[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3410-3417]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         DIRECTING SENATE LEGAL COUNSEL TO BRING A CIVIL ACTION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 377, which the clerk will 
report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 377) directing the Senate Legal 
     Counsel to bring a civil action to enforce a subpoena of the 
     Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 1 hour 
of debate, equally divided in the usual form.
  The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I rise today in support of S. Res. 377, 
which is a resolution to enforce a subpoena of the Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations, which I chair. I will be joined shortly 
by my colleague Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who is the 
ranking Democrat on the

[[Page 3411]]

subcommittee and whom I worked with as a partner on this issue over the 
past year.
  This is a subpoena that we issued to a group called backpage--
backpage.com. This resolution is intended to enforce that subpoena. 
Backpage and its chief executive officer, Carl Ferrer, have not been 
willing to cooperate with the committee. Unfortunately, we are at the 
point where we have to seek the enforcement of our subpoena.
  For nearly a year now, Senator McCaskill and I conducted a bipartisan 
investigation into the scourge of human trafficking on the Internet 
with a focus on sex trafficking involving children. In the past 5 
years, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reported an 
over 800-percent increase in reports of suspected child sex 
trafficking, an increase the organization has found to be ``directly 
correlated to the increased use of the internet to sell children for 
sex.'' They testified before our subcommittee about this. They are the 
experts. They see this huge increase being related to the Internet. In 
other words, the destructive crime of sex slavery has moved from the 
street corner to the smartphone.
  An adult can now shop for underaged trafficking victims from their 
computer screen. Sex traffickers are well aware that backpage.com, the 
biggest one by far, offers them a quick and easy-to-use marketplace to 
sell children and coerce adults.
  Here is how the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 
spells it out, describing this growing problem at a hearing I chaired 
late last year:

       Online classified ad sites such as backpage.com . . . allow 
     [sex traffickers] to remain anonymous, test out new markets, 
     attempt to evade public or law enforcement detection, and 
     easily locate customers to consummate their sale of children 
     for sex. Online sex trafficking also enables traffickers to 
     easily update an existing ad with a new location and quickly 
     move the child to another geographic location where there are 
     more customers seeking to purchase a child for rape or sexual 
     abuse.

  This is from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. As 
cochair of the Senate Caucus to End Human Trafficking, I have spent 
many hours with those dedicated to fighting this crime and those who 
are victimized by it. For victims, the toll of sex trafficking is 
measured in stolen childhoods and painful trauma. For traffickers, it 
is measured in dollars--often a lot of dollars. It is a problem, I 
believe, that should command more attention around our country and 
certainly here in the U.S. Congress.
  The aim of our investigation is very straightforward. We want to 
understand how lawmakers, law enforcement, and even private businesses 
can more effectively combat this serious crime that thrives on the 
online black market.
  Traffickers have found refuge in new customers through Web sites that 
specialize in advertising ``ordinary'' prostitution and lawful escort 
services. A business called backpage.com is the market leader in that 
industry, with annual revenues in excess of $130 million last year. 
Backpage has a special niche: According to one industry analysis in 
2013, $8 out of every $10 spent on online commercial sex advertising in 
the United States goes to backpage.com. The public record indicates 
that backpage sits at the center of the online black market for sex 
trafficking.
  Again, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has 
reported that of the suspected child trafficking reports it receives 
from the public, 71 percent involve backpage. Again, they have said 
that of the suspected child trafficking reports they receive from the 
public--and they have a 1-800 number; they get reports from the 
public--71 percent involve backpage.com.
  According to a leading anti-trafficking organization called Shared 
Hope International, ``Service providers working with child sex 
trafficking victims have reported between 80 percent and 100 percent of 
their clients have been bought and sold on backpage.com.'' In fact, 
this organization has documented more than 400 cases in 47 States of 
children being sex trafficked on backpage.com.
  Despite all this, backpage executives said they are committed to 
combatting sex trafficking. The company claims that its internal 
procedures for reviewing and screening the advertisements ``lead the 
industry.'' That claim led us to ask a very simple question: What are 
those industry-leading procedures? If they are so effective in the 
fight against human trafficking, Congress and other lawmakers ought to 
know about it. That is why Senator McCaskill and I asked backpage for 
documents about their ad-screening practices--a process backpage calls 
``moderation.'' We also asked for other information about their 
business practices--fair questions, targeted questions, relevant 
questions. The company has refused to answer them and refused to 
cooperate.
  We then took the next step and issued a subpoena to backpage's CEO, 
Carl Ferrer, inquiring him to produce documents about backpage's 
moderation practices, efforts to combat human trafficking, and 
financial information. The company essentially told us no. Wrapping 
itself in a privileged First Amendment argument, backpage refuses to 
produce documents about its business practices and told us that the 
company refuses to even look for documents--not just that they don't 
have the documents, but they refuse to even look for them, a clear sign 
of willful contempt for the Senate's process.
  That is why we are here today on the floor. Senator McCaskill and I 
gave backpage every opportunity to cooperate in good faith with our 
investigation. We carefully considered its objections to the subpoena. 
We actually issued a 19-page opinion, thoughtfully overruling their 
objections and directing backpage to comply. They continued to 
stonewall.
  In the meantime, our investigation has not stopped. Our investigators 
and lawyers found a number of third parties and other witnesses who had 
information about backpage's practices and procedures. Along the way, 
we discovered that from 2010 to 2012, backpage outsourced much of its 
screening and, again, this moderation; meaning, looking at these ads 
coming in, the screening and moderation they outsourced to others, 
including to workers in India.
  We obtained emails from the California company that managed those 
India-based moderators, including emails with backpage's CEO and other 
executives. These emails are deeply troubling. Our investigation showed 
that backpage edits advertisements before posting them by removing 
certain words, certain phrases, certain images. For instance, they 
might remove a word or image that makes it clear that the sexual 
services are being offered for money. Then they might post this 
sanitized version of an ad. While this editing changes nothing about 
the underlying transaction, it tends to conceal the evidence of 
illegality. In other words, backpage's editing procedures--far from 
being an effective anti-trafficking measure--serve to sanitize the ads 
of the illegal content to the outside viewer.
  We still don't know the full extent of backpage's editing practices. 
How much of the illegal conduct--or even the fact that they were 
selling minors online--was being concealed? Why? Backpage will not tell 
us.
  Then there is this email. It tells the moderators what to do if they 
have doubts about whether a girl advertised on backpage is underage. I 
am going to quote from this email. It says:

