[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12758-12763]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    STRENGTHENING CHILD WELFARE RESPONSE TO TRAFFICKING ACT OF 2014

  Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 5081) to amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 
Act to enable State child protective services systems to improve the 
identification and assessment of child victims of sex trafficking, and 
for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 5081

       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 ``Strengthening Child Welfare 
     Response to Trafficking Act of 2014''.

     SEC. 2. CAPTA AMENDMENTS.

       Section 106 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 5106a) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (b)--
       (A) in paragraph (2)(B)--
       (i) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (xxii); and
       (ii) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(xxiv) provisions and procedures to identify and assess 
     reports involving children who are sex trafficking victims, 
     and which may include provisions and procedures to identify 
     and assess reports involving children who are victims of 
     severe forms of trafficking in persons described in section 
     of 103(9)(B) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 
     2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9)(B));
       ``(xxv) provisions and procedures for training 
     representatives of the State child protective services 
     systems about identifying and assessing children who are sex 
     trafficking victims, and which may include provisions and 
     procedures for such training with respect to children who are 
     victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons described 
     in section of 103(9)(B) of the Trafficking Victims Protection 
     Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9)(B)); and
       ``(xxvi) provisions and procedures for identifying services 
     (including the services provided by State law enforcement 
     officials, the State juvenile justice system, and social 
     service agencies, such as runaway and homeless youth 
     shelters) and procedures for appropriate referral to address 
     the needs of children who are sex trafficking victims, and 
     which may include provisions and procedures for the 
     identification of such services and procedures with respect 
     to children who are victims of severe forms of trafficking in 
     persons described in section of 103(9)(B) of the Trafficking 
     Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9)(B));'';
       (B) in paragraph (2)(D)--
       (i) by striking ``and'' at the end of clause (v);
       (ii) by inserting ``and'' at the end of clause (vi); and
       (iii) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(vii) the provisions and procedures described in clauses 
     (xxiv) and (xxvi) of subparagraph (B);''; and
       (C) in paragraph (4)--
       (i) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (A);
       (ii) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (B) 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (iii) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(C) Sex trafficking victim.--The term `sex trafficking 
     victim' means a victim of--
       ``(i) sex trafficking (as defined in section 103(10) of the 
     Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 
     7102(10))); or
       ``(ii) a severe form of trafficking in persons described in 
     section 103(9)(A) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 7102(9)(A)).''; and
       (2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the following:
       ``(17) The number of children identified under clause 
     (xxiv) of subsection (b)(2)(B), and of such children--
       ``(A) the number identified as sex trafficking victims (as 
     defined in subsection (b)(4)(C)); and
       ``(B) in the case of a State that has provisions and 
     procedures to identify children who are victims of severe 
     forms of trafficking in persons described in section 
     103(9)(B) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 
     (22 U.S.C. 7102(9)(B)), the number so identified.''.

     SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

       (a) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 
     Services shall submit to the Committee on Education and the 
     Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
     on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension of the Senate, a 
     report that--
       (1) describes the specific type and prevalence of severe 
     form of trafficking in persons to which children who are 
     identified for services or intervention under the placement, 
     care, or supervision of State, Indian tribe, or tribal 
     organization child welfare agencies have been subjected as of 
     the date of enactment of this Act;
       (2) summarizes the practices and protocols utilized by 
     States to identify and serve--
       (A) under section 106(b)(2)(B) of the Child Abuse 
     Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a(b)(2)(B)), 
     children who are victims of trafficking; and
       (B) children who are at risk of becoming victims of 
     trafficking; and
       (3) specifies any barriers in Federal laws or regulations 
     that may prevent identification and assessment of children 
     who are victims of trafficking, including an evaluation of 
     the extent to which States are able to address the needs of 
     such trafficked children without

