Human Trafficking Prioritization Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California, Chairman Royce, for his very kind words and for working to expedite the consideration of these important bills. This is an historic week in the House as we seek to pass 12 bills to fight human trafficking.

As the prime author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as well as reauthorizations in '03 and '05, I believe the bills under consideration by the House today will further prevent the horrific crimes of human trafficking, protect and assist the victims, and aid the prosecution of those who exploit and abuse.

I would also like to offer my profound appreciation to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy for ensuring that all of the hard work done in a bipartisan way in the House in the 113th session is not lost nor will it be delayed but, rather, immediately sent back to the Senate for action.

Leader McCarthy has explored numerous ways, in meeting after meeting with Members, again, on both sides of the aisle, to find ways to prevent, to prosecute traffickers, and to protect victims. His deep personal commitment to ending modern-day slavery has and will continue to make a major difference.

Mr. Speaker, I offer this bill on behalf of myself and the gentlewoman from California, Ranking Member Karen Bass, who is the chief cosponsor.

I am proud to say the United States continues to lead the world in our trafficking responses at home and abroad, charting the course of best practices for other countries to follow. One of the most successful ways the U.S. transmits our best practices and ensures accountability for the minimum standards to eliminate human trafficking is the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in the U.S. Department of State.

Over the last 15 years, this Office has been led by talented and dedicated Ambassadors--including the most recent one, Luis CdeBaca, with whom we work very closely--who have produced the annual Trafficking in Persons Reports, laying bare the record of almost every country for the world to see and summarizing the country's progress in what we call the annual tier rankings.

For the record, the TVPA established Tier 1 countries. They are the ones that fully meet the minimum standards prescribed in the law. Tier 2 countries do not meet the minimum standards but are making a significant effort to do so. Tier 2 Watch List countries are in a grace period and in real danger of becoming Tier 3 without real action, not just promises of action.

Tier 3 countries do not meet the standards and are not making significant effort to do so. Along with the embarrassment of being listed on Tier 3, Tier 3 countries are susceptible to sanctions by the U.S. Government.

Since the TIP Report's inception, Mr. Speaker, more than 100 countries have enacted anti-trafficking laws, and many countries have taken other steps required to significantly raise their tier rankings-- citing the TIP Report as a key factor in their new anti-trafficking efforts. It is a very robust effort in our Embassies, and every country of the world is a part of it.

We have found a system that works; but, tragically, it is sometimes misguided, muffled, and marginalized by unrelated bilateral concerns and by the internal structure of the U.S. Department of State.

As my dear friend, the chairman of the committee, said a moment ago, it was Ambassador Mark Lagon who talked about how they produce a great report, but then, typically, due to the urging of regional specialists rather than the TIP Office's dedicated experts, the ranking and the process goes awry.

The Human Trafficking Prioritization Act, or H.R. 514, will remedy this problem by keeping the fight against human trafficking from being lost in the politics of other U.S. interests.

I thank my friend for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 514 will raise the status of the J/TIP Office to that of a bureau, ensuring that the leadership of J/TIP is present and has an equal voice at meetings with the other bureaus and the Secretary of State.

Former colleague, John Miller, an Ambassador at Large from 2002 to 2006 said:

Upgrading the status of the Office to a bureau will not

create additional bureaucracy--it will simply give J/TIP and

the Ambassador at Large who heads it equal standing with

regional and functional bureaus at the State Department. That

standing is absolutely essential for the issue to remain a

priority, especially when multiple U.S. interests are

engaged.

We are not authorizing the J/TIP Office to be larger, but for the excellent work of the Office to be consistently heard at a higher level.

In addition, the bill stops countries and other State Department bureaus from gaming the tier ranking system by limiting the time problem countries can use promises of action to avoid a tier downgrade.

Currently, a country can sit on the Tier 2 Watch List for up to 4 years with Presidential waivers, effectively stringing the U.S. along with promises to take action, but never actually taking action. After 4 years, by law, the country must be automatically downgraded to Tier 3.

The law worked very well in its first implementation in the 2013 reporting cycle, but we discovered a problem in 2013, when China was prematurely upgraded from Tier 3 to the Tier 2 Watch List. As the law is currently written, Mr. Speaker, China can, again, game the system with promises and no action for 4 years.

