Billy's Law

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman from the Committee on the Judiciary, the gentleman from New York, and the manager who is joining us on these bipartisan bills, which many of them had their origins in the House. I am delighted that the Senate was able to join us. These bills come under the Senate name because of the fact that we are working with the Senate on many of these similar bills in order to have them become law, because they are important.

I rise now to support S. 2991, the Countering Human Trafficking Act. I thank the Senator from Michigan who offered this legislation, and it deals with making the Center for Countering Human Trafficking permanent and requires other changes to strengthen the center's contribution for the fight against human trafficking.

Let me be very clear on the floor. Human trafficking is an epidemic. It is a pandemic. It is a scourge on the fabric of America. Human trafficking is one of the greatest threats to human rights in the United States. In 2020, 11,190 instances of potential human trafficking were reported to the United States National Human Trafficking Hotline, with at least 70 percent of these instances involving sex trafficking.

The one thing about sex trafficking, it is more profitable than drugs, because you utilize, unfortunately, the tragic human being who has been made part of the bounty of your profit and recycle them over and over again, and they are young girls and boys in many instances.

I will continue to advance and support legislation, like the bill before us today, as well as programming aimed at preventing human trafficking, protecting victims and survivors, as an estimated 25 percent of human trafficking victims are reportedly in my home State of Texas at any given time, many of whom are minors.

In our State of Texas, we have developed strong advocacy groups that fight against human trafficking and even have done something innovative, which means that we have called our sports arenas No Trafficking Zones.

So I rise to support this legislation with over 5,359 trafficking victims and survivors identified through the hotline in 2019.

I introduced H.R. 7566, the Stop Human Trafficking in School Zones Act, now known as the No Trafficking Zones Act. I pronounce today on the floor, this bill must pass. We must have the Senate agree to this bill so this can be a complement to the bill that we now have on the floor. We have done hard work. We have worked with the Senate. We want to make sure we get this bill passed.

I rise also to support the bill previously discussed, the VAWA Technical Amendment Act of 2022. I thank Senator Hirono for this courageous legislation to protect Native Hawaiian victims and survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sex violence, and others, to have access to the vital services of VAWA, which I think are extremely important.

I also rise to support S. 5230, Billy's Law, or the Help Find the Missing Act. This is important. I have worked with missing and exploited children. This bipartisan legislation would fix the gaps in our Nation's databases of missing persons and unidentified remains, providing much-needed closure to the thousands of families who have endured the trauma of losing someone they love.

Each year, more than 600,000 Americans are reported missing. While many are ultimately found, at least 22,000 are currently missing.

I know that for a fact, Mr. Speaker, because I have dealt over the last month with a family whose loved one was missing, it was very painful, until tragically this person was found, and they were not found alive. But the pain of missing the person and not getting any response, this should be very helpful in at least giving comfort to families who are desperately in need of finding their loved one.

So as we go forward on this legislation, I hope to continue the work that we need to do with the Senate to move forward.

My final support is for S. 2899, the Prison Camera Reform Act of 2021. It is bipartisan legislation that would require the Bureau of Prisons to reevaluate the security camera, land-mobile radio, and public address systems in use at BOP institutions and submit to Congress a report. This is very important for civil liberty, civil rights, and prison employees.

Mr. Speaker, the well-being of these prisoners is critical, along with protecting the safety, well-being, and civil rights of incarcerated people and prison employees, including correctional officers, medical personnel, and other staff.

Let me just simply say, as I close, on the Bureau of Prisons, there is more work to be done. They have to do work on how they are treating women. There was a recent hearing that shows that women have been abused, sexually abused, in prisons, besides addressing other terrible issues, and that includes both prisoners and employees.

In addition, the Bureau of Prisons has been known to not utilize the compassionate release. In fact, their percentages are disgraceful. Most of the prisoners have had to go outside with a lawyer. This is a law. They should use it.

I hope that as we look at improving the cameras that will provide due process to these prisoners who are incarcerated, who are doing their time, they will also have a bureau that is responsible and sensitive to their responsibilities of incarceration but also fairness and due process.

I thank my colleague for yielding, and I ask for support for all of the legislation that I just commented on, particularly the underlying legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2991, the ``Countering Human Trafficking Act of 2021,'' which would make the Center for Countering Human Trafficking permanent and require other changes to strengthen the Center's contributions to the fight against human trafficking.

