[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4949-4952]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING ACT OF 2015--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the pending business.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 178) to provide justice for the victims of 
     trafficking.

  Pending:

       Portman amendment No. 270, 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.
       Portman amendment No. 271, to amend the definition of 
     ``homeless person'' under the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
     Assistance Act to include certain homeless children and 
     youth.
       Vitter amendment No. 284 (to amendment No. 271), to amend 
     section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify 
     those classes of individuals born in the United States who 
     are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.


                      Amendment No. 271 Withdrawn

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, in the interests of moving the human 
trafficking bill forward and with the understanding that these 
amendments could be offered later in the process, I withdraw my 
amendment No. 271.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment is withdrawn.
  The Senator from Ohio.


                      Amendment No. 270 Withdrawn

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, in addition, I withdraw my amendment No. 
270.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment is withdrawn.
  The majority leader.


                           Amendment No. 1120

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 1120, which is 
at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. McConnell], for Mr. Cornyn, 
     proposes an amendment numbered 1120.

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

 (Purpose: To strengthen the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act by 
            incorporating additional bipartisan amendments)

       Strike section 101 and insert the following:

     SEC. 101. DOMESTIC TRAFFICKING VICTIMS' FUND.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 201 of title 18, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

     ``Sec. 3014. Additional special assessment

       ``(a) In General.--Beginning on the date of enactment of 
     the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 and ending 
     on September, 30 2019, in addition to the assessment imposed 
     under section 3013, the court shall assess an amount of 
     $5,000 on any non-indigent person or entity convicted of an 
     offense under--
       ``(1) chapter 77 (relating to peonage, slavery, and 
     trafficking in persons);
       ``(2) chapter 109A (relating to sexual abuse);
       ``(3) chapter 110 (relating to sexual exploitation and 
     other abuse of children);
       ``(4) chapter 117 (relating to transportation for illegal 
     sexual activity and related crimes); or
       ``(5) section 274 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
     U.S.C. 1324) (relating to human smuggling), unless the person 
     induced, assisted, abetted, or aided only an individual who 
     at the time of such action was the alien's spouse, parent, 
     son, or daughter (and no other individual) to enter the 
     United States in violation of law.
       ``(b) Satisfaction of Other Court-Ordered Obligations.--An 
     assessment under subsection (a) shall not be payable until 
     the person subject to the assessment has satisfied all 
     outstanding court-ordered fines and orders of restitution 
     arising from the criminal convictions on which the special 
     assessment is based.
       ``(c) Establishment of Domestic Trafficking Victims' 
     Fund.--There is established in the Treasury of the United 
     States a fund, to be known as the `Domestic Trafficking 
     Victims' Fund' (referred to in this section as the `Fund'), 
     to be administered by the Attorney General, in consultation 
     with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of 
     Health and Human Services.
       ``(d) Transfers.--In a manner consistent with section 
     3302(b) of title 31, there shall be transferred to the Fund 
     from the General Fund of the Treasury an amount equal to the 
     amount of the assessments collected under this section, which 
     shall remain available until expended.
       ``(e) Use of Funds.--
       ``(1) In general.--From amounts in the Fund, in addition to 
     any other amounts available, and without further 
     appropriation, the Attorney General, in coordination with the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services shall, for each of 
     fiscal years 2016 through 2019, use amounts available in the 
     Fund to award grants or enhance victims' programming under--
       ``(A) sections 202, 203, and 204 of the Trafficking Victims 
     Protection Reauthorization

[[Page 4950]]

     Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 14044a, 14044b, and 14044c);
       ``(B) subsections (b)(2) and (f) of section 107 of the 
     Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7105); 
     and
       ``(C) section 214(b) of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 
     1990 (42 U.S.C. 13002(b)).
       ``(2) Grants.--Of the amounts in the Fund used under 
     paragraph (1), not less than $2,000,000, if such amounts are 
     available in the Fund during the relevant fiscal year, shall 
     be used for grants to provide services for child pornography 
     victims under section 214(b) of the Victims of Child Abuse 
     Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13002(b)).
       ``(3) Application.--Amounts transferred from the Fund 
     pursuant to this section for each of fiscal years 2016 
     through 2019 are subject to the requirements contained in 
     Public Law 113-235 for funds for programs authorized under 
     sections 330 through 340 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
     U.S.C. 254b-256).
       ``(f) Transfers.--
       ``(1) In general.--Effective on the day after the date of 
     enactment of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 
     2015, on September 30 of each fiscal year, all unobligated 
     balances in the Fund shall be transferred to the Crime 
     Victims Fund established under section 1402 of the Victims of 
     Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10601).
       ``(2) Availability.--Amounts transferred under paragraph 
     (1)--
       ``(A) shall be available for any authorized purpose of the 
     Crime Victims Fund; and
       ``(B) shall remain available until expended.
       ``(g) Collection Method.--The amount assessed under 
     subsection (a) shall, subject to subsection (b), be collected 
     in the manner that fines are collected in criminal cases.
       ``(h) Duration of Obligation.--Subject to section 3613(b), 
     the obligation to pay an assessment imposed on or after the 
     date of enactment of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking 
     Act of 2015 shall not cease until the assessment is paid in 
     full.
       ``(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--
       ``(1) Written certification.--Not later than September 30, 
     2016, and each September 30 thereafter, the Attorney General 
     shall submit to Congress a written certification as to the 
     total amount in the Fund.
       ``(2) Authorization of appropriations.--In any fiscal year 
     for which a written certification submitted under paragraph 
     (1) indicates the total amount in the Fund is less than 
     $30,000,000, there is authorized to be appropriated to the 
     Fund an amount equal to $30,000,000 minus the total amount 
     indicated in the certification.''.
       (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of 
     sections for chapter 201 of title 18, United States Code, is 
     amended by inserting after the item relating to section 3013 
     the following:

``3014. Additional special assessment.''.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the Cornyn 
     amendment No. 1120 to S. 178, a bill to provide justice for 
     the victims of trafficking.
         Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Roy Blunt, Johnny Isakson, 
           John Barrasso, Pat Roberts, Mike Crapo, Roger F. 
           Wicker, Tom Cotton, James M. Inhofe, Tim Scott, Richard 
           Shelby, John Thune, John Boozman, Chuck Grassley, James 
           Lankford, Steve Daines.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, like every Member of this body, I am 
frustrated we haven't been able to reach an agreement to pass the 
bipartisan Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.
  So today--just now--we have offered a compromise amendment that 
provides a path forward on this important legislation. I want to 
express my gratitude to the majority leader for teeing up this 
amendment and this vote and helping us move forward to resolve this 
problem.
  Briefly, this proposal would completely strike a provision in the 
underlying bill that Members on the other side have objected to 
regarding the application of the Hyde amendment. The proposal would 
replace this language with a provision negotiated by Leader Pelosi from 
H.R. 2, the so-called doc fix bill that we just passed overwhelmingly 
and that passed the House a few weeks ago 392 to 37--180 House 
Democrats supported this language in the House bill. The Pelosi 
language from this bill is similar to my proposal, in that it simply 
says that any funds used to provide services to human trafficking 
victims would be subject to the same requirements as funds under the 
Public Health Services Act. This would clarify that all money in the 
Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund must be derived from the General 
Treasury, the routine and ordinary source of all Federal funding.
  In other words, requirements placed upon funds under my bill would 
not be placed on money derived from criminal fees or penalties, 
something our Democratic friends seem to have some objection to, but 
they would only be placed upon money drawn from the General Treasury. 
This is exactly what Members on the other side have asked for.
  Finally, as an additional measure of good faith, my proposal would 
also include an amendment drafted by Senator Leahy, the ranking member 
of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that has been supported by every 
Democratic Member of that committee. This amendment would authorize the 
appropriation of additional funds into the Domestic Trafficking 
Victims' Fund.
  Some Members on the other side of the aisle have filibustered this 
important legislation because they say they objected to language I 
included that references the Hyde amendment. I have now agreed to 
strike that language. They are also filibustering because they objected 
to attaching routine Hyde restrictions that have been the law of the 
land for nearly 40 years--the money that is outside of the General 
Treasury process. Now, I have agreed to change the language of my bill 
so the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund only includes money drawn 
from the General Treasury. I have also agreed to accept the amendment 
from Senator Leahy that I previously opposed in the interest of trying 
to get to ``yes.''
  I plan to speak more on this tomorrow, but I am hopeful that by 
finally making these changes, we can be met at least halfway by our 
friends across the aisle. I feel like we have continued to try to make 
changes in this legislation in an interest of giving them an 
opportunity to vote for a bill they said they all support but which 
they ultimately filibustered because of the objections I just 
addressed, and both of the major objections are addressed by this 
amendment and this legislation.
  So I hope we can get to a resolution on this bill. The victims of 
human trafficking are typically young girls between the ages of 12 and 
14 years old. This is justly called modern-day slavery, because these 
victims of human trafficking are literally enslaved and sold for sex or 
held for involuntary servitude against their will. Many of them come 
from other countries, but the vast majority of them come from right 
here in the United States of America.
  We need to do something about this. This legislation does that 
``something,'' and I think we have more than demonstrated good faith in 
trying to meet our colleagues' objections across the aisle by proposing 
language that works, that accomplishes the result but removes the 
objectionable language our colleagues across the aisle have seen fit to 
filibuster on.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.


              Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, while my colleague is on the floor, I want 
to commend Senator Cantwell for her superb work on this legislation. 
Senator Cantwell has really been the leader in the effort to get the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services to look at alternative payment 
models in the Medicare Advantage Program. This is a hugely important 
program for us in the Northwest. It is also, by the way, very 
extensively used in Minnesota. I think my colleague from Washington 
State has done particularly important work in also looking, as part of 
this discussion, at what is called a value-based modifier.
  Mr. President, I have some thank-yous to make--and I will be very 
brief--but before I do that, I ask unanimous consent to enter into a 
colloquy with Senator Cantwell.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. CANTWELL. I rise to talk about a provision in this legislation 
intended

[[Page 4951]]

to move the health care payment system toward better outcomes and 
efficiency.
  Physicians in my State and others are innovating by partnering with 
high-performing Medicare Advantage plans. This model can grant the 
health care provider significant accountability and ownership of a 
patient's health, with the result of achieving impressive health 
outcomes, reducing overlap and duplication, and saving money for 
everyone involved.
  I was successful in including a provision in the bill requiring the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services to study integrating alternative 
payment models in the Medicare Advantage payment system. This study 
will also assess feasibility of including a value-based modifier.
  I look forward to working with my Finance Committee colleagues in the 
future to promote the innovation and efficiency taking place in 
Medicare Advantage.
  I ask that the distinguished ranking member of the Finance Committee 
work with me in the future toward these goals.
  Mr. WYDEN. H.R. 2 moves the physician payment system from one that 
rewards volume to one that rewards value. I look forward to extending 
value-based policies across the entire spectrum of Medicare. I agree, 
it is important to reward all providers and all Medicare Advantage 
plans that provide high value and high quality care. I look forward to 
working with the Senator and the entire Finance Committee to achieve 
these goals.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Thank you, Mr. President.
  Mr. WYDEN. Just a couple of quick thank-yous, and then I want to let 
my colleague wrap up for our side.
  It is pretty clear, Mr. President, that a bill of this magnitude does 
not happen by osmosis. It comes about because of scores of hearings, 
roundtables, briefings, and countless hours of staff time. I am just 
going to take a couple of minutes to thank some people who did so much 
to make this possible.
  First, I thank Leader Reid and his very capable health care staffer 
Kate Leone. When there is a big health care issue before the Senate, 
Kate Leone is the person you want to have in the trenches with you. I 
want to thank Senator Reid, because during the short tenure in which I 
was the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, we started working 
closely together on reforming the Medicare reimbursement system, and 
his leadership is very much a part of the success of this evening.
  Second, there was staff at the various congressional support agencies 
who provided technical assistance. We are talking about CMS, the 
Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Research Service, 
legislative counsel, and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. I 
would also like to note the efforts made by Ira Burney, Anne Scott, and 
Jennifer Druckman in the CMS Office of Legislation and Tom Bradley and 
Lori Housman of the Congressional Budget Office.
  I would also like to recognize Chairman Hatch and his very capable 
and dedicated staff. They worked many, many months on this issue, 
constantly reaching across the aisle--and former Hatch staffer, Dan 
Todd, current Hatch staffers Kristin Welsh and Erin Dempsey 
particularly deserve recognition.
  I want to close by thanking my staff, our finance staff and personal 
staff, affectionately known as the health team. Some, such as Karen 
Fisher, Matt Kazan, Juan Machado, and former staffers David Schwartz, 
Scott Levy, and Colin Goldfinch have survived two Democratic chairmen 
and more doc fixes than they could possibly wish to remember. So this 
is an especially significant moment for them. Others, like Anne Dwyer, 
Hannah Hawkins, and Jennifer Phillips, provided invaluable insight and 
counsel along the way.
  One last point, if I might. Having tried for years to specialize in 
health care, going back to the days when I was codirector of the Oregon 