[[Page 12759]]

     altering the definition of child abuse and neglect under 
     section 3 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 
     U.S.C. 5101 note).
       (b) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
       (1) Severe form of trafficking in persons.--The term 
     ``severe form of trafficking in persons'' has the meaning 
     given the term in section 103(9) of the Trafficking Victims 
     Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9)).
       (2) Victim of trafficking.--The term ``victim of 
     trafficking'' has the meaning given the term in section 
     103(15) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 
     U.S.C. 7102(15)).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Nevada (Mr. Heck) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Nevada.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5081.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Nevada?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today in support of H.R. 5081, the Strengthening Child Welfare 
Response to Trafficking Act of 2014. Mr. Speaker, human trafficking has 
reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Young people are 
being forced into manual labor or commercial sexual activity in what 
has become a $32 billion a year industry.
  While we are fighting trafficking with every tool available, there is 
more that can be done. The fact remains that domestic child trafficking 
is a serious problem in the United States. Around 300,000 American 
youth are at risk of sexual commercial exploitation and trafficking per 
year.
  Through my involvement with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police 
Department, I have seen the exploitation and horrific abuses 
trafficking victims have to endure. As an emergency room physician, I 
have seen the physical, emotional, and psychological trauma inflicted 
on victims, and as a father, it sickens me to think that one of my 
children could become a victim.
  As a Member of Congress, I have worked on legislation to help address 
this problem and held a local roundtable in Nevada with victims, 
advocacy, and law enforcement groups.
  H.R. 5081, the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking 
Act of 2014, will help protect child victims by improving practices 
within State child welfare systems to identify, assess, and document 
sex trafficking victims.
  This legislation amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 
to direct States to implement and maintain procedures to identify and 
assess reports involving children who are victims of sex trafficking.
  Additionally, this bill requires that States train child protective 
services workers on how to identify these children and the services 
necessary to meet their needs, and it would improve reporting on the 
number of children identified as sex trafficking victims.
  The bill also requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
report on the type of prevalence of youth trafficking victims in the 
welfare system, provide a summit of State practices for serving youth 
trafficking victims, and report on any barriers in Federal law that 
prevents the identification and assessment of youth victims of 
trafficking.
  Instead of properly identifying and assisting trafficked and 
exploited children, these children are often sent to the juvenile 
justice system, where they are labeled and treated as criminals. These 
innocent victims are victimized again by the very system that was 
designed to protect them.
  This bill works towards a positive solution that ensures child 
welfare agencies have the appropriate systems in place to properly 
identify, assess, and document child victims of sex trafficking, 
instead of treating them as criminals.
  It is imperative that we continue to pass legislation that helps 
victims of both labor and sex trafficking to ensure that victims 
receive the services they need to escape a life of abuse.
  Again, I would like to thank Chairman Kline of the Education and the 
Workforce Committee, as well as the other original cosponsors of this 
legislation--Representatives Karen Bass, Michele Bachmann, Tom Marino, 
Jim McDermott, and Louise Slaughter--for their hard work on this bill.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the 
Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2014 and 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BASS. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5081, the Strengthening 
Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2014, and I would like to 
thank Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Miller for their support and 
collaboration on creating momentum for this policy that will be a 
critical step towards preventing child sex trafficking. I appreciate 
both their insight and assistance in bringing this bill to the floor 
today.
  I also want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Representative 
Marino. He has been a tireless advocate for children in the foster care 
system. Mr. Marino, along with the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth 
cochairs, Representatives McDermott and Bachmann, all served as 
original cosponsors of the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to 
Trafficking Act, and their continuing commitment to transforming the 
child welfare system has brought national attention to the intersection 
between child sex trafficking and the child welfare system.
  The U.S. Department of Justice reports that more than 300,000 
children in the country are at risk of sexual commercial exploitation 
and trafficking each year. These are 300,000 too many, and tragically, 
this number shows that a comprehensive and aggressive response is 
needed in order to combat child trafficking throughout the country.
  In my city, the Los Angeles County Probation Department reports that 
61 percent of identified trafficking victims are foster youth. The Los 
Angeles STAR court is a specialized collaborative courthouse designed 
to serve commercially exploited youth and reports that 80 percent of 
these girls have been previously involved in the child welfare system.
  As cochair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, I have had 
the opportunity to travel throughout the country as part of our 
nationwide listening tour. Unfortunately, the stories I have heard from 
advocates and youth is that children in the child welfare system 
continue to be preyed upon by traffickers who use their vulnerability 
as an opportunity to exploit them.
  The stories that emerge are those like Caroline's, a young girl who 
grew up in a household where she was physically, sexually, and 
emotionally abused. When Caroline was just 13 years old, a 35-year-old 
man attended a sporting event at her school and deceived her into 
believing that he loved her and would give her the attention she 
craved.
  Instead, this man began to sell Caroline to numerous men for sex. 
Throughout this time, she had many encounters with the child welfare 
system, but no one picked up that she was a victim of trafficking. The 
social workers did not have the training or the proper tools to assess 
that she needed specialized services.
  Our bill would ensure that children like Caroline do not slip through 
the cracks, as State and county child welfare departments have 
protection plans that will outline provisions and procedures to 
identify and assess all reports of children known or suspected to be 
victims of sex trafficking.
  State systems do not currently have the proper protections, services, 
or protocols to adequately serve those in the system who have been 
victims of trafficking. States also lack such support for victims who 
enter the child welfare system.
  In fact, during a site visit recently on the Foster Youth Caucus 
listening tour to Missouri, a law enforcement officer told us that he 
had no other option but