       If in doubt about underage: The process should for now be 
     to accept the ad . . . however, if you ever find anything 
     that you feel is underage and is more than just suspicious, 
     you can delete the ad. . . . Only delete if you [are] really 
     very sure person is underage.

  To be clear, we didn't get this information from backpage itself 
because it refuses to provide it. This came from the contractor. 
Backpage claims emails like this are protected by the First Amendment, 
which is not accurate.
  In November, Senator McCaskill and I released a bipartisan staff 
report about our investigation and held a hearing to consider what to 
do about backpage's noncompliance. I encourage Members to take a look 
at this staff report. It is online. You can find it.
  By the way, despite being under subpoena, backpage's CEO refused to 
show

[[Page 3412]]

up for the hearing we held. Shortly before the hearing date, he simply 
informed us that he wasn't going to show up. This is something Senator 
McCaskill and I will continue to focus on. But others did show up for 
our hearing. We heard testimony from law enforcement, prosecutors, and 
the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children confirming what we 
had come to suspect: Backpage is not really an ally in the fight 
against human trafficking; they said it profits from it.
  The general counsel of the National Center for Missing & Exploited 
Children told us that it had dozens of meetings with backpage about 
improving the company's anti-trafficking measures, but those meetings 
ended because the national center concluded that backpage was ``not 
engaging in good faith efforts to deter the selling and buying of 
children for sex on its Web site.''
  The national center told us that ``[d]espite backpage's assertions, 
it was adopting and publicizing only carefully selected sound 
practices, while resisting recommended substantive measures that would 
protect more children from being sold for sex . . . on backpage.com.'' 
For example, the national center noted that backpage did not ``hash'' 
its photos--a very low-cost technique for comparing digital images that 
could help identify missing children.
  The national center also noted that backpage has more stringent rules 
to post an ad to sell a pet, a motorcycle, or a boat than it does to 
sell a person. A user is required to submit a verified phone number for 
selling a hamster but not in placing ads that could involve the sale of 
a child for sex. Think about that.
  The human toll of all this is staggering. It is hard to overstate the 
traumatic effect of a minor being advertised on a daily basis on a site 
like backpage.com.
  In a recent lawsuit brought against backpage in Boston, the plaintiff 
was a 15-year-old girl who had been raped over 1,000 times as a result 
of being advertised on backpage.com--1,000 times. In the course of our 
investigation, we also heard some similarly heart-wrenching stories. 
For example, backpage receives reports from families pleading with it 
to take down ads of their children. Here is one such email sent to 
backpage that the national center shared with us. Remember, this is an 
email from a parent about a child being sent to backpage. It said this:

       Your Web site has ads featuring our 16-year-old daughter [  
     ], posing as an escort. She is being pimped out by her old 
     [boyfriend], and she is underage. I have emailed the ad 
     multiple times using your website, but have gotten no 
     response. . . . For God's sake, she's only 16. . . . Stuff 
     like this shouldn't be allowed to happen.