Mr. Speaker, the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act will hold countries like China accountable by limiting to 1 year the amount of time a country can stay on the Tier 2 Watch List after the country was previously auto-downgraded to Tier 3.

The Human Trafficking Prioritization Act builds on the successes of J/TIP and the tier ranking system for the sake of approximately 21 million people still living in modern-day slavery and, again, does so without increasing the cost of government.

The Human Trafficking Prioritization Act will give J/TIP the integration, it will give it the voice it deserves within the State Department, and it will ensure accurate accountability for countries failing to meet minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and, again, I thank my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 514) to prioritize the fight against human trafficking within the Department of State according to congressional intent in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 without increasing the size of the Federal Government, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous materials into the Record that they may wish to include.

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

Mr. Speaker, as our House of Representatives continues its fight against human trafficking, I rise in support of this legislation, which is called the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act. This legislation will elevate consideration of trafficking issues within the Department of State to ensure that they receive the same attention as other diplomatic concerns. This is a struggle we have had for some time, trying to elevate these issues so that they are on par and given the seriousness that we have tried to drive here in Congress.

Congress created the Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. We created that institution a decade and a half ago. We did it in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. The purpose of this Office was to better communicate and coordinate U.S. Government efforts to combat both domestic and international trafficking.

In line with this mandate, the Office prepares the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which details anti-trafficking efforts of other countries and classifies countries as falling into one of three tiers based on their efforts to combat human trafficking.

These TIP Reports and their tier rankings have proven, as you know, extremely useful in helping our diplomats fight human trafficking. It allows us to transform this issue into a global policy priority. We know that foreign governments have made real improvements in their work to combat trafficking as a result of these TIP Reports; and the reason this is so, of course, is because, as you talk to foreign governments, they are very concerned about the threat of a low tier ranking. That gets international attention today. That is sort of the leverage that we have on these governments to pass laws that are serious about going after trafficking.

But we also understand that this annual exercise is periodically constrained by the Department's regional diplomats who fear we may agitate foreign governments when hard truths surface. A former Ambassador at Large on trafficking issues testified before Congress that the Department sometimes ``pulls punches'' and defers to regional specialists on the TIP Report's tier rankings rather than the TIP Office's trafficking experts.

This is what we want to counter because what we want is the maximum pressure for foreign governments to follow through on their international commitments to try to abolish human trafficking. By elevating the Trafficking Office to a bureau, this measure will give these experts the bureaucratic standing they need to ensure their concerns are fully heard, effectively leveling the playing field for this annual process.

I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the chairman of our Human Rights Subcommittee, for his years of leadership in this fight against human trafficking and for reintroducing this bill, which passed this House last July.

I also thank the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline) specifically for his efforts, as we have traveled in Asia, to pressure these governments to end human trafficking.

I urge the Members to support this important measure.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, the author of this bill, but also, frankly, the architect of a long-running strategy in this institution, in this Congress, to abolish this form of human slavery. When I think of William Wilberforce, the one Member I know who exemplifies that spirit today is the gentleman from New Jersey, Chris Smith, who has worked on this mightily since the late nineties, and we are pleased that his bill is up before us today.

I yield the gentleman an additional 2 minutes.

I yield the gentleman as much time as he might consume.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have already mentioned the impact that these TIP Reports have. I want to point out that it is not every day that we can claim this kind of impact for a U.S. Government report.

Mr. Speaker, those of us who have traveled and tried to enforce these laws know how effective this is. This legislation here would make the TIP Report an even more influential diplomatic tool.

I, again, want to thank Subcommittee Chairman Smith for his authoring the legislation and moving it through committee.

I urge Members to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees, I rise in strong support of H.R. 514, ``Human Trafficking Prioritization Act.''

I support this bipartisan legislation which amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to change the status of the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to that of the Bureau to Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Mr. Speaker, this change in the name of this vital office can be accomplished without an increase in funding or personnel.