[[Page 12760]]

to arrest the girls, to ensure that they receive the proper services.
  In Los Angeles, the child sex trafficking unit of the county 
probation department specifically addresses the needs of child victims, 
and it is the only such division in the country. I commend their 
critical work and commitment to ensure the trafficking victims receive 
the resources they need.
  We must not continue to arrest these children in order to provide 
them with these services. Our bill will be a first step toward ensuring 
that there are policies and procedures in place to connect child sex 
trafficking victims to public or private specialized services.
  Last year, in a meeting with children in the child sex trafficking 
unit of the Los Angeles County Probation Department, the girls all 
echoed the same sentiment. While they were grateful to have the 
resources they needed to begin to deal with their trauma, they felt 
stigmatized by having to be arrested in order to receive these 
services.
  Our bill would ensure that each State has a training plan for child 
protective service workers to appropriately respond to reports of 
trafficking, so that trafficked children would be provided the same 
resources as youth in the child welfare system and be classified as 
victims of crime, not as criminals.
  We have story after story across the country of children being raped 
and sold as if they were little more than objects, but we do not have 
the concrete data to help them find the appropriate services. H.R. 5081 
requires that, within 1 year, the Department of Health and Human 
Services report to Congress on the prevalence and types of trafficking 
they have encountered.
  Many advocates believe that labor trafficking is also a critical 
issue with children in the child welfare system. The reality is we need 
hard data to evaluate what is happening to the children, so that proper 
resources can be allocated in the future. Our bill also allows States 
to establish the same policy and procedures for children if they are 
victims of labor trafficking.
  The report will also assess State practices used to identify and 
serve trafficking victims and Federal laws and policies that may 
prevent States from supporting these victims, including the absence of 
trafficking in the Federal definition of child abuse and neglect under 
CAPTA, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.
  These critical steps to reforming our child welfare system will help 
ensure that victims are provided with the same resources and access as 
other children. I strongly urge my colleagues to support our bill and 
continue to build momentum to combat domestic child sex trafficking.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 5 minutes to the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe).
  Mr. POE of Texas. I thank the gentleman from Nevada for yielding. I 
also want to thank my friend from California (Ms. Bass) for introducing 
this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, you are going to find tonight that there are eight bills 
dealing with sex trafficking in the United States. You will also find 
that these are bipartisan bills, and a lot of different Members are 
involved in this legislation, which goes to say that on this issue of 
modern-day slavery--the human sex trafficking that is taking place--
Members of Congress are working together in many different ways to come 
to the same conclusion to present legislation to the House floor.
  I would just encourage the Speaker in his role to get the Senate to 
bring up this legislation as soon as it all passes, either tonight or 
tomorrow.
  We have already had some good pieces of legislation pass, a piece of 
legislation called the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, 
sponsored by Carolyn Maloney from New York, a Democrat, and myself, a 
Republican from Texas. That is about as bipartisan as you can get, Mr. 
Speaker. We don't even speak the same language, but it passed the House 
2 weeks ago, 409-0.
  The House of Representatives is moving as fast as we can and as 
carefully as we can to deal with this scourge of modern-day slavery. 
You don't get much talk about it in the national media. It is just not 
one of those controversial issues, but it is being done, and that is a 
good thing.

