[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Pages 30912-30915]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 972, which was received 
from the House.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 972) to authorize appropriations for fiscal 
     years 2006 and 2007 for the Trafficking Victims Protection 
     Act of 2000, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I support reauthorization of the 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. This legislation was 
championed by my dear friend Senator Paul Wellstone. I supported him 
then and when it was reauthorized in 2003, and I continue to support 
this effort. It is part of his extraordinary legacy. The people of 
Minnesota, the Senate, the Nation and the world suffered a great loss 
when we lost Paul Wellstone.
  The United States has long played a leading role in the international 
community in combating these heinous crimes, and furthered its efforts 
by enacting the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and 
reauthorizing the law in 2003. This reauthorization confirms our 
commitment to effectively and successfully combating this horrific 
problem by combining tough law enforcement strategies with important 
safeguards and services for victims.
  Information about severe cases of human trafficking will continue to 
be provided in the annual State Department Country Report for each 
foreign country, in a continued effort to raise awareness about this 
issue. In addition, the Inter-Agency Task Force will continue to 
monitor trafficking by providing annual and interim reports on 
countries whose governments do not comply with the minimum standards. 
Efforts to establish initiatives to enhance economic opportunities for 
potential trafficking victims, including training and education 
programs, will also continue.
  I am especially pleased that this reauthorization package has been 
improved significantly. For the first time, the bill focuses not only 
on the important goal of preventing international human trafficking, 
but also on preventing the human trafficking that occurs within our own 
borders. Children here in the United States are at tremendous risk, 
especially those who are homeless or runaways, and they are 
particularly susceptible to being domestically trafficked for purposes 
of commercial sexual exploitation. I will not rest until this alarming 
trend is stopped.
  Over the last 30 years, I have worked with my colleagues to write and 
enact legislation aimed at protecting children and assisting victims. 
In the last Congress, Senator Hatch and I joined forces to introduce 
the PROTECT Act, which provided prosecutors and law enforcement with 
tools necessary to combat child pornography and human trafficking. The 
final legislation signed into law included a number of provisions I had 
also either authored or strongly supported, including: The National 
AMBER Alert Network Act; the Protecting Our Children Comes First Act, 
which reauthorized funding for the National Center for Missing and 
Exploited Children; and legislation to amend the Violence Against Women 
Act to provide transitional housing assistance grants for child victims 
of domestic violence.
  As a father and a grandfather, I cannot think of any more important 
responsibility than our responsibility to protect the most vulnerable 
amongst us--our children. I recognize that more needs to be done, and I 
will continue to explore new ways to combat human trafficking. Although 
our work is far from finished, the reauthorization of the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act is another important step in the right 
direction.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, when our Nation recently celebrated the 
life of Rosa Parks, we were reminded that the walk to justice is a long 
one. Her life reminded us that justice starts with individuals standing 
up for what is right; but also that the struggle does not quickly end 
until we faithfully finish the task. Likewise, while we have made a 
good start in our efforts to address the global crime of human 
trafficking, the millions of victims who still suffer in slavery today 
are urgently looking to see if we will finish as well as we have 
started.
  I am pleased to say that the passage of the Trafficking Victims' 
Protection Reauthorization Act is one more step in that direction.

[[Page 30913]]

