Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2015

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 48 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Florida, Judge Hastings, my friend, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

general leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I bring to the floor on behalf of the Rules Committee and the Republican Conference a rule and the underlying legislation which helps address a problem that has been created by the Obama administration.

The administration has decided to slow the export of liquefied natural gas to countries with which we do not have a free trade agreement. This means that American companies have plenty of liquefied natural gas to sell to our allies across the globe but that delays by the administration are preventing them from selling it. This decision, I think, comes at a terrible price for the millions of Americans who cannot find work. This decision comes at a terrible price for those in need of a good-paying job--perhaps even of a long career--that will help support their families, their communities, and, most of all, that will help make America stronger.

The administration's inaction also comes at a terrible price for our friends in Europe who are being bullied by thugs, namely the Russian Government. Currently, many of our allies in Europe are forced to buy natural gas from Russia instead of from the United States of America. We have seen how they use this leverage to push around our allies. Our other friends around the globe, such as India, Japan, and Haiti, also need energy, and this administration's inaction is also costing these allies dearly. Let me see if I can paint a picture of how the administration's decision has been executed.

The administration's Department of Energy has slow walked. It has taken an antiquated approval process for applications to export liquefied natural gas, which is known as LNG. Since 2010, the Department of Energy has only issued final decisions on five of the 37 applications to export LNG to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement. These delays have nothing to do with the environment. In fact, natural gas is one of the cleanest sources of energy in the world. Yes, I think we know what the problem is. The problem is they simply do not want to participate in this marketplace for Americans to have jobs.

As a result of these delays, all of us in America are squandering the boon in liquefied natural gas, which has made the United States the world's largest provider of natural gas in oil beginning, really, in 2013. Here we are now, 2 years later, and it is time for America to come to action. That is, again, why the United States Congress--the Republican Congress--is coming to the American people with a bill to help do something about this.

The administration's broken application process is delaying good- paying jobs at a time when the labor participation rate in our marketplace is at historic lows. That hurts real people. That hurts real people who want and need opportunities to have jobs today, not to look up and find out that Washington is broken and is keeping them from good-paying jobs.

I have much to say about this, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

This issue about liquefied natural gas and natural gas perhaps comes naturally to Texans. I am from Dallas. I have been around the natural gas industry. I have seen the attributes of energy policy and how important it is.

Let me tell you what: the Republicans have taken a keen interest in this. This is why the marketplace is producing gasoline at $1.72 a gallon. That is why gasoline prices have fallen, that is why natural gas is plentifully available at a great price--but, Mr. Speaker, it is also jobs behind this.

I will tell you one other thing. It is also a bipartisan idea. Yesterday, this gentleman that I am going to introduce, the sponsor of the bill, Bill Johnson, a 26-year veteran of the United States Air Force, came up to the Rules Committee and had one of the most delightful conversations on a bipartisan basis with other Democrats and Republicans and talked about the attributes of jobs and this natural resource.

Thank God we live in America and have these opportunities to where we can help other countries.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson), the original sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

We really do want to address both of your questions. I think they are both legitimate questions.

First of all, according to Hungary's Ambassador at Large for Energy Security, lifting restrictions on import ``would send an extremely important message of strategic reassurance to the region which currently feels more threatened than any time since the cold war.''

I will yield in a second to the author of the bill because he understands that piece of the pie.

We talk about thuggery from Russia. The Ukrainians had to renegotiate the amount of money that they were paying just to get their natural gas and stay warm because the Russians raised that price on them. We think that is gouging and taking advantage of people.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson) to discuss this point that you asked about.

Reclaiming my time, it does help us. I thank the gentleman.

Let us keep going on the second part of the question, which was: Can President Obama just get any bit of credit, just any bit, just a small measure? Well, I would respond to the gentleman: yes, but when he earns it.

The President has made it known from the very beginning that he opposed energy policy that the free market tried to produce. Take this example: even though he was at the groundbreaking for the Keystone pipeline, he has been incapable of making a decision for 6 years on something that multiple people, including at least two former Presidents and lots of other people, said it makes a lot of sense to do.