                              {time}  1745

  Mr. Speaker, there are two types of minor sex trafficking that are 
taking place. There are children from foreign countries that are being 
sold and delivered to the United States for sex trafficking, and then 
there are Americans, kids that live in the United States, that are 
being sold and delivered throughout the United States for domestic sex 
trafficking. It is increasing for a lot of reasons, but awareness is 
one of those reasons--or lack of awareness is a reason that we want to 
hopefully stop--and the awareness needs to go to parents and children 
about what can take place.
  Also, when sex trafficking with minor children takes place, as my 
friend Ms. Bass from California has said, when that child is rescued by 
law enforcement, they don't have anyplace to take them. There is no 
housing for those individuals, so they put them in the juvenile justice 
system for their safety. But, yes, they are labeled. They are given 
that stigma of a criminal. Even though it is juvenile criminal, they 
are still a criminal.
  They are not a criminal, Mr. Speaker. They are victims of crime, 
victims of slavery.
  For example, in the United States, there are 5,000 animal shelters, 
and they are great. I have got three dalmatians--I call them the 
weapons of mass destruction--and two of them came from dalmatian 
rescue. But, Mr. Speaker, there are only 300 beds for minor sex-
trafficked children in the United States. That is it. There aren't any 
more.
  So we need to have the ability to take those children when rescued by 
law enforcement or by child protective services or whoever to a shelter 
where they have a place that they can stay other than the jailhouse. 
That is one of the most important things that we can do.
  As the gentleman from Nevada has said, this scourge is a multimillion 
dollar business. It is second only to the illicit drug trade. The 
reason is because children can be sold more than once each day--some up 
to 20 times. Drugs are sold one time. Plus, the risk of apprehension 
and the consequences for drugs is a whole lot more than that of sex 
trafficking, and therefore that is why it is the second, will soon be 
the highest, income for illicit activity, criminal activity, because 
there is no risk involved.
  So those are some things that are being addressed by these eight 
pieces of legislation tonight. They are all good, and they are all 
bipartisan. They are supported by most Members. There are a lot of 
cosponsors on all of that legislation. Hopefully, we can get all eight 
of those pieces of legislation passed and sent down the hallway to the 
Senate and get their attention and vote on these.
  And that is just the way it is.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Washington State, Mr. McDermott.
  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Strengthening 
Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2014.
  Today, more than 293,000 American youth are at risk of sexual 
commercial exploitation and trafficking each year. Far too often, State 
child welfare systems fail to properly identify and assist trafficked 
and exploited children. The protective services and protocols 
established for abused and neglected children within the child welfare 
system are rarely extended to trafficked children and youth. In many 
States, such children are often not even categorized as victims.
  I would point out that we have on our borders today 57,000 youngsters 
who have come in whatever way they have come to our attention. One of 
the real dangers in sort of sending people back into whatever is that 
you may well be sending them back into sexual trafficking. This is one 
of the issues that should be looked at in every case where you find a 
youngster roaming the