  Each year, it is estimated that at least 800,000 human beings are 
trafficked across national borders. They are bought and sold in the sex 
industry as prostitutes, or forced into domestic servitude. Recent 
estimates on the number of victims trafficked into the United States 
range from 20,000 to 40,000 per year. Most of these victims are women 
and young children who languish in brothels, being raped and abused by 
the traffickers and their clients. An estimated 27 million human beings 
worldwide suffer from some form of slavery and forced labor.
  The late Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila were passionately 
devoted to the issue of trafficking and to assisting countless victims. 
I will always remember their courageous fight in addressing modern-day 
slavery.
  Senator Wellstone and I teamed up in the Senate and were able to see 
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 signed into law. Some 
called us strange bedfellows, but the wide political and religious 
spectrum that supported our efforts were a clear reminder that this is 
not a partisan issue.
  While Paul Wellstone is no longer here to carry the torch, I am 
pleased that other colleagues from across party lines have worked to 
make a difference by uniting under the common principle of freedom.
  ``The Victims of Trafficking Protection Act,'' Public Law 106-386, 
established a monitoring system and sanctions for countries that fail 
to take minimal efforts to combat trafficking. ``The PROTECT Act,'' 
Public Law 108-21, made it a crime for any person traveling abroad or 
entering into the United States to do so for sex tourism involving 
children. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 
2003, Public Law 108-193, established a Senior Policy Operating Group 
within the executive branch to coordinate sound policies between 
interagency departments. These measures have brought about both deep 
understanding and awareness and much needed laws to protect and combat 
against trafficking.
  I congratulate Congressman Chris Smith and my colleagues in the House 
for their tireless devotion to this issue and the passage of the 2005 
reauthorization legislation.
  The bill reauthorizes ongoing programs of the Department of State, 
U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of Justice, 
Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human 
Services, and Department of Labor to combat trafficking in persons for 
fiscal years 2006 and 2007. Additionally, it authorizes new funds to 
the FBI for domestic and international investigations of acts of severe 
forms of trafficking in persons, as well as grants to State and local 
law enforcement for the investigation and prosecution of acts of severe 
forms of trafficking in persons involving domestic victims of 
trafficking.
  For the first time, we have authorized new programs to reduce the 
demand for commercial sex in the United States and prevent trafficking 
of U.S. citizens through the creation of grant programs for States and 
local law enforcement.
  As a result of last year's tsunami, the legislation incorporates 
child protection and trafficking prevention activities into USAID, 
State, and DOD post-conflict and post-natural disaster relief programs. 
In addition, given recent sex scandals within peacekeeping missions, 
this bill aims to strengthen efforts to combat sexual exploitation and 
trafficking in persons by peacekeepers.
  Finally, the bill authorizes studies on the linkage between 
trafficking and terrorism and trafficking and HIV/AIDS, as well as 
requires a worldwide report on steps taken to prevent and eliminate the 
abduction and enslavement of children for use as soldiers.
  I would also like to applaud the work of the Trafficking in Persons 
Office at the State Department. Through their sustained diplomatic 
efforts, countries around the world are signing into law provisions 
that prevent and punish human trafficking. Even in the United States, 
we have places like the Kansas Legislature working on legislation to 
combat human trafficking. It is a true testament to the strides that we 
have made in ending modern-day slavery and I hope other states and 
nations around the world will also consider taking action against this 
type of organized crime.
  I am driven by the conviction that every individual counts. This 
principle comprises the heart of the democratic form of government. It 
is based on a belief in the universal nature of human rights and a 
commitment to the dignity of every human life. Addressing modern-day 
slavery is driven by that very conviction.
  Rosa Parks' remarkable story tells us that the walk to freedom has to 
begin somewhere--but also that such a walk is a long one. And for the 
journey we take encouragement from the assurances of a Baptist pastor 
who went to jail with Rosa Parks. ``The moral arc of the universe is 
long,'' said Dr. King, ``but it bends toward justice.''
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, in March of this year, I--along with 
Senator Lugar--introduced S. 559, the Protection of Vulnerable 
Populations During Humanitarian Emergencies Act of 2005, a bill to make 
vulnerable people, especially women and children, a priority of our 
foreign assistance programs. The Committee on Foreign Relations 
approved the bill in March as part of its omnibus authorization bill, 
S. 600. Unfortunately, S. 600 was pulled from floor consideration in 
April, and remains stalled.
  In the last few days, I have attempted to add the provisions of S. 
559 as an amendment to H.R. 972, the Trafficking Victims Protection 
Act, which was approved by the other body just last week. I support the 
trafficking bill, which addresses a serious problem in many parts of 
the world, including this country. I have been told, however, by my 
friends on the other side of the aisle that my amendment is not 
acceptable at this time. Several reasons have been given, foremost 
among them that it will unduly delay enactment of the trafficking bill, 
because the other body has essentially closed up shop for the year.
  But as my colleagues know we have another problem--victims of sexual 
exploitation and abuse who are not trafficked--such as those who are 
forced to seek sanctuary in refugee or internally displaced camps. The 
trafficking bill deals with people who are trafficked from those camps. 
But it does not address the need to protect those left behind.
  Last May, I visited a refugee camp in Chad where nearly 30,000 
refugees from Darfur had settled. I have seen and heard the problems 
they are facing first hand.
  Over the last 2 years, civilians have been targeted by Khartoum in 
one of the most horrific genocides the world has ever seen. Villages 
have been bombed, government-sponsored militia have destroyed crops and 
have fouled the water supply. They have burned homes, leaving mothers 
no choice but to flee for their lives and their children's lives.
  Civilians forced to flee during war find their way to camps, but 
instead of relative safety, what do they find? They find more 
suffering. The camps become virtual prisons. Women and girls are beaten 
and raped if they venture outside the camps for firewood.
  Sudan is not the only part of the world where such travesties are 
occurring. A report by a United Nations investigatory team released 
earlier this year states that a number of U.N. peacekeepers--U.N. 
peacekeepers, mind you--deployed to protect civilians from ethnic 
violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were sexually 
exploiting girls as young as 13 years old. The peacekeepers were asking 
these children for sex in exchange for small sums of money or food. And 
the report found that the abuse continued even while UN investigators 
were on the ground.
  Reading that report and others reinforced my belief that we cannot 
stand by any longer. More must be done, and S. 559 provides an 
important framework to do so.
  I firmly believe that the objective of my legislation is entirely 
consistent with the objectives of the trafficking bill--to protect 
vulnerable people, whether they are trafficked from one