Also, the facts of the case are the Congressional Research Service reported that domestic natural gas production has risen by 19 percent since 2009 but decreased by 28 percent on Federal lands.

So, the idea that the President has tried to help this while reducing it by almost a third from Federal lands, the evidence is just not there to give him credit.

I know that there are people who want to get credit for things even though they didn't do things, even though they didn't complete the task that was in front of them, making decisions, making wise decisions, showing the American people what you stand for.

I would do this for the gentleman and help him out, but the administration clearly has been on simply the other side of that issue and that ball.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Corpus Christi, Texas (Mr. Farenthold), who was with me on the border this last weekend as we looked at border security. He comes from an energy-rich section of our Nation and represents some of the most vibrant companies that are trying to make this country energy-sufficient and to help make sure that what is at the pump is at a great price and is a great product for consumers.

I thank the gentleman very much, not only for taking time to discuss these important issues but really for his representation of an industry that can do so many great things, not only for the American people but, really, to help out our friends around the world.

It becomes a part of a very positive foreign affairs policy that the United States, instead of going overseas to get energy, we can be delivering that energy. Instead of having to have a blue water navy, a navy that is stretched to keep shipping lanes open, we can be handing these off to other countries to take them.

Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, there was a vigorous opportunity, on a bipartisan basis, a discussion that not only did Bill Johnson take part in but also Mr. Garamendi, the gentleman, the Democrat from California, and Ed Whitfield, the subcommittee chairman, about how the delivery of this LNG can be on American ships.

A shipbuilding industry to build the ships to meet the specifications that would be necessary to put them in the water to deliver these around the world can be an American-made product also.

I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

I thank the gentleman.

By the way, Mr. Speaker, yesterday, at the Rules Committee, for the first time in a long time, we did not receive a Statement of Administration Policy that the President is opposed to this.

It was a bipartisan presentation in the Rules Committee yesterday. Not unprecedented but a really good feeling about us working together for the common interest, to make sure that the American worker comes out on top of this, that the taxpayer comes out on top of this, that we are producing good legislation that can go to the United States Senate, this time, to be heard and passed on, so that we can get this legislation so the President does earn that part of his check on the box that says: And thank you, Mr. President, for agreeing and working with us. Thank you for helping us out.

I think this can get through the House. I think it can get to the Senate, and I think the President will sign it.

Mr. Speaker, if that is not a positive declaration about the President seeing great things, and me wanting and needing and expecting the President to do what I think is the right thing, then we are simply miscast today.

This is a good thing for America. This is a good thing for both parties. But this is a good thing for our friends around the world and diplomacy also.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Friendswood, Texas (Mr. Weber), my dear colleague.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to have the gentleman stick around for a minute because, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, he is most genuinely involved in trying to make sure that discussions about America and our allies and how the world sees us are well understood.

As a man who comes from not only Friendswood, Texas, which, like Mr. Farenthold, is right in the center of this enterprise where we ship our natural resources around the world, I would really like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman to talk about the impact of foreign affairs.

The gentleman, Mr. Hastings, had asked a question about, well, why does this matter?

I thank the gentleman from Friendswood, Texas, who, Mr. Speaker, has a keen understanding about not only what is in America's best interest, by serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee, but who is also a proud man who understands that people who work hard have jobs-- clean, natural gas, an opportunity for America to get the benefits of one of God's greatest gifts to the United States that we can share with others.

Mr. Speaker, I think that there are a whole lot of ways for us to look at not only what lies ahead with opportunity, but I think we can also look at some models of success, and one of them might be my home State of Texas.

My home State of Texas has incredible opportunities and benefits that have arisen from the ability to have energy abundance, the ability to have oil, natural gas, and other elements that can be used in this industry to make our country stronger, but what is happening is that we have also used it to Texas' benefit and America's benefit. That is right.

Just to tell a story, if it weren't for Texas, net job growth over the last 7 years in America would be flat. That means you take all 49 States, level it out--the minuses, the pluses, net it out--America would not have net positive job growth. But because of Texas, I can tell you that we now have created a net increase of 1.2 million jobs in America, net, and that has come because of Texas. So it is literally entirely a Texas product.