  This is from a parent pleading.
  Even after receiving such reports, the national center tells us 
backpage often does not remove the ad. Instead, the ad remains live on 
the Web site, which allows the abuse of that child to continue. Imagine 
as a parent or a grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister feeling 
helpless in the face of backpage not even being willing to take down an 
ad of a family member.
  It is sometimes hard to square backpage's public statements about its 
business practices with the reality on the ground. For example, the 
national center recently was searching for a child who was missing--and 
by the way, still is missing--and found she appeared in a sex 
advertisement on backpage. Sadly, that is pretty common. What made this 
case even more incredible was that backpage ad actually contained a 
missing-child poster of that same child. So the ad advertising sex 
actually used the missing-child poster of that child. That poster had 
the child's real name on it, real age, real picture, and the date she 
went missing. The other pictures in the ad included topless photos. We 
certainly would like to know what supposedly market-leading screening 
and moderation procedures missed that one. And that, Madam President, 
is exactly why we need the documents we have asked for from backpage, 
documents we have subpoenaed from backpage. Without them, we can't 
really evaluate how sex trafficking is proliferated in these online 
marketplaces. We can't really evaluate how Congress can do a better job 
fighting against this crime. We can't help the many prosecutors at the 
local level who are trying to stop this practice or the attorneys 
general around the United States of America who are trying to stop this 
practice. We can't really help to stop this from happening.
  To be clear, our purpose is absolutely not to shut down any 
particular company or to deter protected advertising for lawful 
services. This is not an attempt to shut down something that is lawful 
on the Internet, it is an attempt to stop something that is unlawful, 
and nor are we even looking for information about individual 
advertisers. In fact, Senator McCaskill and I have made clear that 
backpage should redact from any documents they send us any of the 
personally identifying information about its users. We don't need that. 
That is not what we are about. What we are interested in are facts that 
will enable smart legislation on a critical issue of public concern. We 
hope our investigation will help to combat this process directly but 
also will help to generate legislation here in the Congress.
  This civil contempt resolution before us today--S. Res. 377--will 
enable us to get those facts. It was reported out of the full committee 
unanimously. I wish to thank Senator Ron Johnson, the chairman of the 
committee, and Senator Tom Carper, the ranking member of the committee, 
and all of our colleagues on the committee for their unwavering support 
for this investigation.
  This will be the first time in more than 20 years that the Senate has 
had to enforce a subpoena in court. I can't think of a time when it has 
been more justified. To my colleagues who are wondering about this, 
again, I hope they will look at our report and see why it is so 
important that we move forward with enforcing this subpoena.
  The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has a long history of 
investigating crime that infiltrates interstate commerce and affects 
our Nation's health and safety. In our era, the crime of human 
trafficking has become a scourge, and Congress needs to know everything 
it can to be able to better fight it. No investigation of that subject 
could omit backpage.com. Again, as we have heard from these outside 
groups, the vast majority of this sex trafficking that is going on 
online is through this very site. The National Association of Attorneys 
General has described backpage as a ``hub'' of ``human trafficking, 
especially the trafficking of minors.'' That is the attorneys general 
around the country.
  Unfortunately, this is an issue that affects all of our communities. 
It knows no ZIP Code.
  Madam President, before I yield the floor, I ask unanimous consent to 
have printed in the Record a number of statements in support of the 
resolution from the Nation's leading anti-trafficking organizations, 
including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       ``Rights4Girls applauds the Senate's passage of this 
     important resolution that will provide much needed 
     accountability and insight into Backpage.com's business 
     practices--practices that have led to the trafficking and 
     exploitation of children all across this country. We are 
     especially grateful to Senators Portman and McCaskill for 
     their leadership in advancing this resolution and for their 
     dedication to protecting our nation's most vulnerable 
     children.''--Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director and Co-Founder, 
     Rights4Girls
       ``I commend the Senate, particularly Senators Rob Portman 
     and Claire McCaskill, for their leadership on the 
     investigation into Backpage and their dedication to assisting 
     victims of child sex trafficking and their families. I am 
     outraged at the business practices Backpage continues to 
     engage in and that they are not being held accountable for 
     facilitating and profiting from child sex trafficking on 
     their website. Backpage is a shopping mall for people who 
     want to exploit children and they shouldn't be able to 
     continue profiting on the rape of children without 
     repercussions. These creeps keep hiding behind the veil of 
     the First Amendment while knowingly allowing children to be 
     trafficked for sex on their website. This isn't

[[Page 3413]]

     about prostitution or sex between consenting adults, this is 
     about children being purchased for rape and sexual abuse.--
     John Walsh, human and victim rights advocate and creator of 
     America's Most Wanted
       ``The Subcommittee's efforts to investigate the practices 
     of Backpage.com and demand answers in an effort to prevent 
     the sex trafficking of children on that website and others 
     like it is critical to our work to end sex trafficking. 
     Shared Hope proudly supports the resolution and the 
     Subcommittee's important work. We are grateful to you for 
     your bravery and diligence.''--Shared Hope International


                                    Shared Hope International,

                                    Vancouver, WA, March 16, 2016.
     Hon. Rob Portman,
     Chair, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on 
         Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Washington, 
         DC.
     Hon. Claire McCaskill,
     Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, 
         Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 
         Washington, DC.,
       Dear Chairman Portman and Ranking Member McCaskill: Shared 
     Hope International is writing to strongly support the 
     resolution directing the Senate Legal Counsel to bring a 
     civil action to enforce a subpoena issued by the Subcommittee 
     to the Chief Executive Officer of Backpage.com, Carl Ferrer 
     (S. Res. 377). We thank you for your brave leadership on this 
     investigation and dedication to assisting the victims of 
     online commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking.
       Shared Hope International was founded and exists to end sex 
     trafficking of women and children and assist the victims 
     through restoration and access to justice. Since 1998, we 
     have implemented programs and advocated for laws and policies 
     that would ensure victims of sex trafficking are protected, 
     served and honored as victims. Increasingly, the victims we 
     serve have been sold for sex on the internet, and most often 
     the website named is Backpage.com. In fact, NCMEC reports 
     that 71% of all child sex trafficking reports to the 
     CyberTipline relate to Backpage ads. Shared Hope documented 
     495 cases representing at least 548 child victims who were 
     sold for sex on Backpage.com in nearly every state in the 
     U.S. These are cases we identified through media coverage, 
     which means they represent only a fraction of the total 
     number of cases. Our partners indicate most of the youth they 
     serve in recovery programs were sold on the site. A study by 
     YouthSpark in Atlanta, Georgia, found 53% of children 
     receiving care from service providers across the country were 
     bought and sold for sex on Backpage.com.
       The Subcommittees efforts to investigate the practices of 
     Backpage.com and demand answers in an effort to prevent the 
     sex trafficking of children on that website and others like 
     it is critical to our work to end sex trafficking. Shared 
     Hope proudly supports the resolution and the Subcommittee's 
     important work. We are grateful to you for your bravery and 
     diligence.
           Sincerely,
     Linda Smith,
       (U.S. Congress 1995-99, Washington State Senate/House 1983-
     94), Founder and President, Shared Hope International.
                                  ____