[[Page 30914]]

country to another, or left behind in a refugee camp.
  It enhances the U.S. Government's ability to see that women and 
children are protected before, during, and after a complex humanitarian 
emergency. It directs the Secretary of State to designate a special 
coordinator for protection issues who will be charged with making sure 
our embassies are made aware of the warning signs that an emergency 
which may put the lives and safety of women and children at risk is 
imminent.
  It directs the coordinator to compile a watch list of such countries 
and regions so that the Agency for International Development can plan 
to meet potential need for protection programs. It prohibits U.S. 
funding for relief agencies that do not sign a code of conduct that 
outlaws improper exploitative relationships between aid workers and 
recipients.
  It calls upon the United States Executive Director of the 
International Bank of Reconstruction and Development to try to make 
sure World Bank demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration programs 
extend the same benefits provided to ex-combatants to the women and 
children who were associated with them.
  As it now stands, women and children who were used as cooks and 
porters and so-called ``wives,'' a euphemism for women who were 
kidnaped to serve as sexual slaves, may well not be given benefits 
through these programs--nothing with which to rebuild their lives 
despite the fact that they were not there by choice. Yet the very 
people who forced them into such conditions receive assistance without 
conditions.
  Finally, it amends the Foreign Assistance Act to authorize programs 
and activities specifically aimed at making vulnerable people--
especially women and children--who are affected by humanitarian 
emergencies safer from further exploitation and abuse.
  In recent days, some supporters of the trafficking bill have 
suggested my bill is about abortion. My response is this: my bill has 
nothing to do with abortion, but I am willing to make any changes that 
are necessary to make clear that abortion-related restrictions in 
foreign aid laws are not affected.
  I sincerely hope that people who have a legitimate sense of moral 
outrage about victims of trafficking will support my objectives and 
work with me to pass my bill early next year. The Senator from Kansas, 
Senator Brownback, who is one of the chief sponsors in the Senate of 
the trafficking bill, has pledged to work with me on approval of S. 
559. I am grateful to him for that commitment.
  In the meantime, I am pleased that today the Senate will approve the 
Trafficking in Persons legislation and it will proceed to the 
President. It is a very important bill and I commend the sponsors in 
both chambers for their good work.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the 
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act approved by the 
House on Thursday, December 15. This legislation increases the 
Government's ability to combat human trafficking and provides greater 
protective measures for victims of this deplorable crime. I thank my 
colleagues in the House for working on this legislation in an expedited 
fashion, and for their leadership in responding to these challenges.
  The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act includes 
language from the End Demand for Sex Trafficking Act of 2005, a bill 
that I introduced earlier this year. That bill is important because it 
expresses Congress' commitment to reduce U.S. domestic demand for sex 
trafficking--which disproportionately victimizes women and children. It 
incorporates more stringent provisions to penalize human traffickers, 
and it enhances protective measures for the victims of trafficking 
crimes.
  This is accomplished by establishing Federal grants which could be 
used to focus on prosecution efforts. In addition, it strengthens and 
clarifies Federal criminal law, making it easier to prosecute those who 
transport persons who are then used for prostitution across State 
lines. And it includes an important oversight element: the Attorney 
General will be required to release an annual report on best practices 
for reducing the demand for unlawful commercial sex.
  The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution states: ``Neither 
slavery nor involuntary servitude . . . shall exist within the United 
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.'' This provision is 
unique to our Constitution. Many constitutional amendments protect 
individual rights against actions by Federal, State, and local 
governments. But the Thirteenth Amendment is unique because it provides 
that slavery and involuntary servitude cannot exist--neither in public 
nor private spheres.