The essence of this has come from not just lower taxes, not just better roads, great schools, better education, good people, but it comes from a philosophy of understanding that we need to utilize these natural resources for the benefit of our world. To make jobs, job creation important, instead of delaying things, Texas had to make sure that what we did is we used it to our advantage.

So instead of not making decisions, like this Federal Government does by delaying major initiatives, we signed them into law. We got them done. We made things happen. So by doing that, when you do that, then you stand a chance to better everybody's life.

I would now like to give the gentleman from Florida a chance to finish his time, so I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as I explained earlier, Texas is the great American jobs machine. We talked about how we create jobs because we have effectively used the resources that, in many instances, Mother Nature and God have given us. So now it is time for Washington, I think, to learn from models that we do in Texas, where we learn to capitalize on all of

our resources--in this case, the energy revolution that is at hand.

Look, what Republicans have done today is brought a bill that is common sense to the floor to unleash our natural resources, to make sure that it helps out not only our foreign policy, but workers and jobs in this country, and that is important. So it is a policy issue. The Republican Party is dead-on. There is going to be a bipartisan vote today.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, my good friend, for yielding to me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in opposition to the rule and the underlying bill.

The enduring reputation of the 113th Congress will be as the least productive ever. The previous House was also the most closed ever as it pertains to rules, passing more closed rules than any other Congress. Despite controlling both Chambers of the 114th Congress, my friends across the aisle have picked up the dysfunction right where they left off in trying to jam through another piece of legislation regardless of its merits and without giving the House a chance to review it through regular order. It must be understood that there are a significant number of new Members here who didn't have an opportunity, as I did and as the chairman did, to vote on this measure in the previous Congress.

Dysfunction reigns supreme, but don't just take my word for it. Last week, my friend from Pennsylvania, Congressman Dent, offered a summary of the 114th Congress' accomplishments so far:

Week one, we had a Speaker election that did not go as well

as a lot of us would have liked. Week two, we got into a big

fight over deporting children, something that a lot of us

didn't want to have a discussion about. Week three, we are

now talking about rape and incest and reportable rapes and

incest for minors . . . I just can't wait for week four.

That was from my colleague Mr. Dent.

Here we are in week four, in my view, wasting time and taxpayer money in debating a solution for a problem that does not exist.

Since the Department of Energy completed its economic impact study, export applications are receiving a decision within about 2 months. In fact, four LNG export projects have already won all of the necessary Federal permits from the Energy Department and from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with the first project scheduled to come online this year. Therefore, despite H.R. 351's clever name, the only uncertainty regarding the bill is why the House is considering it at all.

This bill originated in the last Congress when we were told that it would help Ukraine shake its energy dependence from Russia. Let me repeat that.

This bill originated in the last Congress when we were told that it would help Ukraine shake its energy dependence from Russia. I would like for some of my colleagues on the other side to tell me how Ukraine will be able to benefit from this legislation in light of what I believe the fact to be, and that is that they are not prepared to receive liquefied natural gas from us. In my view, since most of this takes place in the spot neverland of oil and gas sales, I don't believe, when completed, that this gas will reach Ukraine.

Do you know where the highest prices for all liquefied natural gas are both now and, apparently, in the near future? Asia. This gas is going to Asia, not to Ukraine and not to Eastern Europe. I heard some discussion yesterday evening about Hungary, and I dispute whether or not any of it will go there as well.

Furthermore, what was true then remains true now: even when the United States finally becomes capable of exporting liquefied natural gas, Ukraine does not have, as I have pointed out, the capability to receive it. I hope you will understand my uncertainty as to why this bill is on the floor.

H.R. 351 will not make gas prices cheaper here either. LNG is already cheap. In fact, this bill is more likely to increase our natural gas prices, since we are going to be sending more gas overseas, and it will be hardworking Americans paying the cost.

It is not like there are a whole lot of projects waiting to be approved either. With natural gas futures and crude oil prices well below the levels where natural gas is competitive, companies are putting LNG export and development projects on hold, leaving only more uncertainty as to why we are considering this bill today.

This bill is also incredibly misguided. We cannot solve our energy problems with fossil fuels. It requires a certain kind of arrogance to deny an overwhelming scientific consensus regarding climate change. Importing or exporting more fossil fuels, more drilling, more fracking, more pipelines, it doesn't matter; fossil fuels are a dead end, full stop.

