Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act of 2008

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 9:55 a.m. in room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in order to conduct a business meeting to consider several General Services Administration Resolutions and S. 589, a Bill to provide for the transfer of certain Federal property to the United States Paralympics, Incorporated, a subsidiary of the United States Olympic Committee, to be followed immediately with a hearing entitled, ``Oversight Hearing to Examine the Condition of our Nation's Bridges.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 20, 2007, at 10 a.m., in room 215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on ``Frozen Out: A Review of Bank Treatment of Social Security Benefits'' .

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet in order to conduct a markup on Thursday, September 20, 2007, at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226.

Agenda

I. Bills

S. 1845, A bill to provide for limitations in certain communications between the Department of Justice and the White House (Whitehouse, Leahy).

S. 772, Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2007 (Kohl, Coleman, Feingold).

S. 1267, Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 (Lugar, Dodd, Graham).

S. 1703, Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act of 2007 (Durbin, Coburn).

II. Nominations

Jennifer Walker Elrod to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit.

Patrick Shen, Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate in order to conduct a hearing entitled ``Expanding Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs: The Future of Women's Small Business Programs:'' on Thursday, September 20, 2007, beginning at 10 a.m. in room 428A of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for the Committee on Veterans' Affairs to be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 20, 2007, in order to conduct a Joint Hearing to receive the 2007 legislative presentation by the American Legion. The Committee will meet in 345 Cannon House Office Building, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on September 20, 2007 at 2:30 p.m. to hold a hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday, September 20, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. for a hearing entitled ``High Risk IT Investments: Is Poor Management Leading to Billions in Waste.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 20, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. in room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on S. 1377, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the city of Henderson, NV, certain Federal land located in the city, and for other purposes; S. 1433, to amend the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to provide competitive status to certain Federal employees in the State of Alaska; S. 1608 and H.R. 815, to provide for the conveyance of certain land in Clark County, NV, for use by the Nevada National Guard; S. 1740, to amend the act of February 22, 1990, and the act of July 2, 1862, to provide for the management of public land trust funds in the State of North Dakota; S. 1802, to adjust the boundaries of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in the State of Idaho; S. 1939, to provide for the conveyance of certain land in the Santa Fe National Forest, NM; and S. 1940, to reauthorize the Rio Puerco Watershed Management Program, and for other purposes.

And to receive testimony on two additional bills added to the hearing: S. 1143, to designate the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and the surrounding Federal land in the State of Florida as an Outstanding Natural Area and as a unit of the National Landscape System, and for other purposes; and S. 2034, to amend the Oregon Wilderness Act of 1984 to designate the Copper Salmon Wilderness and to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the North and South Forks of the Elk River in the State of Oregon as wild or scenic rivers, and for other purposes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 903, S. 1703.

Mr. President, few issues in the world today raise as many human rights implications as the insidious practice of human trafficking. According to International Labor Organization estimates, there are over 12 million people in forced or bonded labor, forced child labor, or sexual servitude at any given time around the globe. Human trafficking truly represents commerce in human misery.

The U.S. Government has been increasingly vigilant in addressing this global scourge. In 2000, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which gave our government important new tools to better protect trafficking victims, prosecute traffickers, and prevent future trafficking crimes in this country and abroad. In 2003 and again in 2005, Congress reauthorized the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and I am proud to cosponsor the latest reauthorization bill--the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008--which Senators Biden and Brownback introduced in May.

I chair the Senate Judiciary Committee's new Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, created at the beginning of the 110th Congress. Our subcommittee's second hearing, in March 2007, considered legal options to stop human trafficking.

The hearing shed light on a legal loophole in current law. The U.S. government is allowed to prosecute human traffickers who commit crimes in the United States, but it is not permitted to prosecute traffickers who commit crimes abroad and then come to our shores.

In June 2007, Senator Coburn and I introduced a bill to close this loophole. The Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act would permit the U.S. Government to go after human traffickers who are present in the United States, regardless of whether their heinous acts took place in this country or elsewhere. Our bill says to the traffickers: You cannot come to the United States and use us as a zone of impunity and as a safe haven for your ill-gotten gains. Closing this loophole would serve as another tool in the global fight against human trafficking.

The Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act follows on other human rights legislation I have introduced with Senator Coburn, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. We introduced similar legislation to allow the U.S. Government to prosecute individuals found in the United States who have recruited children for combat or deployed child soldiers in another country. Congress recently approved this bill, and it awaits the President's signature.

And last year, Congress approved a bill to permit the U.S. Government to prosecute those present in the United States who have committed the human rights atrocity of genocide anywhere in the world.

The Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act is supported by the International Justice Mission, the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, the Break the Chain Campaign, the Urban Justice Center, Mosaic Family Services, Global Rights, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.

We cannot discuss the issue of human trafficking without acknowledging the visionary leadership of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, who called the trafficking of human beings ``one of the most horrendous human rights violations of our time.''

On the day Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act on October 11, 2000, Senator Wellstone went to the Senate floor and said the following: ``I believe with passage of this legislation . . . we are lighting a candle. We are lighting a candle for these women and girls and sometimes men forced into forced labor. . . . This is the beginning of an international effort to go after this trafficking, to go after this major, god-awful human rights abuse.''

Senator Wellstone's commitment to combating human trafficking and other human rights abuses stands as one of his most enduring legacies. The candle Senator Wellstone lit nearly 8 years ago is burning bright, and we will rekindle it today with the passage of this legislation.

I urge my Senate colleagues to pass the Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act, and I hope the House of Representatives will soon follow suit, so this important bill can be sent to the President and signed into law.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Durbin amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the committee substitute, as amended be agreed to, the bill, as amended be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I am pleased that today the Senate has passed the Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act of 2007, which would improve our efforts to stop the abominable practice of human trafficking in the United States and around the world. This modern-day form of slavery forces, defrauds, or coerces victims into sexual or labor exploitation. It is the world's fastest growing criminal enterprise and generates $9.5 billion annually, $4 billion of which goes to the prostitution industry. Nearly 1 million people, mostly women and children, are trafficked worldwide, including nearly 18,000 persons in the United States.

This legislation would expand the Federal court's jurisdiction over human trafficking cases to include offenses committed abroad by noncitizens that enter our borders. Currently, the Department of Justice can only prosecute human trafficking crimes if they occur within the United States or are committed by a U.S. citizen abroad. This legislation would permit the Department of Justice to prosecute offenders of trafficking crimes abroad if they are present in the United States and punish human traffickers who attempt to seek refuge in this country.

Nowhere on Earth should it be acceptable to deceive, abuse, and force a person into a life of enslavement. We should not tolerate human trafficking across our borders, nor should we allow trafficking offenders to seek a safe haven in our country. I commend subcommittee chairman Senator Durbin for introducing this legislation and for his hard work to combat human rights abuses worldwide. This is an area in which I have worked for many years as the chairman and ranking member of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee.

I was proud to work with Senator Durbin to create the Human Rights and the Law Subcommittee, the first congressional committee to specifically address human rights issues. This subcommittee has held hearings on many important issues, and two important pieces of legislation considered by the subcommittee will become law this Congress. The Genocide Accountability Act closed a loophole that until now allowed those who commit or incite genocide to seek refuge in our country without fear of prosecution for their actions. Soon, the President will sign into law the Child Soldiers Accountability Act, making it a crime to recruit or use child soldiers. I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Durbin to make progress towards

eradicating these and other human rights abuses.

This bill is a step forward towards the prevention of human trafficking, protection of victims, and prosecution of traffickers. I hope the House of Representatives acts quickly on this legislation so it can be enacted before Congress adjourns.