                                               National Center for


                                 Missing & Exploited Children,

                                   Alexandria, VA, March 15, 2016.
     Hon. Rob Portman,
     Chairman, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee 
         on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 
         Washington, DC.,
     Hon. Claire McCaskill,
     Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, 
         Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Portman and Ranking Member McCaskill: On 
     behalf of the National Center for Missing & Exploited 
     Children (NCMEC) and the families and children we serve, I am 
     writing to express our strong support for your resolution 
     directing the Senate Legal Counsel to bring a civil action to 
     enforce a subpoena issued by your Subcommittee to the Chief 
     Executive Officer of Backpage (S. Res. 377). We commend you 
     for your leadership on this investigation and your dedication 
     to assisting victims of child sex trafficking and their 
     families.
       NCMEC is a private, non-profit organization that for over 
     31 years has been designated by Congress to serve as the 
     national clearinghouse on issues related to missing and 
     exploited children. In this role, NCMEC has learned a great 
     deal about child sex trafficking, including its pervasive 
     growth online and the devastating impact this crime has on 
     children and their families. We know that sex trafficking is 
     a crime that takes place in nearly every community in the 
     United States and increasingly children are sold for sex 
     online on websites like Backpage.com.
       NCMEC receives reports of child sex trafficking through 
     intakes of missing child cases, requests for analytical 
     assistance, and reports to the CyberTipline, the reporting 
     mechanism for child sexual exploitation crimes. In recent 
     years, NCMEC has witnessed an increase in missing and 
     exploited child cases involving the online trafficking of 
     children for sex. In 2015, NCMEC assisted with approximately 
     10,000 reports regarding possible child sex trafficking, but 
     we know this is only a small fraction of suspected child sex 
     trafficking victims in this country.
       Even more concerning is that a majority of child sex 
     trafficking cases reported to NCMEC involve ads posted on 
     Backpage.com. More than seventy-one percent (71%) of all 
     child sex trafficking reports submitted by members of the 
     public to NCMEC relate to Backpage ads. We also have seen a 
     disturbing trend of runaway children trafficked on 
     Backpage.com. Today, when we are looking for a runaway child 
     who we have reason to believe might be trafficked, 
     Backpage.com is the first place we look for the child.
       We have long been alarmed about Backpage's business 
     practices that fail to prevent children from being sold for 
     sex on its website. The work of your Subcommittee to 
     investigate these practices and to demand answers is to be 
     widely commended.
       NCMEC is proud to lend our support to this important 
     resolution, and we hope the Senate's work can uncover more 
     information regarding the use of online websites, such as 
     Backpage.com, to traffic children. We are grateful for your 
     dedication to the safety of our nation's children and look 
     forward to continuing to work with you and others who are 
     working tirelessly to halt the terrible tragedy of online 
     child sex trafficking.
           Sincerely,
                                                    John F. Clark,
     President and CEO.
                                  ____



                                                      Polaris,

                                   Washington, DC, March 16, 2016.
     Hon. Rob Portman,
     Chairman, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee 
         on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 
         Washington, DC.
     Hon. Claire McCaskill,
     Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, 
         Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Portman and Ranking Member McCaskill: On 
     behalf of Polaris, a non-profit organization working to end 
     human trafficking and restore freedom to victims and 
     survivors, I am writing to express my strong support for S. 
     Res. 377, which directs the Senate Legal Counsel to bring a 
     civil action to enforce a subpoena issued by your 
     Subcommittee to the Chief Executive Officer of Backpage. I 
     appreciate your tremendous work on this investigation and 
     your leadership in the fight to ensure victims of child sex 
     trafficking and their families receive justice.
       Since 2007, Polaris has operated the National Human 
     Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), a 24-hour, national, 
     confidential anti-trafficking hotline and resource center 
     created and overseen by the Department of Health and Human 
     Services. Additionally, in March 2013, Polaris launched our 
     BeFree textline, allowing trafficking victims and concerned 
     citizens to use text message to contact us for help.
       In 2015, the NHTRC received 1,383 cases involving sex 
     trafficking of a minor, and Polaris received 22 cases through 
     our BeFree textline involving sex trafficking of a minor. In 
     these two sets, Backpage was specifically referenced in 222 
     cases. In total, the NHTRC has received 5,810 minor sex 
     trafficking cases since 2007, BeFree has received 66 cases 
     since 2013, and Backpage has been referenced in 595 cases.
       Backpage's business practices have long been a major source 
     of concern for Polaris and the anti-trafficking community as 
     a whole. We wholeheartedly support your Subcommittee's 
     investigation into Backpage, and we think that S. Res. 377 is 
     critical to ensuring Backpage is held accountable for its 
     shocking, blatant disregard for your investigation. We are 
     proud to stand with your Subcommittee in this fight to stop 
     child sex trafficking, and we hope the Senate will 
     unanimously pass S. Res. 377.
           Sincerely,
                                                       Brad Myles,
                                                              CEO.