A serious renewable energy plan is the only way to ensure energy independence. Clean energy is the only way we can be sure that we don't leave a devastated planet for our children.

This Congress is starting just like the last one, Mr. Speaker. The American people deserve better.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I reiterate that I would hope that some of the speakers from the other side would answer the question as to whether or not this liquefied natural gas is going to reach Eastern Europe. I dispute that.

Just sort of as an aside, I know no one will say anything regarding same, but the fact of the matter is that, for years, the discussion was the price of regular gasoline. Now that it is nearing $2 and we are the world's biggest producer of natural gas and moving pretty well, I might add--and I am glad to see--along the clean energy line, I just am curious whether President Obama gets any credit at all for any of these changes because those who argued that gasoline would be at $6 and $7--I even saw one at $8 a gallon--I am just curious, since that didn't occur, what the thought is.

I recognize we are here on another subject, but I would hope that we would get an answer regarding the LNG and Ukraine especially.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

You know, I don't want to in any way disparage the lovefest of my friends from Texas. I recognize that everything is big in Texas.

Also, as a child, I even learned the songs of Texas, ``The Yellow Rose of Texas,'' ``Deep in the Heart of Texas,'' a whole of bunch of them which I hold dear from my childhood.

I would like to have the gentleman who was called upon as a foreign affairs expert--because he serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee--to know, then, that I guess I too am a foreign affairs expert since I served on that committee for 8 years, served on the Intelligence Committee for 8 years. All of the countries that the gentleman mentioned, I have been to.

I assuredly never got an answer from the chairman or anyone else regarding whether or not Ukraine--and it is not ``the Ukraine''; it is ``Ukraine''--didn't get an answer as to whether they were prepared to receive liquefied natural gas.

I also know that we are mindful of the sanctions on Russia and how it is impacting them.

I didn't only just go to Ukraine. In their first election after the Orange Revolution, I was the lead election monitor for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

I don't come to this dance without having some understanding, and I would urge that I still didn't get--although my friend, the chairman, seemed to suggest that the President is deserving of something that he earns, my belief is that the President has allowed for more gas leases than I would have had him do.

I would urge that just off the press, embargoed until noon today, is a press release from the United States Department of the Interior, which receives a lot of negative comment from my colleagues regarding regulations. ``Interior Department Announces Draft Strategy for Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing.'' The draft proposal program includes 14 potential lease sales in eight planning areas--10 sales in the Gulf of Mexico, three off the coast of Alaska, and one in a portion of the mid- and south Atlantic.

Now, let me make it very clear. That might make a whole lot of people happy. It does not make me happy because they are discussing leases in the Gulf of Mexico where, I believe, there is substantial infrastructure from areas like Louisiana and Texas in the western portion of the gulf. I guess we just ignore things like the BP oil spill, and we ignore the potential for those kinds of disasters.

So I can't disagree very much with the chairman regarding much of his statistics, but I want the administration and my friend from Texas, the chairman, to know that, as I have said repeatedly, I will be the last person standing in this House of Representatives opposed to offshore drilling in my State of Florida no matter the views that others have. I believe there is enough wind from our respective oceans to double the amount of energy that we have, and, yes, my friend, there are aircraft that are powered without fossil fuel.

We were originally scheduled this week to also consider a border security bill, but that bill was scuttled yesterday amidst a number of things.

My friends, the Republicans, are pretty lucky. As bad as the snowstorm is, particularly for the New England area of our country, many of our colleagues could not get back here yesterday and probably won't be able to get back here today as well. The reason I say they are lucky is they can hide--by pulling the border bill--under the fact that there was a snowstorm and people couldn't get in here, and that is legitimate, in my view.

The other part of the concern--and we will see about it next week and the week after--is that many conservatives in the Republican Party are jumping ship on the border bill, and that was out there as well. Just like last week, just like last Congress, there is a rift in the majority, leaving it unable to even pass legislation that all of its Members can agree on.