H.R. 514, a bipartisan Foreign Affairs Committee bipartisan bill, directs the Secretary of State to report to Congress on each current Assistant Secretary of State position the exact title and length of designation as Assistant Secretary, and whether that designation was legislatively mandated or authorized and, if so, the relevant statutory citation; and

Further, the Secretary State is asked whether they intend to designate one of the Assistant Secretary of State positions as the Assistant Secretary of State to Combat Trafficking in Persons, and the reasons for that decision.

I have a concern regarding the bill's amendment of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to prohibit subsequent inclusion for more than one consecutive year on the special watch list of countries whose compliance with minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking is full, partial, or insignificant if the country:

was included on the list for four consecutive years after enactment of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, and

was subsequently included on the exclusive Tier 3 list of countries not making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with such standards.

It is important that the mechanisms for reaching determinations regarding compliance with anti-human trafficking measures are consistent and reliable over time.

There should be care taken that places around the globe with long histories of human trafficking do not find ways limit access to information that would better measure their progress in eradicating the practice and bring to justice those involved.

According to the Report, the most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls. Surprisingly, in 30% of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world, women trafficking women is the norm.

The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labour (18%), although this may be a misrepresentation because forced labor is less frequently detected and reported than trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Globally about 20% of all trafficking victims are children. Unfortunately in parts of Africa children are the majority, these numbers rise to 100% in some parts of West Africa.

Many of those who are victims of human trafficking are exploited in locations near their home.

According to the 2009 United National Report on ``Human Trafficking Exposes Modern Form of Slavery'' research reveals that internal regional and domestic trafficking are a source of the problems.

The United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons reports that in the past few years the number of Member States seriously implementing the Protocol has doubled going from 54 to 125 out of the 155 nations.

In 2009, there were many countries that lacked the necessary legal framework or political will to take on the issue of human trafficking.

I join my colleagues in working to strengthen laws nationally and internationally against human trafficking, and supporting the allocation of resources toward that end.

I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of H.R. 514.

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

I rise in strong support of H.R. 514, the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act.

First, let me thank the gentleman from California, Chairman Royce, and the gentleman from New York, Ranking Member Engel, for their leadership on this issue. I particularly want to thank my outstanding colleague from New Jersey, Congressman Chris Smith, for introducing this important piece of legislation and for the work he has done for so many years on this issue. This bill will elevate the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to the status of a bureau within the State Department.

Put simply, human trafficking is slavery. Victims of human trafficking are deprived of their individual freedoms and suffer unimaginably harsh, coercive, and heartbreaking conditions.

Reports indicate that there is no place in the world where children, women, and men are safe from human trafficking. That means that every government in the world has a responsibility to combat this problem.

The United States has made significant progress toward responding to these crimes within our borders and abroad since Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000. Mr. Speaker, today we can take the next step forward by elevating the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to a bureau.

This Office is already doing incredible work. The annual Trafficking in Persons Report has become the global gold standard in assessing how well governments around the world are meeting this challenge and how serious they take their responsibility to eradicate this horrific practice. Their work is forging partnerships and driving innovation on how best to approach this problem, and the Office plays a key role in coordinating our whole-of-government approach to this problem. Elevating the Trafficking Office to a bureau sends a strong message to the world that the United States remains committed to combating modern- day slavery.

Passing this legislation alone will not end this despicable practice, and it is not a problem that we will solve quickly or easily. However, every step we take enhances our ability to prevent these crimes, protect victims, and punish those responsible.

Mr. Speaker, we passed the same bill last Congress. I urge my colleagues to support and pass this important legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, seeing that I have no further requests for time, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, human sex trafficking continues to be a major problem plaguing both America and countries around the globe.

The Department of Homeland Security cumulatively estimates there are approximately 1.4 million victims of sexual servitude at any one time on an international scale; furthermore, the FBI has estimated that over 300,000 American children are at risk of sexual exploitation and trafficking annually.

Last week, the House moved forward on several pieces of legislation aimed at preventing and combating this horrific fact. I am proud to have cosponsored and voted in favor of several bills last week which diverted more financial and labor-intensive resources to countering these atrocities.

These bills include H.R. 514, the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act, and H.R. 469, the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act, among others. Each of these bills passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and will be commonsense steps in the path towards shutting down these operations.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support further actions that will further protect these vulnerable populations.