  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on 
this resolution and vindicate the authority of Congress to obtain 
information necessary for sound legislation to protect the most 
vulnerable among us.
  We are going to hear shortly from Senator Claire McCaskill, who has 
been a partner of mine in this effort from the beginning. This 
investigation has taken about a year. We have done it thoughtfully and 
carefully. Again, I wish to express my gratitude to her for her support 
for the legislation. We wanted to wait until she was back in Congress--
she was home taking care of some important health matters--in order to 
take up this vote today. I know she will express her own strongly held 
views on this.
  I just want to say I hope all of my colleagues--Republicans and 
Democrats alike--will look at this issue and

[[Page 3414]]

realize this is an opportunity for us to go on record supporting an 
investigation that could lead to legislation that can actually help to 
protect those most vulnerable among us.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, today the Senate will vote on S. Res. 
377, a resolution directing Senate legal counsel to bring a civil 
action to enforce a subpoena of the Permanent Subcommittee on 
Investigations, PSI, against Carl Ferrer, chief executive officer of 
backpage.com LLC, ``backpage''. I support this resolution in 
furtherance of PSI's bipartisan investigation into businesses that 
directly or indirectly facilitate sex trafficking.
  Backpage officials have publicly acknowledged that their website may 
have been used by criminals to engage in sex trafficking, including the 
trafficking of children. Identifying and shutting down the tools that 
help criminals engage in such illegality is critical to preventing 
these crimes. We must do all we can to stop these criminals and to 
support the survivors. That is why I support this resolution and why I 
have worked tirelessly to enact legislation to prevent human 
trafficking in the first place and to provide resources for trafficking 
victims so that they can begin to rebuild their lives.
  Last year the chairman and ranking member of PSI jointly launched a 
bipartisan investigation to examine businesses that directly or 
indirectly facilitate sex trafficking. Backpage is one of the companies 
that PSI has been investigating, but it is not the only one. PSI aims 
to learn as much as possible about these businesses so that the Senate 
can craft appropriate legislative and policy responses to combat sex 
trafficking and child exploitation.
  On October 1, 2015, and in accordance with subcommittee rules, PSI 
voted on a bipartisan basis to issue a subpoena to backpage's CEO, Carl 
Ferrer. This subpoena was issued only after backpage failed to comply 
with a subpoena issued earlier in the year and after several backpage 
employees refused to testify. The subpoena required, among other 
things, the production of backpage's policies and practices with 
respect to reviewing advertisements for potential criminal activity, 
information on how backpage cooperates with law enforcement, data on 
how many advertisements backpage denies or deletes, and information 
relating to revenue earned through adult advertisements. To date, 
backpage has refused to comply with the subpoena.
  On November 19, 2015, PSI held a hearing about backpage.com. At this 
hearing, the senior vice president of the National Center for Missing & 
Exploited Children testified that 71 percent of reports of suspected 
child trafficking it receives involve backpage. The hearing also raised 
significant concerns about backpage's willingness to cooperate with law 
enforcement. PSI issued a subpoena compelling the testimony of Carl 
Ferrer at the hearing, but he refused to appear.
  The refusal of backpage to comply with the subpoena compelled the 
full Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to vote 
unanimously in favor of the resolution now before us. The resolution 
authorizes Senate legal counsel to begin to take action to enforce the 
subpoena in Federal court. PSI's investigation is exactly the type of 
oversight the Senate should be conducting. The subject matter is one of 
utmost importance, and PSI's efforts have been jointly conducted by the 
chairman and ranking member of PSI since the investigation began. Most 
importantly, the requested documents are critical to understanding how 
online sex trafficking is effectuated and to finding ways to stop it.
  Authorizing Senate legal counsel to enforce a Senate subpoena is a 
very serious matter that should not be taken lightly. This action 
should be taken only in the most limited of circumstances and should 
never be pursued for partisan or political motives. Given the serious 
nature of this investigation and the unanimous support by all members 
of the committee and subcommittee throughout the process, I support 
this resolution.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, I wish to express my strong support 
for the resolution to enforce the subpoena against backpage's CEO Carl 
Ferrer.
  From my work as chairman and now ranking member of the Select 
Committee on Intelligence, I know how important congressional 
investigations can be to ensure that we have all the facts, and that is 
the type of issue before us today.
  In this case, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is 
conducting a bipartisan investigation into the use of the Internet to 
facilitate sex trafficking, particularly sex trafficking of minors. As 
my colleagues know, this has been an area I have worked to address 
legislatively, including in an amendment to the Justice for Victims of 
Trafficking Act that passed 97-2 that makes it a Federal crime to 
knowingly advertise minors for commercial sex. I believe the 
Investigations Subcommittee's work can inform the work of the Congress 
as a whole to better protect vulnerable children trafficked over the 
Internet.
  Backpage is a Web site that allows for the advertisement of 
commercial sex online. In 2013, it was estimated that $8 out of every 
$10 spent on online sex advertising in the U.S. goes to backpage. 
Moreover, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has 
itself determined that backpage is linked to 71 percent of all 
suspected child sex trafficking reports that it receives from the 
public through its ``CyberTipline.'' Thus, this bipartisan 
investigation naturally involves questions about the specifics of how 
backpage operates.
  As I understand it, the subcommittee's subpoena seeks documents to 
help explain backpage's current policies and practices. These questions 
involve, among other things, whether backpage edits the content of ads 
before they are published, whether backpage might be more helpful to 
law enforcement with the data it collects, and whether backpage has 
resources sufficient to further prevent trafficking on its site. But 
backpage has refused to comply with this subpoena.
  Where an investigative subcommittee is conducting a bipartisan 
investigation into the most horrific crimes committed against young 
people, it is the right thing to do for the Senate to enforce this 
subpoena through the legal process.
  I would like to also share about a case that arose in my State very 
recently. Last week, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department 
arrested three individuals charged with abducting a 20-year-old woman 
and transporting her to the Bay Area to sexually exploit her. The 
victim was initially kidnapped in Palmdale, where she was viciously 
assaulted and then moved 6 hours north to Oakland, where her pictures 
were taken and posted to backpage.com. She was then driven back down to 
Orange County and had a gun pointed at her by one of her attackers. The 
victim was fortunately able to make some panicked calls to her mother 
while taken captive, and the L.A. Sheriff's office was able to find her 
in a motel and rescue her. The suspects were then captured and now face 
a litany of charges. This all occurred just weeks ago.
  The point is sex trafficking, facilitated by the Internet, continues 
to plague communities all over the country.
  I recently met with John Clark, the new president and CEO of the 
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The National Center 
reported that over the last 5 years, there has been an 846 percent 
increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking and that this 
increase is ``directly correlated to the increased use of the Internet 
to sell children for sex.'' That is sobering.
  Every day in America, vulnerable victims are advertised over the 
Internet and exploited by traffickers. I believe the Congress must get 
to the bottom of it, try to understand how it is happening, and do all 
that we can to stop it. So I fully support enforcement of this subpoena 
and urge my colleagues to do the same.
  I thank the Chair.
  Mr. PORTMAN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