Unfortunately, we have real problems in this country that my friends are going to have to address. So I look forward to my friends' plan to repair our crumbling roads and bridges in this country, and I can't wait to see how this body will combat the national security threat of climate change, in spite of all of your denials.

I hope that my friends intend to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure that many of the reforms in our tax structure allow for those persons who are ultrawealthy to pay their fair proportion of what they earn and to reform our Tax Code so that middle-income Americans can benefit and poor Americans can rise to the middle class.

With America's workers' wages stagnant for so long, including our own here in the House of Representatives, we are entering the seventh year without any increase in wages. And those of us who are poorer Members of Congress have experienced the kinds of difficulties of just being here in Washington and the cost for being here. I am seeking no sympathies. It is just a fact.

So with those wages stagnant for so long, I look forward to hearing from my colleagues on how they plan to raise the minimum wage in this country. Because until my friends can address their dysfunction and inability to lead, I am afraid our country is in for 2 more years of uncertainty.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule and the underlying bill.

Mr. Speaker, I will reiterate that most Presidents get a lot of credit on their watch and a lot of negative when things go wrong. For once, our gas prices are down, and my friends can't even bring themselves to say that this President deserves some credit. I do. I see it. He deserves some credit.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 48, the rule for H.R. 351, the LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act.

During the 113th Congress, identical legislation to H.R. 351 passed the House of Representatives as H.R. 6, the Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act. Long before its passage, the bill moved through the entire legislative process at the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. This process included a hearing as well as an eventual markup at the Subcommittee on Energy and Power. A subsequent full committee markup followed, and the bill was placed on the Union Calendar.

The House Committee on Rules then established H. Res. 636, the rule for consideration of H.R. 6. After that rule was adopted, the legislation was debated, amended, and ultimately passed the House of Representatives with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. The President did not issue a veto threat.

The energy renaissance that has swept across America over the last years has transformed the United States from an increasingly energy dependent Nation--beholden to the whims of OPEC--to our current position as the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world.

This transformation has provided us with a historic and unprecedented opportunity not just to bolster our economy, but to also fully leverage our energy abundance on the international stage by selling a portion of our natural gas abroad.

Through this abundance of natural gas, America has an opportunity to significantly affect geopolitics if we enact smart policies. It could-- and should--be a game changer.

Allowing the export of liquefied natural gas, for instance, will create significant American jobs and wealth for the United States, enhance our energy security, and provide a reliable source of fuel to our allies, some of whom depend on the mood of Vladimir Putin to meet their energy needs.

Unfortunately, our policies have not kept pace with the industry's development. Producers seeking to export LNG face a constantly changing approval process which costs millions of dollars and takes years to navigate.

Not only does this undermine regulatory certainty, but with dozens of projects seeking approval, Washington is making it difficult for businesses to make the investment decisions needed to take advantage of this abundant resource. This delays job creation here at home and reduces our ability to positively influence global politics abroad.

My bill, the LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act, aims to address this growing problem by cutting through the bureaucratic red tape and implementing a deadline on the Department of Energy to issue a final decision on LNG applications.

Given the amount of time that has already passed since many of the LNG export applications have been filed and their dockets closed, there is no more information to consider and no reason for DOE not to adhere to a deadline.

There is very real risk to inactivity. If Washington waits too long to move forward with export licenses, other countries with their own natural gas resources--Canada, Qatar, and Australia, to name three-- will step in to meet the demand. Our competitive advantage, along with the opportunity to create more domestic energy jobs and serve as a check on Russia, will be lost.

Numerous studies have found that LNG exports will create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, many of them in manufacturing, including the refining, petrochemicals, and chemicals sectors. ICF International estimates that these jobs will occur across the entire value chain, translating into roughly $1 billion in new wages for American workers over a 6-year period.

Export terminals will also generate millions of dollars in new tax revenue for Federal, State, and local governments, while increasing our GDP and lowering the trade deficit.

It is worth noting that this won't come at the expense of domestic consumers. The U.S. Energy Information Administration stressed that it expects increased overseas demand for LNG will be met by the development of new resources.

In fact, the DOE has concluded that each of the different export scenarios considered ``are welfare improving for U.S. consumers'' and would result in ``an increase in U.S. households' real income.''

