       (3) by inserting before clause (i), as redesignated, the 
     following:
       ``(A) means--'';
       (4) in clause (ii), as redesignated, by striking the period 
     at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
       (5) by adding at the end following:
       ``(B) includes severe forms of trafficking in persons (as 
     defined in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection 
     Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102)) involving at least 1 
     jurisdiction outside of the United States.''.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
committee-reported amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be 
considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The committee-reported amendment in the nature of a substitute was 
agreed to.
  The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a 
third time.
  The bill was read the third time.
  The bill (H.R. 1625), as amended, was passed.

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