Human trafficking is one of the greatest threats to human rights in the United States. In 2020, 11,193 instances of potential human trafficking were reported to the United States National Human Trafficking Hotline with at least 70 percent of those instances involving sex trafficking.

I will continue to advance and support legislation, like the bill before us today, as well as programming aimed at preventing human trafficking and protecting victims and survivors--as an estimated 25 percent of human trafficking victims are reportedly in my home state of Texas at any given time--many of whom are minors.

At least 5,359 of trafficking victims and survivors identified through the hotline in 2019 were under the age of 18, and in 2021, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 17,200 reports of suspected child sex trafficking.

That is why I introduced the H.R. 7566 Stop Human Trafficking in School Zones Act, also known as the No Trafficking Zones Act, to ensure that our nation's schools are a safe haven for students. I hope the Senate will take up and pass my bill so that we may get it to the president's desk before this Congress ends.

While traffickers seek out vulnerable minors and adults--no person is truly safe from the schemes of charismatic traffickers bent on exploiting and destroying lives.

Sadly, these statistics were only made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic--during which traffickers took advantage of individuals and communities in crisis--further increasing the number of people at risk of falling victim to human trafficking.

It is for all of these reasons that we must help maintain the momentum gained by the Center for Countering Human Trafficking in recent years.

The Center is responsible for integrating the efforts of 16 different offices and components of the Department of Homeland Security into a cohesive strategy that supports law enforcement investigations and training, shields and supports victims, develops and enhances prevention strategies, and engages with the public.

S. 2991 is a straightforward, bipartisan bill that would make the Center permanent while promoting stability and modernization and encouraging continued collaboration, growth, and innovation.

I thank Senator Gary Peters and John Katko for their leadership on this bill and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1518, I call up the bill (S. 3905) to prevent organizational conflicts of interest in Federal acquisition, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

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 the measure before us.

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

Mr. Speaker, S. 3905, the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act, which was introduced by Senator Gary Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has strong bipartisan support and passed the Senate this summer with unanimous consent.

In April, we introduced a companion bill, H.R. 7602, following one of the Oversight Committee's investigations, which highlighted the need to strengthen government contracting laws on conflicts of interest.

The committee's investigation found that a consulting contractor advised the Food and Drug Administration at the same time they were advising private-sector clients that were regulated by the FDA. Many times, it was the exact same consultants advising the FDA and private- sector clients on the same issue.

In this case, the consultant failed to follow the rules on disclosing these amazing conflicts, collecting millions of dollars from both the regulator and the private-sector client.

Although this is one extreme example, other organizational conflicts of interest, large and small, occur across government. The Government Accountability Office regularly fields bid protests involving organizational conflicts of interest.

In 2014, a major defense contractor paid a settlement for allegedly failing to disclose conflicts while advising the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Organizational conflicts of interest can occur when a contractor's competing interests raise questions about their ability to provide impartial advice to the government. It is crucial that government contractors are providing impartial advice, particularly when the government is paying for their expertise and objectivity on sensitive matters.

The rules on organizational conflicts of interest have not changed significantly since the 1990s. This bill would make long-overdue revisions to strengthen these rules.

The current rules set basic standards to prevent organizational conflicts of interest but leave the details up to individual agencies. The current patchwork system creates the risk of egregious breaches of the public trust.

In 2009, Congress asked for the organizational conflict of interest rules to be reassessed. Draft rules were issued, but the reform effort was eventually abandoned, and the rules were never finalized.

This bill requires the revisions that were then started to be completed. This bill would also mandate that rules on government contractor conflicts are thoroughly revised and ensure that there is a uniform set of standards.

These reforms will help government contractors as well by ensuring clarity

and consistency across the executive branch. This is especially beneficial to contractors working for multiple agencies.

It is outrageous that a contractor would be allowed to advise government regulators at the same time they are advising the industry that is being regulated.

If we do not take steps to prevent conflicts of interest, and thereby safeguard the integrity of government decisionmaking and operations, then we risk potentially serious breaches in the public trust.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I will speak briefly on the work we have done on oversight on the opioid crisis, in this case specifically on the role that McKinsey & Company played in, unfortunately, the tragedy that has been the opioid epidemic that led us to introducing this bill for greater oversight.

I will start by saying this is something that, for me, Chairwoman Maloney and some of my colleagues on both sides expressed a great deal of passion for.