The recent turbulence in Eastern Europe--and throughout the Middle East--has shown all too clearly that energy can be used as a geopolitical tool. Adding a new and reliable source of natural gas onto the world market will diversify our allies' energy sources and greatly reduce their vulnerability to a single monopolistic supplier.

I am proud to author this legislation. It is a job creator. It helps America in

leveraging the geopolitical stage across the globe. We have seen enough delay. I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

I thank the Chairman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, right now, today, about 50 percent of Russia's revenue comes from taxes on oil and gas. About 80 percent of that resource goes through the Ukraine. The Ukrainian people are under tremendous pressure, as are other European allies, by the Russians.

Regardless of where U.S. natural gas is shipped, increasing supply and competition in the global marketplace will help provide international consumers with greater choice.

In fact, a representative of the U.S. State Department made a similar statement on the benefits of U.S. natural gas exports at a January 8, 2015, Atlantic Council forum. This is from the State Department:

Now, where the gas will go doesn't matter. The fact that we

have approved exports of natural gas has already had an

impact on Europe.

Just the fact that America is getting into the game has put the Russians on notice that our friends and allies and people that they are currently putting under pressure--the Ukrainians and others--are going to have a choice, and it is going to make a different conversation happen at the table.

Mr. Chairman, I hope that helped clarify it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the bipartisan Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act, which I introduced with a group of bipartisan Members of Congress.

The same version of this bill was unanimously passed in the 113th Congress. This legislation demonstrates how critical it is that Members of Congress work together to move policy that protects children from being sexually exploited. The work that both sides of the aisle have done on sex trafficking demonstrates a strong commitment to preventing our most vulnerable populations from becoming victims.

First, I would like to thank Chairman Kline, Representative Walberg, and Ranking Member Scott for their leadership on continuing to support this legislation that works towards ensuring that no child in the United States becomes a victim of sex trafficking. I am grateful for their knowledge and assistance that helped bring this important bill to the floor today. I would also like to thank Judge Poe for his ongoing leadership on this issue.

My colleague and friend, Representative Tom Marino, has been a leader in fighting for children in the foster care system. Mr. Marino, along with the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth cochairs--Jim McDermott, Trent Franks, Jim Langevin, and Diane Black--all served as original cosponsors of H.R. 469 and have demonstrated leadership by both making significant change in the child welfare system and by bringing attention to the horrendous intersection between sex trafficking and our child welfare system.

The U.S. Department of Justice reports that between 2008 and 2010 40 percent of sex trafficking cases involved the exploitation of children. Tragically, many of these children are forgotten without the appropriate services to ensure their safety. This highlights the failure of our system to prevent them from becoming victims.

More than 200,000 youth in our country are at risk of trafficking per year. In my hometown of Los Angeles, the Probation Department reports that 61 percent of identified trafficking victims are foster youth. It is noteworthy that this statistic comes from the Probation Department and not the child welfare department. This legislation hopes to correct that. We want to make sure that child welfare agencies, in addition to juvenile justice, begin to document this problem.

In Los Angeles, we are fortunate to have the STAR Court, which is a specialized, collaborative courthouse designed to serve youth who have been trafficked. The STAR Court team reports that 80 percent of the girls entering their courtroom have previously been involved in the child welfare system.

As cochair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, I have had the opportunity to travel throughout the country as part of our Nationwide Listening Tour. Unfortunately, I have heard far too many stories about youth in foster care falling through the cracks in the system. Sometimes they are thought to be runaways. Sadly, they report that no one looked for them and that, in fact, they had not run away but had been abducted or tricked or drugged by a pimp when the system assumed they were bad girls who had just run away.

Most of us were so moved by one woman that we often repeat her story. She told us in hearings that she felt the foster care system prepared her for exploitation because her pimp was the first person who told her that he loved her and that, while in foster care, she was moved so often and told so often that she was just a paycheck that she formed no healthy attachments and had nowhere to turn.

We have to close the cracks in our system that leave a child feeling her

pimp is the only one she can turn to or that she would rather be with a pimp than be bounced around from foster home to foster home. The system that is supposed to be designed to help vulnerable children should not turn around and victimize the children or allow them to fall into the hands of exploiters.