  Yet, even to this day, men, women, and children are trafficked into 
the United States and coerced into lives ravaged by forced labor and 
sexual slavery.
  I join the administration in commending the House International 
Relations and Judiciary Committees who joined me to address this 
important issue. Indeed, this bill lays out the terrible facts: as many 
as 800,000 human beings are literally bought and sold worldwide into 
some form of slavery or involuntary servitude--approximately 80 percent 
are women and girls and up to 50 percent are children. Roughly 16,000 
of those human beings are brought into the United States each year, 
coerced into lives of forced labor or sexual servitude which, of 
course, is slavery.
  The fact is the current administration has responded to the call by 
dramatically increasing efforts devoted to providing substantially more 
resources to combat human trafficking. This has been done principally 
under the auspices of the civil rights division at the Justice 
Department. The Department has initiated more than three times the 
number of trafficking investigations, filed almost four times as many 
of these cases. and doubled the number of defendants convicted for 
these heinous crimes than in the prior 4-year period.
  Mr. President, I am pleased this important piece of legislation has 
passed, and look forward to working with my colleagues on this very 
important issue in the future.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to support passage of the 
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005.
  This law will help continue the progress in fighting the insidious 
global practice of trafficking in human beings. It is estimated that 
nearly a million people are trafficked across international borders 
each year and pressed into labor or servitude by the use of force, 
fraud, or coercion. Human trafficking represents the commerce in human 
misery.
  Today we reauthorize a bill that was passed and signed into law in 
October 2000. In doing so, we honor one of the great champions of that 
bill--the late Senator Paul Wellstone. Senator Wellstone's commitment 
to combating human trafficking and other human rights abuses stands as 
one of his most enduring legacies. The Senate and the Nation miss his 
courage, passion, and leadership on this issue and so many others.
  The passage of today's bill is also a tribute to the tireless 
advocacy of one of my constituents, Oprah Winfrey. She has helped put a 
spotlight on the tragedy of human trafficking, and she has been a 
powerful and eloquent voice for those who are silenced by oppression.
  Human trafficking is most prevalent in foreign lands, but the U.S. 
Government has estimated that over 10,000 people are trafficked into 
the United States every year. In my own State of Illinois, for example, 
a Russian trafficker was prosecuted in 2002 for forcing several women 
from Latvia to work in Chicago-area strip clubs. The State of Illinois 
has risen to the challenge. This past summer, Illinois Governor Rod 
Blagojevich signed a law that provides more legal tools for State 
prosecutors and more protections for trafficking victims.
  The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 will 
help combat human trafficking throughout the Nation and around the 
globe. It extends the provisions given to Federal

[[Page 30915]]

law enforcement in 2000 to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and 
prevent future abuses.
  And it will allow our government to continue holding other nations 
accountable for their efforts to combat human trafficking abroad. I 
have discussed this issue with Ambassador John Miller, a former member 
of Congress who is now the director of the State Department's Office to 
Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. I am pleased that the number 
of countries to whom the State Department has given a failing grade--
so-called ``Tier 3'' countries--has dropped from 27 in 2001 to 14 in 
2005.
  Earlier this month, we commemorated the International Day for the 
Abolition of Slavery. On this occasion, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi 
Annan said:

       The world is now wrestling with a new form of slavery--
     trafficking in human beings, in which many vulnerable people 
     are virtually abandoned by legal and social systems into a 
     sordid realm of exploitation and abuse. People who 
     perpetrate, condone or facilitate slavery or slavery-like 
     practices must be held accountable by national and, if 
     necessary, international means. The international community 
     must also do more to combat poverty, social exclusion, 
     illiteracy, ignorance and discrimination, which increase 
     vulnerability and are part of the underlying context for this 
     scourge.