[[Page 3415]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to support S. 
Res. 377, a resolution to enforce a subpoena of the Permanent 
Subcommittee on Investigations against backpage.com and Carl Ferrer, 
the company's chief executive officer. This action comes as part of the 
subcommittee's ongoing investigation into the sex trafficking of minors 
and the unfortunate and increasing role of the Internet in facilitating 
this horrific crime.
  Before I go much further, I would like to express my deep 
appreciation to the chairman. Senator Portman has been tenacious. He is 
committed. He is forcing us as a body to address an issue that is so 
unpleasant that many times we shy away from it because we would rather 
talk about more pleasant subjects and issues that are less emotional. 
But it is what is happening in America and in the world, and thanks to 
the leadership of Senator Portman, it is being addressed in a 
forthright manner that alerts all of us and, indeed, alerts the world. 
I very much appreciate the great work he has done on this issue. I know 
he remains committed for as long as he is a Member of this body, and we 
are incredibly grateful for his friendship and his leadership.
  This marks the first time in 20 years that the Senate has been 
required to enforce a subpoena in court. I have been in Congress for a 
long time, and I have never seen anything quite like it. As part of the 
subcommittee's fair and deliberative investigation into human 
trafficking and child exploitation on the Internet, we have encountered 
a company that, instead of doing everything in its power to assist in 
protecting the most vulnerable in our society, has decided to focus its 
energies on stonewalling congressional efforts to do so.
  Let me be clear. As is always the case in this unsavory underside of 
society, it is about money. Backpage.com is the market leader in 
commercial sex advertising. It was valued at over $600 million in 2015, 
with over $130 million in annual revenue, and their business model is 
dependent on the revenue generated from this part of its Web site. 
Backpage claims to be a leading partner in the fight to combat child 
sex trafficking by screening advertisements for evidence of trafficking 
and taking deliberate steps from preventing illegal activity from 
appearing on its Web site. But the company has refused to produce 
documents that could verify this claim, and the facts gathered by the 
subcommittee from other sources indicate this is not the case.
  As Senator Portman has indicated, backpage has been linked to 
hundreds of human trafficking cases, including those of children. The 
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has gathered data 
that indicates that the vast majority of suspected child trafficking 
reports it receives from the public include postings made on backpage. 
Identifying what screening procedures are in place and the 
effectiveness of these efforts in curbing trafficking are an important 
part of this investigation.
  Thanks to the leadership from the Senator from Ohio, it is hard to 
think of a more worthy use of the Senate's investigative authority than 
examining the methods used to facilitate the buying and selling of 
children for sexual exploitation. This investigation is designed to 
guide Congress as we consider ways to combat human trafficking and 
identify what can be done to protect children and eliminate this crime. 
Enforcement of this subpoena is necessary to accomplish that goal and 
to protect the prerogative of the Senate to investigate matters of 
consequence to our national interest. I appreciate Senators Portman and 
McCaskill's truly bipartisan efforts to investigate matters of 
consequence to our national interest. I appreciate their efforts to 
shed light on this difficult issue, and I appreciate their commitment 
to defending the Senate's role in addressing it.
  I hope and believe that vote will be 100 to 0, as we strongly support 
Chairman Portman's right to obtain the information he believes is 
necessary to the subcommittee's investigation concerning human 
trafficking. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this 
important resolution.
  I know that my friend and colleague Senator Portman knows that one of 
the areas where human trafficking is most intense are those States that 
are on the border, and our southern border is obviously penetrated 
regularly by these human traffickers. I would like, as a representative 
of the people of my State of Arizona, where this issue is of particular 
importance, to thank Senator Portman and Senator McCaskill for their 
unending worthy and important efforts on this issue.
  By passing this legislation, we will send a message to others. We 
will send a message to others, I say to my colleague from Ohio, that 
they can run but they can't hide.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from 
Arizona. He has been a leader on this issue for many years. For people 
who don't know, Cindy McCain, the wife of the Senator from Arizona, is 
an international leader on this issue dealing with human trafficking 
all over the world and also sex trafficking here at home. I appreciate 
his passion and his commitment to it. As a former chair and a ranking 
member of this committee, I look to him for counsel and advice on how 
we conduct ourselves. He has been very helpful in this specific issue, 
and I thank him.
  I yield to the Senator from Minnesota for such time as she may 
consume.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota is recognized.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator McCain for his 
work. I started to work on some of these backpage issues in conjunction 
with Senator McCain's wife Cindy McCain, as well as with Senator 
Heitkamp. We took a trip to Mexico focusing on the trafficking going on 
across the border with that country.
  I want to thank Senators Portman and McCaskill for leadership on this 
really important resolution. Just last year, five St. Paul residents 
were charged with running a multistate sex trafficking ring. One of the 
alleged victims was 16. Those underage girls were being advertised on 
backpage, and the ads were placed in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, 
Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois.
  In Southwest Minnesota, an operation involving backpage resulted in 
charges against 48 men around the towns of New Ulm and Mankato, the 
town my husband grew up in. These cases prove that sex trafficking 
isn't just happening in some faraway place. It is happening right now 
in the United States of America. It is happening in our own 
neighborhoods. It is happening in oil patches in North Dakota. It is 
happening in Cleveland, and it is happening in St. Paul. These are real 
stories with real people.
  In 2014 I spoke to the trafficking advocacy group Polaris when they 
released their State-by-State rankings of efforts to fight human 
trafficking. They said then:

       The scope and scale of human trafficking within the United 
     States presents a daunting challenge to policymakers, service 
     providers, law enforcement, and advocates. Originally, human 
     trafficking was thought to be more of a problem in other 
     countries, but now it is known to be happening in our 
     backyards. It is estimated that there are hundreds of 
     thousands of victims of sex and labor trafficking inside our 
     borders.

  We have learned more about human trafficking through the advocacy and 
dedication, as I mentioned, of our friend Cindy McCain and her work at 
the McCain Institute. Their 2014 report actually focuses specifically 
on this advertising.
  When I was a prosecutor for 8 years, yes, we had trafficking--of 
course, we did--and, yes, we had child pornography, but I would say we 
didn't see

[[Page 3416]]

this tsunami of advertising that we see now. Why? The Internet has made 
it easier. We love the Internet. It has allowed us to communicate in 
ways, but it has expanded demand for sex trafficking victims because of 
the fact that it is easier to do than it used to be.
  What the McCain report shows is that the availability of potential 
victims of domestic minor sex trafficking exceeded researcher 
expectations, with no less than 38 different Web sites advertising 
victims who showed indications of being juvenile sex trafficking 
victims, with at least 4 Web sites providing customer feedback and 
soliciting recommendations of victims of sex trafficking.
  The McCain report went on to say: ``In Phoenix, during 10 days of ad 
screening, 34 ads were identified as possibly depicting minor victims 
with duplicate ads resulting in 81 distinct tips of domestic minor sex 
trafficking.''
  Last year we successfully passed the Justice for Victims of 
Trafficking Act that Senator Cornyn and I led. We are making good 
progress in implementing this bill. Senator Cornyn and I met recently 
with Attorney General Lynch. They are working hard. Ongoing work not 
only includes this resolution and is the focus on the advertising of 
illegal sex trafficking but also partnering with the private sector.
  Senator Warner and I have introduced the Stop Trafficking on Planes 
Act or the STOP Act, which is built on the work of the industry to 
train flight attendants and train people on the planes to find the 
victims. I note this investigation led by the Permanent Subcommittee on 
Investigations is a bipartisan attempt to address a serious issue. I 
urge my colleagues to join me in supporting S. Res. 377. This is just 
one element of this fight against sex trafficking, but it is an 
important one because people should not be allowed to violate the 
Senate rules, they shouldn't be allowed to skirt hearings, and they 
shouldn't be allowed to get away with this kind of behavior. Backpage 
and others of its ilk are not just a vehicle for advertising this 
crime, they are actually a vehicle for expanding this crime and hurting 
more people.
  I appreciate the work of Senator Portman and Senator McCaskill.
  Thank you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Minnesota for 
her strong support of this resolution today, which again is just 
enforcing a subpoena that is targeted and focused on information that 
can help us to be able to legislate in this matter. I hope all of my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join us in this effort. I 
also thank her for broader work on this issue, specifically the 
leadership role she has played as a former prosecutor in trying to get 
at this problem of sex trafficking online.
  Senator Klobuchar is absolutely right. The Internet has provided so 
many wonderful things for our economy and for our society. Yet there is 
a dark side, isn't there. That dark side is shown as clearly as 
anywhere with regard to backpage; the fact that this sex trafficking 
has been made more efficient through the Internet and specifically 
through this one Web site that contains the vast majority of sex 
trafficking and commercial sex.
  Again, I refer you to my comments I made earlier. We talked about the 
fact that there is a girl who is currently missing. The National Center 
for Missing & Exploited Children has been trying to find her. They put 
up posters about her, and recently she appeared on a sex advertisement 
on backpage. Again, this is more common than you would expect.
  What made this case even more incredible to me was the backpage 
actually contained a missing child poster of that same child. So the 
missing child poster that the national center had put out there for all 
of us to help find her shows up on backpage.com as an advertisement for 
this young girl. This poster had the child's real name, real age, real 
picture, and the date she went missing. Other photos in that ad 
included topless photos of this girl. She is 16 years old.
  This is another example of where there is a problem that must be 
addressed. Our investigation is to create the information for us to be 
able to legislate wisely on this issue.
  I see my colleague from New Hampshire has joined us. We wish to hear 
from her. She is another former attorney general of a State and has 
been involved in this issue for many years and is an active member of 
the caucus we talked about earlier to try to combat trafficking.
  I yield to my colleague, the Senator from New Hampshire, such time as 
she may need.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I thank Senator Portman and Senator 
McCaskill for their strong leadership on the Permanent Subcommittee on 
Investigations, of which they are the chair and ranking member, on such 
an important issue because enforcing the subpoena--the resolution we 
have before us to enforce the subpoena is critical.
  As you heard today, I was attorney general of New Hampshire. I had 
the opportunity to work with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task 
Force. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reports 
that of suspected child trafficking reports it receives from the 
public, 71 percent involve backpage.com.
  What is the resolution about? It is about the fact that Senator 
Portman, Senator McCaskill, and the committee they lead has asked 
legitimate questions and asked for documents from backpage.com.
  We have heard the horrific stories of things that have happened and 
have been reported. Senator Portman referenced a recent report in 
Boston about a 15-year-old girl who had been raped over 1,000 times as 
a result of being advertised on backpage.com.
  Of course, we have heard horrific stories about children. In one 
Pennsylvania case, a defendant forced a minor to have sex with 
approximately 15 different men in one encounter where she was 
threatened with a weapon--advertised on backpage.com, so it is pretty 
straightforward.
  In a Florida case, a trafficker drugged and threatened to kill a 14-
year-old girl so he could sell her for sexual services online--
backpage.com.
  In a California case, a trafficker forced two women to work as 
prostitutes through beating and threatening them with sexual violence--
backpage.com.
  These are very legitimate questions that have been asked to inform 
our policy decisions of backpage.com. Yet they will not produce the 
documents that have been asked of them, to ask how they were screening 
to ensure they aren't taking illegal actions when it comes to child sex 
trafficking and trafficking of women and men and boys and girls. Yet 
they will not answer that. The CEO of backpage.com was subpoenaed to 
testify, and he refused to appear here.
  If backpage.com is not doing the things in some of these reports that 
have come forward and is not acting illegally, then they will come and 
talk to us about this. The CEO of backpage would not try to hide behind 
the First Amendment, making arguments that don't bear out under the 
First Amendment because we are talking about illegality, the 
trafficking of children in horrific ways--then this is a legitimate 
inquiry for this committee.
  I again commend Senator Portman and Senator McCaskill.
  I urge the Members of the Senate to support this resolution to 
enforce this subpoena so we can ensure that we get the information this 
committee needs to inform our policy decisions to address a very 
important issue that is putting children at risk, that is harming 
families, that is harming men and women who are being trafficked, and 
we need to get to the bottom of it.
  I yield the floor back to Senator Portman.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. PORTMAN. I thank my colleague from New Hampshire.
  Let me just say I already talked about Senator McCaskill in my 
remarks, but she has been a terrific partner on this issue and many 
others. She