Many of the young survivors we have met told us that, during the time they were being trafficked, they had numerous encounters with the child welfare system but that no one asked what was happening to them, especially girls in group homes. Pimps know this population is especially vulnerable. H.R. 469 will allow child welfare agencies across the Nation to develop State protection plans to outline provisions and procedures to identify and assess all reports of children known or suspected to be victims of sex trafficking.

H.R. 469 begins to prepare the child welfare system for this population. A first step is to document the extent of the problem. Another step is to ensure that each State has a plan to train social workers to identify and address the needs of this population. Arresting these children should not be the way we provide services. Arresting them treats them as criminals, and one has to question if jail is ever an appropriate place to provide the type of services these children need.

H.R. 469 also requires that, within 1 year, the Department of Health and Human Services report to Congress on the prevalence and type of trafficking they have encountered. The report will assess State practices used to identify and serve trafficking victims and Federal laws and policies that might, in fact, prevent States from supporting these victims, including the absence of trafficking in the Federal definition of ``child abuse and neglect'' under CAPTA, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.

I am encouraged by the momentum that has been created to reform our child welfare system and to ensure that vulnerable children are provided with the resources they need. I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 469, the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act, and to continue to work together in Congress to combat domestic minor sex trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 469) to amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to enable State child protective services

systems to improve the identification and assessment of child victims of sex trafficking, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 469.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, domestic child trafficking is a serious problem, sadly, in the United States. Around 300,000 American youth are at risk of sexual commercial exploitation and trafficking each year. That is why the House of Representatives is considering a number of bills this week that seek to ensure that human trafficking victims are treated as victims and have access to the services they desperately need.

As a Member of Congress, I have worked on legislation to help address this problem in the past and will continue that important work this year. I have also held local roundtables in Michigan with victims, advocacy, and law enforcement groups to do everything I can to work with my communities to address this heinous crime.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that 68 percent of likely sex trafficking victims were involved in the child welfare system at one time. Instead of properly identifying and assisting trafficked and exploited children, these children are often sent to the juvenile justice system, where they are labeled and treated as criminals. These innocent victims are victimized by the very system that was designed to protect them.

That is why, Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 469. The Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2015 will help protect child victims by improving practices within State child welfare systems to identify, assess, and document sex trafficking victims. The House passed this legislation by a voice vote last summer, and I thank my colleague, Congresswoman Karen Bass, for her work on this important legislation again this Congress.

H.R. 469 amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to direct States to implement and maintain procedures to identify and assess reports involving children who are victims of sex trafficking.

The bill also requires that States train child protective services workers on how to identify these children and the services necessary to meet their needs, and it would improve reporting on the number of children identified as sex trafficking victims.

Mr. Speaker, this bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report on the type and prevalence of youth trafficking victims in the welfare system, provide a summary of State practices for serving youth trafficking victims, and report on any barriers in Federal law that prevent identification and assessment of youth victims of trafficking.

It is imperative that we continue to pass legislation that helps victims of both labor and sex trafficking, to ensure that victims receive the services they need to escape a life of abuse.

Again, I would like to thank Congresswoman Karen Bass and Chairman Kline of the Education and the Workforce Committee for their work on this important bill.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 469, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Texas, Judge Poe, one who understands this process from his time in the court of law as a judge.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri, Congresswoman Wagner, an aggressive and outspoken advocate for children since arriving here in Congress, an opponent of trafficking, and who has much to say but who also has had much evidence of action on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), who, in arriving here just this term, has rolled up his sleeves and has already taken aggressive action on issues that make a difference.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remainder of my time.

I think much has been said today that causes us to understand that what we are dealing with in this bill is the fact that there are entities that are supposed to be protecting children, that are supposed to be providing resources--law enforcement and welfare and human service entities--that are missing the mark. A lot of that comes from inadequate recordkeeping statistics and from the lack of knowledge of how this is having the greatest impact in negative ways on children's lives. We would do very well today to follow the advice and direction from speakers who have already spoken on this issue.

Pass this legislation, and provide further hope for children caught in the trap of human trafficking and enslavement that comes from this crime. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 469.

I yield back the balance of my time.