[[Page 12761]]

streets. States have got to look at this issue and figure out a way to 
deal with it.
  We know that youngsters when they age out of foster care have no 
skills, they have no job, and they have very little to keep themselves 
alive, and, therefore, they easily become victims of sexual 
trafficking. This is an issue that this country, if we really care 
about children, we are going to look carefully at every kid and what 
are the risks to which they are being exposed.
  Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino), the cochair of the Foster 
Care Adoption Caucus.
  Mr. MARINO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5081.
  It is an absolute outrage that between 100,000 and 300,000 American 
youth are currently at risk for becoming victims of commercial sexual 
exploitation and trafficking right here in the United States.
  Although we know there are many factors that make youth particularly 
vulnerable to traffickers and exploiters, such as age range, history of 
abuse, living in an impoverished community, and many others, the most 
astounding indicator a child will be trafficked is whether or not he or 
she is in foster care--in the foster care system at all.
  In 2013, 60 percent of the child sex trafficking victims recovered as 
part of an FBI nationwide raid from over 70 cities were children from 
foster care or group homes. Make no mistake about it. Our foster care 
system provides an essential service to our communities and our 
children. In fact, my wife and I have housed children from this system. 
However, we are simply not doing enough to protect these children from 
being preyed upon.
  This is why I have worked with my colleague, Congresswoman Karen 
Bass, to introduce H.R. 5081, the Strengthening Child Welfare Response 
to Trafficking Act of 2014. This bill would make much-needed reforms to 
the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to ensure States increase 
their child protection service plans and that we increase the data 
being reported to Congress.
  To enact good law in Congress, we simply need as many facts at our 
fingertips as possible. Sadly, criminals in the child trafficking 
industry have become adept at lurking in the shadows and evading law 
enforcement, leaving us with very poor records and data on the 
activity.
  This is why Congresswoman Bass and I are calling on States to work 
with us to strengthen our records and data logs so that we can more 
effectively craft laws to stop these criminals moving forward.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important 
bipartisan bill, because when it comes to those who are the most 
innocent among us, they deserve as much protection as possible.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New 
York, Ms. Yvette Clarke.
  Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Bass) for her tireless commitment to the children of 
our Nation's child welfare system and for extending time to speak on 
this timely and important legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the House's legislative 
efforts to combat human trafficking, a very cruel form of modern-day 
slavery. I urge all my colleagues to support the legislation before us, 
including H.R. 5081, the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to 
Trafficking Act, a bill that seeks to improve the child welfare 
response to trafficking by requiring States to have procedures for 
identifying, assessing, and documenting child victims of trafficking. 
H.R. 5081 would also help identify, assess, and document child victims 
of sex trafficking throughout the United States.
  Unfortunately, human trafficking is a big, booming business, and I 
cannot--and I will not--stand idly by and watch as our country becomes 
the center for smuggling human beings and human sexual exploitation.
  We have a major crisis on the border of our Nation and in big cities 
like New York and others across the Nation that have been exacerbated 
and enabled by highly organized crime syndicates. If we understand the 
methods these groups use and begin by eliminating their sources of 
revenue, we can save people from human rights abuses and exploitation. 
Young girls are sold as sexual property, and boys and men are forced to 
work for cheap labor after they are convinced to sign unfair labor 
contracts. Their government documents are taken from them, and they are 
left with no one and nothing.
  The people who want to do harm to our most vulnerable are likely to 
get more money from trafficking a child for sex than from the illicit 
drug trade. Awareness concerning human trafficking has increased 
significantly in recent years, but awareness is not enough.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman an additional 1 
minute.
  Ms. CLARKE of New York. The United States is now considered a 
destination country according to the United States Department of State. 
Yes, Mr. Speaker, you heard it correctly. Human trafficking isn't 
something that is just occurring in other countries or other 
continents. It is happening right here in America.
  In the United States, human trafficking rakes in $9.8 billion for the 
use and abuse of victims, many of whom are children. The National 
Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that each year 
100,000 children are falling victim to the industry within our own 
borders.
  I am proud to join my colleagues and the ever-growing number of 
Americans who are standing up to the objectionable practice of human 
trafficking. Congress is taking the additional steps to protect our 
children with this legislation. Again, I urge my colleagues to support 
H.R. 5081 and all of the legislation concerning human trafficking 
before the House. The time is now to protect children from being 
victims of human trafficking.
  Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Farenthold).
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to support H.R. 5081, 
the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2014.
  It has been estimated that more than 293,000 children in the United 
States are at risk of sexual exploitation, many of whom are imported 
into this country along the routes used by the drug traders across the 
Rio Grande and moved through Texas. This form of modern-day slavery is 
absolutely unacceptable. No one, especially children, should have to 
endure this kind of cruelty. We cannot ignore that child trafficking is 
a serious problem taking place right here in our own backyard in the 
United States of America.
  Unfortunately, many State child welfare systems do not identify and 
assist these exploited children appropriately. This bill strengthens 
the response to child trafficking by conditioning grants to States on 
their creating plans to protect children from these abuses and 
atrocities.
  We had a hearing of the Homeland Security Committee in Houston and 
learned that often the trafficked children are not considered victims. 
They are considered the perpetrators. We have got to educate the police 
departments. We have got to educate the officers on the street. We have 
got to educate all of America that these children are victims. They 
need help. They don't need to end up in the juvenile justice system 
being treated like criminals.
  This legislation would help identify children who were forced into 
sex trafficking and require States receiving grants to train their 
child protective services workers to appropriately respond to these 
activities.
  Ideally, the child sex trafficking industry would not even exist. 
Unfortunately, the monetary motivations and God knows what else keep it 
going. It is happening right here, and we have got to stop it. This 
bill and the other bills on the floor of the House tonight take very 
important steps to combat this scourge.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support it and thank 
Representatives

