[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3624]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       HUMAN TRAFFICKING LEGISLATION AND LORETTA LYNCH NOMINATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wish to speak a little bit about human 
trafficking and Loretta Lynch.
  The Republican leader is right. In an hour or so the Senate will vote 
to end debate on the human trafficking and child pornography 
legislation. That vote is going to fail. The Republican leader knows it 
is going to fail, just as I do. It is going to fail because Republicans 
have chosen to manufacture a political fight that has nothing to do 
with human trafficking.
  Abortion legislation has no place in human trafficking legislation. 
The Republican Congressman who drafted this version of the human 
trafficking bill in the House said as much. Congressman Erik Paulsen 
said: ``There is no reason it should be included in these bills. This 
issue is far too important to tie it up with an unrelated fight with 
politics as usual.''
  We have a long piece out of the New York Times. My friend quoted 
partially from the Washington Post. But let's be realistic. There has 
been a sleight of hand here to get the abortion language in this bill.
  As this article indicates:

       This legislation, which sailed through committee in 
     February, stalled last week when Democrats noticed a 
     provision that would prohibit money in the fund from being 
     used to pay for abortions. The original Senate bill, 
     introduced in the last Congress, made no reference to 
     abortion. Nor did the House's version of the bill, introduced 
     by Representative Erik Paulsen. Paulsen said, ``there is no 
     reason it should be.'' He said last week, ``This issue is far 
     too important to tie it up with an unrelated fight with 
     politics as usual.''
       Republicans say they routinely add the abortion language to 
     bills, but Democrats say Republicans operated in bad faith--
     not to mention in violation of Senate norms--by 
     misrepresenting the bill's contents.

  This dispute has nothing to do with the needs of the Justice 
Department. It is beyond irresponsible to strand the Department without 
a leader, sowing instability and uncertainty in an important executive 
agency.
  The chief law enforcement officer of our country is being detained 
because of this fight between us, Democrats and Republicans, over 
whether abortion should be in this bill. We believe it shouldn't be; 
Republicans believe it should be.
  This is a good person who deserves our immediate attention. The 
Loretta Lynch nomination should be done immediately. There is no reason 
we can't do this now, today.
  Would the Presiding Officer tell us the business of the day?

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