[[Page 3417]]

has a passion for it as a former prosecutor, someone who understands 
this issue well.
  I yield all remaining time to Senator McCaskill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, last year a 15-year-old girl wandered 
into an emergency room in St. Louis, told a horrific tale, asking for 
help. She had been trafficked across truckstops throughout the Midwest, 
taken from truckstop to truckstop, and sold to truckers for sex--all 
through backpage. As we debate this today, it is important we stay 
focused on that 15-year-old girl and don't get lost in the process of 
the Senate.
  This is a valid investigation. This is an important investigation. 
What we are doing today is making sure the Senate can do its work under 
the Constitution. Backpage has refused to cooperate. It has refused to 
willingly cooperate. It has refused two legitimate and duly authorized 
subpoenas concerning backpage asking for information at the heart of 
the investigation.
  Under any circumstances, I find it shocking that a company would 
refuse a lawful subpoena of the U.S. Senate, would ignore a lawful 
subpoena of the U.S. Senate. It is particularly outrageous given that 
backpage has already admitted that serious criminal activity, including 
sex trafficking of children, occurs on its site. Backpage simply has no 
excuse for not complying with these legal subpoenas.
  During our November 19 hearing, I promised that while the 
subcommittee would move forward carefully and cautiously, we would not 
go quietly into the night, and on some day in the near future we would 
use the Senate's enforcement measures to compel cooperation from 
backpage. Today is that day. While we stay focused on that 15-year-old 
girl, I know I speak for the chairman--and I wish to give the chairman 
great accolades for our working relationship. It is not always easy to 
reconcile differences in positions, differences in policy, and staffs 
working together, but he didn't give up. We both stay at it, and we are 
both determined to work on this committee in a bipartisan fashion. I am 
very grateful to him for his effort in that regard.
  As we think of that 15-year-old girl and the information we need, we 
also need to think that a bigger principle is at stake; that is, if we 
ignore backpage's refusal, what does that say to companies in the 
future when we need information in order to do our job? That you can 
give the back of your hand to the U.S. Senate and there will be no 
consequences? Obviously, that is a slippery slope I don't think we 
should go down. I don't think the Founding Fathers would want us to go 
down that slippery slope.
  That is why today is the day we say enough. We go with this vote to 
the courts and we get enforcement of these legal subpoenas so we can 
truly find out what, if any, role backpage has had in the highly 
illegal and immoral practice of trafficking children for sex.
  I yield the floor.
  I yield back all remaining time for the Democrats.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of our time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back.
  The question occurs on adoption of the resolution.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. 
Vitter).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer) 
and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 38 Leg.]

                                YEAS--96

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Reid
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Boxer
     Cruz
     Sanders
     Vitter
  The resolution (S. Res. 377) was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the preamble is 
agreed to and the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid 
upon the table.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in the Record of 
February 29, 2016, under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.

                          ____________________