[[Page 12762]]

Bass and Kline for moving us forward in this important endeavor.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode 
Island (Mr. Langevin).
  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to speak today in support of the 
Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2014. I 
would like to thank my good friend and colleague, Congresswoman Karen 
Bass, for introducing this bill and for all she does on behalf of 
foster youth.
  Foster youth are some of the most at-risk children in our society. 
They are often victims of abuse or neglect, and too many face trials 
and tribulations beyond their years. So much that we take for granted--
a stable home, living with our siblings, or returning to the same 
school year after year--are constant obstacles for these children.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation before us today will specifically 
address the link between girls in foster care and sex trafficking, and 
it will require States to develop a child protection plan to identify 
and assess all reports involving children known or suspected to be 
victims of trafficking.

                              {time}  1800

  Additionally, States must provide training plans for child protective 
services workers to appropriately respond to reports to child 
trafficking and have procedures in place that will connect child 
victims to public or private specialized services.
  So I want to echo the comments of so many of my colleagues who have 
spoken here today. I commend Congresswoman Bass and Congressman Kline, 
and all those who have had a hand in this legislation and who are 
looking out for the welfare of our children. I am proud to support this 
bipartisan legislation. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
  Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this day and the 
opportunity to be on the floor to have the Nation recognize the value 
of our children and the importance of protecting them. In particular, I 
thank Ms. Bass and Mr. Marino for their leadership of the Foster Care 
Caucus, work that has been so important across America, and I thank the 
Education Committee with Mr. Miller and Mr. Kline for aspects of this 
legislation.
  But I remember, Mr. Speaker, walking the streets of Houston with 
Covenant House and finding in cubbyholes homeless children, homeless 
teens. Many of them had aged out, and many of them during that time 
when the language wasn't clear had been prostituted, they were being 
sex-trafficked. No one was helping. So I am excited about legislation 
that recognizes that this act of ignoring them is child abuse, and that 
we need to ensure that they are not criminals and that the child 
welfare system understands their needs.
  I was the first to bring to Houston a Homeland Security hearing on 
human and sex trafficking. It was an emotional hearing. The stories 
that were being told through law enforcement and those who had been 
victimized as children and how their lives were ruined would raise the 
hairs on your head. So I support all of these human trafficking 
initiatives, particularly as they take children away from the criminal 
justice system, and I look forward to Homeland Security moving more 
toward understanding this through the international process, and our 
Nation recognizing that, as has been said before, that the 
unaccompanied children are themselves victims of sex trafficking and 
need due process protection.
  But we start at home. Therefore, I look forward to introducing 
legislation dealing with the homeland security human trafficking 
component in that Department, but the legislation offered by Ms. Bass 
and Mr. Marino, again, is a program that is long overdue. And I am 
grateful that we will now have a system where these children will be 
recognized not as criminals but will be recognized through the State 
child welfare system to identify and help these children that have been 
taken by this terrible industry, Mr. Speaker, and save their lives. The 
bills on the floor today will save the lives of our children. I ask 
support for all of the bills on human trafficking today.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5081, the 