We had hearings on the opioid epidemic and the role of some of these agencies, including requiring the chairman of Johnson & Johnson to come to testify in front of the committee. The committee spent a good deal of time, and I know that there was concern across the aisle, given the devastation that this epidemic has caused.

This particular initiative is directed at some of the things that were the most egregious part of what happened to the American public who suffered under the abuses of the opioid epidemic.

In this case, McKinsey was a contractor for the FDA, Johnson & Johnson, and other people who were making money off of this well-told tragedy of how they were inducing people to be addicted to the drug that was supposed to be relieving their pain.

The contractors play a critical role in supporting the Federal workforce and giving advice to government functions. These are contractors for which this initiative, this bill, would try to make sure the rules were clearer. It would help them, as well.

Taxpayers need to know that work is done ethically and transparently. Unfortunately, loopholes allow contractors, which this initiative, this bill, attempts to close or will close, to advise private-sector clients and the Federal Government at the same time. I think anyone would agree that that is a conflict of interest.

The most notorious example was what I just referred to, this conflict of interest playing out with McKinsey & Company's work on Perdue Pharma's roadmap, in this case, to ``turbocharge'' opioid sales. They were giving them advice on how to turbocharge an addictive drug that was causing devastation across this country.

One of the things that led me into this discussion was, when I was in the legislature in California, two parents separately brought tragic cases of how their kids had lost their lives because of this.

The conflict of interest fueled the opioid crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of American lives.

I am grateful and proud of the work that I was able to do with a former chair, Elijah Cummings, who had great passion for this and opening the committee's investigation of Perdue Pharma specifically. I am grateful to current Chair Maloney for continuing this work.

A vote to pass this bipartisan bill today will send it to the President's desk and will bring much-needed transparency to Federal contracting and help to address some of the things that led to the opioid crisis epidemic in this country.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2991) to establish a Department of Homeland Security Center for Countering Human Trafficking, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 2991.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2991, which would codify the Center for Countering Human Trafficking within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the Department of Homeland Security; require the center to develop a strategy to improve the effectiveness of its programs; and transfer the Department's national trafficking awareness Blue Campaign to the center.

Human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar criminal industry that exists in cities, suburbs, and rural towns and denies freedom to nearly 25 million people around the world.

Although some populations are more vulnerable than others, trafficking is a constant threat to the health and safety of victims of all ages, genders, nationalities, and backgrounds, while posing a grave danger to public health and safety, as well as national and global security.

In 2020, the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified more than 16,000 victims of human trafficking, who likely represent only a fraction of the total number of victims.

In that same year, the Department of Homeland Security launched the Center for Countering Human Trafficking, or the CCHT, a centralized location for subject matter experts to coordinate and expand efforts to combat human trafficking. The CCHT integrates the efforts of 16 DHS offices and agencies that combat human sex trafficking and forced labor, which encompasses criminal investigations, victim assistance, identifying and reporting human trafficking, and external outreach, intelligence, and training.

Since its establishment, the CCHT has made great strides, providing critical support and analysis to criminal investigators in the field; delivering comprehensive training to domestic and international audiences; and focusing on promoting an integrated, victim-centered approach to the investigation of human trafficking.

However, because the center is not formally codified, it lacks permanence and long-term funding necessary to further strengthen its efforts.

S. 2991 would make the CCHT permanent within ICE, ensuring that the progress made in recent years can be maintained and improved upon, while also increasing coordination among other components within DHS to fight human trafficking and prevent the importation of products made using forced labor.

This legislation would allow the CCHT to fortify its permanent staffing with at least 45 employees that are special agents, criminal analysts, victim-support specialists, and other subject-matter experts dedicated to disrupting and dismantling human trafficking organizations and providing support and protection to their victims.

To promote modernization of the CCHT's information systems and operations, which support global investigations of human trafficking and forced labor in supply chains, S. 2991 would require the development of a strategy and proposal to modify systems and processes related to its mission.

Lastly, this bill would transfer to the CCHT the Blue Campaign, the national public awareness campaign designed to educate the public, law enforcement, and industry partners to recognize and respond to human trafficking, and authorize DHS to transfer any additional functions to the CCHT that combat human trafficking and the production of goods using forced labor.

Because we know that traffickers are constantly looking for new ways to exploit new victims, we must do more to fight this grave crime. That includes being responsive to change and making necessary improvements to the agencies, offices, and components put in place to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle trafficking organizations and to give aid and support to victims.