  By passing the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 
2005, we are heeding the advice of Kofi Annan and carrying the torch of 
Paul Wellstone.
  Mrs. CLINTON. I rise today to speak in support of the reauthorization 
of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
  The scourge of trafficking in women and children was a priority for 
me as First Lady and continues to be a priority for me as a U.S. 
Senator. Since the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 
1995, I have been working to raise awareness of the heinous practice of 
buying and selling women and children like commodities. I have seen the 
devastation that it causes, and the lives it ruins. I have met with the 
families from Eastern and Central Europe, who, with tears in their 
eyes, pleaded with me to help them find lost ones who had been stolen 
from them, and I have met with the victims, including a 12-year-old 
girl in Thailand who was dying of AIDS after being sold twice by her 
family. This barbaric practice has caused far too many to exist in a 
perpetual state of fear and vulnerability, and we must do everything in 
our power to bring the scourge of trafficking out of the shadows and to 
the attention of the world.
  I am proud to say that the United States has, for the past decade, 
been the leader in trying to persuade the rest of the world to 
eradicate this abhorrent practice. As the Clinton administration 
increased the anti-trafficking activities of our Government through 
programs at the State Department and the Department of Justice, 
Congress was developing legislation to eradicate trafficking. We worked 
with the late Senator Wellstone, his Republican cosponsor, Senator 
Brownback, and Congressman Chris Smith and former Congressman Sam 
Gejdenson in the House, to introduce the first comprehensive anti-
trafficking bill in Congress. This culminated in the passage of the 
Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. I believed 
then, and I believe now, that this is one of the Clinton 
administration's greatest achievements and one of the most important 
parts of Senator Wellstone's legacy. That law has meant the difference 
between freedom and enslavement for unknown numbers of potential 
trafficking victims, and this reauthorization provides us with the 
opportunity to strengthen its ability to help those who have been 
trafficked, and I would like to thank Senator Brownback and 
Representative Smith, my colleagues on the Helsinki Commission, for 
their continued commitment to this act since its initial passage.
  I am proud to see that this reauthorization enhances the 3 P's 
strategy--prevention of trafficking, prosecution of those that engage 
in these acts, and protection of the vulnerable individuals who have 
been trafficked--that we developed in the Clinton administration. It 
gives the Justice Department the authority to pursue extraterritorial 
prosecutions of Federal employees or those accompanying them if they 
engage in trafficking activities. It encourages the prevention of 
trafficking by requiring organizations or contractors engaged in U.S.-
supported peacekeeping efforts to have antitraf-
ficking policies in place. And it will protect those who have been 
trafficked overseas by increasing funding for programs like residential 
treatment facilities.
  But there is still so much work to be done. Although reliable 
statistics are difficult to find, we know that 800,000 individuals--the 
vast majority of whom are women and children--are trafficked from one 
country to another every year, with 15,000 being trafficked to the 
United States. The FBI estimates that trafficking generates $9.5 
billion annually for organized crime syndicates around the world.
  I am deeply concerned about the growing domestic commercial sex 
trade, and I believe that we need to increase funding and target 
efforts to end all forms of exploitation. Any expansion of our focus 
must not dilute our commitment to eradicating human trafficking in all 
its forms in the United States, nor detract from the progress we have 
made in increasing prosecutions and working with law enforcement 
agencies. We must ensure that our Government has all the resources it 
needs to make inroads against these awful acts on our own soil.
  In the fight against trafficking in persons, patience simply is not 
an option. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to 
end this barbaric practice in both the United States and around the 
world, because this is not about politics, but about what we all share: 
universal freedom and universal human rights.
  Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time 
and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any 
statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 972) was read the third time and passed.

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