``Strengthening Our Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 
2014,'' which strengthens the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 
(Pub. L. 93-247) by requiring that state plans for federal grants for 
child abuse or neglect prevention and treatment programs include 
elements focused on human trafficking.
  Trafficking in humans is a major problem across the globe and in our 
own country. As lawmakers, we have a moral responsibility to combat 
this scourge and protect our children, especially those without parents 
to care for them, from being exploited and falling through the cracks.
  As the Founder and Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I 
understand how important it is to defend those who are too young to 
defend themselves.
  This problem is personal for me because according to the U.S. 
Department of Justice, my home city of Houston, Texas is the epicenter 
of human trafficking in the United States with over 200 active brothels 
in Houston and two new ones opening each month.
  Houston has also surpassed Las Vegas for the dubious distinction of 
having the most strip clubs and illicit spas serving as fronts for sex 
trafficking.
  Human trafficking in Texas is not limited to Houston. During the 2011 
Dallas Super Bowl, 133 underage arrests for prostitution were made and 
during this year's massive effort ``Operation Cross Country'' led by 
the FBI, several pimps were arrested.
  Between 1998 and 2003 more than 500 people from 18 countries were 
ensnared in 57 forced labor operations in almost a dozen cities 
throughout the State of Texas.
  Currently, our state child welfare systems do not properly identify 
and help the children that have been taken by this horrible industry. 
Even more disturbing is that the protections provided by our child 
welfare systems often do not extend to young victims of trafficking.
  Hard as it is to believe, in some states trafficked youths are not 
even regarded or classified as victims. Rather, they are treated as 
youthful offenders and consigned to the criminal justice system.
  These kids are not criminals. They are victims, robbed of their 
innocence by adult criminals. They are boys and girls who have been 
taken advantage of and are unable to escape an ugly system.
  I support H.R. 5081 because it is focused on helping at-risk and 
vulnerable children and treat them as victims rather than treating them 
as criminals.
  Specifically, the bill requires that state plans for Federal grants 
for child abuse or neglect prevention and treatment:
  1. provide procedures to identify and assess all reports involving 
children known or suspected to be victims of sex trafficking;
  2. provide training for child protection service workers to 
appropriately respond to reports of child sex trafficking; and
  3. develop and implement policies and procedures to connect child 
victims to public or private specialized services.
  Additionally, the bill requires States to report annually the numbers 
of children identified as victims of sex trafficking within the already 
existing National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.
  H.R. 5081 also requires the Department of Health and Human Services 
to submit a report to Congress outlining the prevalence and type of 
child trafficking nationwide as well as the current barriers to serving 
child victims comprehensively.
  I strongly support H.R. 5081 and urge my colleague to join me in 
voting for its passage which will help bring an end to the evil 
practice that is child sex trafficking.
  Mr. HECK of Nevada. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  The fight against child sex trafficking is a bipartisan issue, and I 
appreciate that both parties have come together today to support the 
development of legislation that would make a significant impact on one 
of the most vulnerable populations in our Nation.
  The Strengthening Our Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act is an 
important step in ensuring that child welfare agencies have the proper 
systems in place to identify, assess, and document child victims of 
trafficking.

