[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 185 (Thursday, December 12, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6984-S6985]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 
                                  2023

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, as if in legislative session, 
notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 91, S. 920.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 920) to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims 
     Protection Act of 2000, 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.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today out of my 
concern for the victims of human trafficking.
  Nearly two and half decades ago, Congress passed the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act. In an effort to eliminate this scourge of 
modern-day slavery at home and abroad, the original legislation 
established a framework known as the ``3 Ps''--protection, prevention, 
and prosecution. This approach to combating human trafficking has been 
so effective that it has been reauthorized across Republican and 
Democratic administrations with overwhelming bipartisan support. This 
is important legislation that saves live and protects innocent people.
  The last time the reauthorization of the international provisions 
passed, it was signed into law by President Trump. However, for 3 years 
now, the authorities of the international anti-human trafficking 
programs have been expired. It is past time for Congress to act. I am 
here today to ask that the Senate pass this substitute amendment to the 
International Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 
because I know my colleagues on both sides of the aisle want action 
before we adjourn.
  This substitute amendment is a combination of all the provisions of 
the House-passed bill and the Senate provisions reported favorably out 
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June 2023 by voice vote. 
There is bipartisan support to enhance these programs and policies, 
including from my colleague Senator Risch, the ranking member on the 
Foreign Relations Committee. Republicans and Democrats alike want to 
help the 27 million people who are victims of forced labor and sexual 
exploitation. And we want to hold perpetrators of these crimes to 
account.
  This reauthorization will incorporate anti-trafficking measures into 
all USAID development programs, combat trafficking of domestic workers 
by UN officials or foreign missions, and require the President take 
into account anti-trafficking efforts by other countries when we give 
them development assistance. When I talk about a values-based foreign 
policy for the United States, these are the kinds of policies I am 
talking about.
  And so I ask that the Senate pass this substitute amendment to the 
International Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, S. 
920.

[[Page S6985]]

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Cardin substitute 
amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to and that the bill, as 
amended, be considered read a third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 3322), in the nature of a substitute, was agreed 
to.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read 
the third time.
  Mr. CARDIN. I know of no further debate on the bill, as amended.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate?
  If not, the bill having been read the third time, the question is, 
Shall the bill pass?
  The bill (S. 920), as amended, was passed.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.


                          Judicial Nominations

  Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, it has been nearly 4 years since I was 
first sworn in to serve here in the Senate. Since then, as a member of 
the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have had the privilege of working 
alongside my colleagues to provide advice and consent on President 
Biden's judicial nominees. Over the course of the 4 years, we have 
confirmed some of the most qualified, extraordinary public servants 
ever to be nominated to the Federal bench.
  As of this week, that has meant that 233 new Federal judges are 
serving in the Federal judiciary, including 33 in my home State of 
California. So I rise today to celebrate the three most recently 
confirmed Federal district court judges in my home State.
  In the last week, with your support, we confirmed Judge Anne Hwang to 
serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of 
California. Judge Hwang earned her bachelor's degree from Cornell 
University and her law degree from the University of Southern 
California Law School.
  After beginning her career as a litigation associate at Irell & 
Manella in Los Angeles, Judge Hwang went on to serve for 12 years in 
the Federal Public Defender's Office in Los Angeles--the largest public 
defender's office in the Nation. During her time there, she rose 
through the ranks, from deputy public defender to chief deputy public 
defender, and she gained extensive trial experience. In 2018, she was 
appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
  Informed by the invaluable experience that came from serving as a 
public defender, Judge Hwang now brings an important perspective to the 
Federal bench.
  Next, earlier this week, we confirmed Judge Cynthia Valenzuela also 
to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
  Judge Valenzuela earned her undergraduate degree from the University 
of Arizona before earning her law degree at the UCLA School of Law.
  After graduation, she served as special assistant on the U.S. 
Commission on Civil Rights and later as a trial attorney with the 
Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division Voting Rights Section. 
Eventually, she returned to Los Angeles to work in the U.S. Attorney's 
Office as a prosecutor in the Criminal Division.
  In 2006, she became national vice president of litigation at MALDEF--
you are familiar, Mr. President--the Mexican American Legal Defense and 
Educational Fund.
  She left 5 years later to become a supervising attorney for the 
California Central District Criminal Justice Act panel.
  Finally, in 2016, Judge Valenzuela was appointed to serve as a judge 
on the California State Bar Court, handling attorney regulatory and 
discipline cases.
  Throughout her confirmation process, Judge Valenzuela has been 
praised by her current and former colleagues for her tireless work on 
behalf of victims, for her intelligence, for her integrity, and for her 
dedication to fair and impartial application of the law.
  Her academic credentials and her legal qualifications and experience 
will make her yet another outstanding Federal judge for the Central 
District.
  Finally, also earlier this week, we had the honor of confirming Judge 
Noel Wise, President Biden's nominee to serve on the U.S. District 
Court for the Northern District of California.
  Judge Wise earned her undergraduate degree from the University of 
Nevada, Las Vegas, and her law degree from Nova Southeastern University 
Law School and her master of the science of law degree from Stanford 
Law School.
  Judge Wise first clerked on the Florida Fourth District Court of 
Appeal before joining the U.S. Department of Justice as a trial 
attorney in the Natural Resources Division, where she also spent a year 
detailed to the Assistant U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern 
District of California.
  She then worked in private practice for several years before 
cofounding the firm Wise Gleicher in 2006, where she litigated at the 
trial and appellate level in both State and Federal courts.
  For the past decade, Judge Wise has served on the Alameda County 
Superior Court, including as supervising judge since 2019 and as judge 
pro tem for the California Second District Court of Appeal for a time.
  Judge Wise's wealth of experience in State and Federal courts, in 
civil and criminal litigation, in public and private practice, make her 
more than prepared to now serve on the Northern District.
  On behalf of the State of California, I want to thank my colleagues 
for helping confirm these three outstanding Federal judges and for 
continuing to prioritize judicial confirmations here in the days to 
come.

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