Gray Panthers, I thought that over the years that I picked up a little 
bit with respect to health care policy and came to really understand 
the issues--not so much, particularly when I think about the 
extraordinary work of two very talented individuals in our office who 
have really been the leaders, in my view, on this SGR reform cause. One 
was our health chief Liz Jurinka. She deserves special notice for her 
persistent leadership, creativity, and focus and, secondly, her 
colleague, Jocelyn Moore, whom we had the good fortune--who came to us 
from Senator Rockefeller. She brings great expertise and years of 
experience to the field. Certainly, what I have learned from them, 
after a career of trying to specialize in these issues, has done so 
much to assist the committee, assist me, and I want to express my 
gratitude to them.
  The work of the bipartisan Finance Committee staff--through all its 
fits and starts--is what got us here today. I want to thank all of 
them, and I think it is very appropriate that my colleague from 
Washington State, Senator Cantwell, who has done so much good work on 
these issues, is going to close today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oregon for his 
leadership on this legislation and on health care in general. I will 
always think of him as a Senator who has been an advocate for reforming 
our health care system and oftentimes wanting to move faster than 
everybody here.
  I am with him and the Northwest is with him, and that is why tonight 
is really a very proud moment for him as the ranking member of this 
committee to see the monumental shift in the way we have been dealing 
with the payment system and the Medicare access system and the 
children's health care program. So tonight, hopefully, we will put 
behind us a long-debated issue of how physicians are paid, but it will 
also start us on a new path to make sure people in America are 
guaranteed better outcomes and a process by which we will help reduce 
the costs of health care by focusing on both the cost of health care 
and the outcomes. So my colleague entered into the Record tonight--and 
I want to thank him for that--a colloquy that addresses the issue of 
how those who are part of accountable care organizations who will be 
given the resources to focus on high-performing health care systems 
will be able to under this study equate exactly how well they can do 
and how well they should be rewarded in reducing costs and giving 
better outcomes.
  My colleague from Oregon speaks of this because he and I come from a 
part of the country that literally delivers better outcomes in health 
care at lower costs than many other States in the United States of 
America. Our residents want to know why the rest of the country can't 
practice medicine the same way. We want those savings that you get from 
the health care system to be plugged in or used for other purposes. 
They could be part of tax reform even. But we also want the citizens of 
our State to get better health care. We want them to have better 
outcomes, and we think that moving off a fee-for-service system and 
onto a system that focuses on the outcome of patients is the best way 
for our country to move forward.
  So this legislation before us today builds on that process we started 
in the Affordable Care Act, something that is called the value-based 
modifier that basically takes the fee-for-service system--when you 
think about it, fee for service is about volume, about ordering more 
tests--and we are saying we want physicians to be rewarded for the 
outcome and the good performance and the focus on whether the patient 
actually gets well or is given the best health care delivery.
  In essence, the value modifier seeks to emulate the success 
Washington and Oregon have had and give us better, healthy outcomes for 
patients and lower costs. This year the value-based modifier is the 
beginning which physicians for the first time will see an adjustment. 
And building on that progress, Sylvia Burwell, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services, recently announced that Medicare would aim to tie 
90 percent of their Medicare fee-for-service payments to quality or 
value initiatives by 2018. So this is

[[Page 4952]]

tying half of all Medicare fee-for-service payments to an alternative 
payment model and helping us move forward on, again, focusing on 
outcomes.
  I thank my colleague for entering into the colloquy the ongoing 
analysis that we need to do to continue to make changes on the health 
care system and congratulate him on the significant success of getting 
this bill done. It means we can spend more time focusing on efficiency, 
on quality, on the best way to compensate physicians but also keeping 
the focus on the patients and making sure they get better outcomes.
  I thank the Presiding Officer, and I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________