[[Page 12763]]

  Stories like those of Caroline and the other young girls in the child 
sex trafficking unit of the Los Angeles County Probation Department are 
critical to understanding exactly the effect our bill would have in 
laying the foundation of transforming the way our Nation responds to 
child sex trafficking.
  However, it is also important to recognize that this bill and the 
other bills on the floor today are steps on that journey, and there is 
still an enormous amount of work that needs to be done.
  Again, I would like to thank members of the Education and Workforce 
Committee and the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth for their 
continued commitment to advancing policies that help change the lives 
of children.
  I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my staff, Adriane 
Alicea, and especially my former deputy chief of staff, Jenny Wood, who 
did the lion's share of work to make this legislation happen, and 
without her hard work and dedication, this legislation would not be on 
the floor today.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, we have heard some compelling and moving stories this 
evening that underscore our moral obligation as a society to do all we 
can to combat this epidemic of child and human trafficking. I urge my 
colleagues to support H.R. 5081 and all of the related legislation that 
we will consider this evening.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the 
Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act.
  We all know that our nation's children are our most precious 
resource, and we wish that every child had the opportunity to grow up 
in a family that loved and protected them, but unfortunately that is 
not the case.
  As a result, about 400,000 children are in the foster care system as 
we speak. In the last few years, there have been great improvements in 
how we care for foster children, particularly the focus on supporting 
youth as they age out of the system.
  But there is a stain on the American foster care system that we have 
not adequately addressed: child sex trafficking. Child sex trafficking 
is truly one of the most deplorable and disgusting crimes any adult can 
commit, and it's our job to do all that we can to end it--especially 
when so many victims are children for whom we have taken responsibility 
in the foster care system.
  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tells us that 
60% of runaways who are victims of sex trafficking were at one time in 
the custody of social services or in foster care. In my home state of 
New York, 85% of trafficking victims have prior child welfare 
involvement. While state-specific numbers vary throughout the country, 
they all tell us that something more needs to be done.
  To add insult to injury, far too often, state child welfare systems 
fail to properly identify and assist trafficked and exploited children. 
Instead of being cared for and supported, these children are often sent 
to the juvenile justice system and criminalized for, at no fault of 
their own, being raped and trafficked! These children are victims, and 
we have a moral obligation to protect them.
  I'm a proud original co-sponsor of the Strengthening Child Welfare 
Response to Trafficking Act, which would help identify exploited 
children, train child protective services workers to appropriately 
respond to them, and connect child victims to specialized services so 
that they can begin the process of recovery. I am particularly pleased 
that this legislation includes a directive for HHS to report on any 
barriers in Federal laws or regulations that may be preventing States 
from properly identifying, assessing, and serving children who are 
victims of trafficking. I believe one such barrier is that currently, 
under the Child Abuse Protection and Treatment Act, young victims of 
trafficking are not automatically defined as victims of abuse and 
neglect. Making a definitional change would ensure that these children, 
who are clearly victims, are supported and protected, not sent to the 
juvenile justice system for prosecution. I look forward to receiving 
this report next year and working with my colleagues to make that 
change for the sake of these young people who deserve our protection.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer my support for the 
Strengthening the Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act. As a co-
chair of the Foster Youth Caucus and a former foster parent, I am 
grateful for this legislation, as it recognizes a terrible and 
undeniable truth about our child welfare system.
  Statistics show that foster children are highly vulnerable to being 
sexually trafficked. This bill will lay out needed provisions to 
identify and track victims within the already existing National Child 
Abuse and Neglect Data Systems and ensure that each state is not only 
prepared to spot the signs of victimization, but also adequately help 
those who have been rescued.
  This bill is an important step in coordinating state and federal 
efforts and resources, to give victims the necessary individualized 
care, and to stop this terrible assault on children.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Collins of New York). The question is on 
the motion offered by the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Heck) that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5081.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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