This bipartisan legislation would allow the Center for Countering Human Trafficking to continue guiding counter-human trafficking operations, protecting victims, and enhancing prevention efforts to combat human trafficking around the world.

I thank Senator Gary Peters for introducing this important legislation, as well as Representative John Katko, and the bipartisan coalition of colleagues who have worked on the House companion.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Homeland Security,

Washington, DC, December 9, 2022.

Hon. Jerrold Nadler,

Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Nadler: I am writing to you concerning S.

2991, the ``Countering Human Trafficking Act of 2021.'' There

are certain provisions in the legislation that fall within

the rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on Homeland

Security.

In the interest of permitting your committee to proceed

expeditiously to floor consideration of this important bill,

I am willing to waive this committee's formal consideration

of the provisions that fall within its jurisdiction. I do so

with the understanding that, by waiving consideration of the

bill, the Committee on Homeland Security does not waive any

future jurisdictional claim over the subject matters

contained in the bill which fall within its rule X

jurisdiction.

Please place this letter in the Congressional Record during

consideration of S. 2991

on the House floor. Thank you for the cooperative spirit in

which you have worked regarding this matter and others

between our respective committees.

Sincerely,

Bennie G. Thompson,

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), a member of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, S. 2991 would not only provide permanency, increased coordination, and modernization to the Center for Countering Human Trafficking and the Department of Homeland Security, this bill would also promote growth within the center and bolster victim-centered counter human trafficking efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 5230) to increase accessibility to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, to facilitate data sharing between such system and the National Crime Information Center database of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 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 insert extraneous material on S. 5230.

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

Every year in this country over 600,000 Americans go missing. While many of the missing are fortunate to be found alive and well, tens of thousands of individuals remain missing for more than 1 year, what many agencies consider to be cold cases.

It is also estimated that 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered each year, with approximately 1,000 of those remaining unidentified, also becoming cold cases.

The families of those who go missing are forced to endure crushing uncertainty, not knowing what happened to their loved ones or if they will ever return. But they also face systemic challenges in helping law enforcement locate the missing or match them to unidentified remains so that they can at least have some semblance of closure.

The Help Find the Missing Act, or Billy's Law, is bipartisan legislation that will help address this crisis by closing loopholes in our Nation's missing person databases by streamlining the reporting process and ensuring that law enforcement databases are more comprehensive and accessible.

The bill is named after Billy Smolinski of Waterbury, Connecticut, who went missing in 2004 at the age of 31, and whose family ran into countless obstacles as they attempted to help law enforcement in the search, including that Federal law does not mandate the reporting of missing adults or unidentified bodies.

This problem is compounded by the fact that local law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and coroners often lack the resources and training to report these cases to the appropriate national authorities. When cases of missing persons or unidentified remains are reported, the number of separate and uncoordinated Federal,

State, and local databases makes it extremely difficult to find the missing or match them with recovered remains.

Billy's Law will address these challenges by authorizing and ensuring funding for the Department of Justice to continue to maintain the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs, which is the national clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons. It provides an online database that is accessible to law enforcement and the public, and to which the public can contribute.

NamUs also provides free forensic services to aid in the identification of missing persons and unidentified remains; investigative support to law enforcement agencies; technical assistance to families of missing persons; and its subject matter experts train State and local service providers to support individuals and families impacted by the disappearance of a loved one.

Critically, Billy's Law would require data sharing between NamUs and the FBI's National Crime Information Center, or NCIC, in order to create more comprehensive databases of missing persons and unidentified remains and streamline the reporting process for State, local, and Tribal law enforcement. It would also amend current law to require that missing children be reported to NamUs as well as to NCIC, and it would require the reporting of information on every unidentified deceased person, regardless of age.

In addition, the bill would require the Attorney General to issue guidelines and best practices to law enforcement, medical examiners, and coroners on handling cases involving missing persons or unidentified remains.

We must do everything possible to ensure that we have a comprehensive and coordinated missing persons reporting and investigation system that works so that we can provide resolution to the families of those whose loved ones disappear.

I thank Senator Chris Murphy for his yearslong effort to pass Billy's Law, and I thank Representative Jahana Hayes for introducing the House companion bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Hayes), a sponsor of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, the families and loved ones of those who have gone missing spend every day desperately searching for answers and for help. Billy's Law provides critical tools to help them find answers, coordinating our Nation's multiple missing persons databases, increasing reporting requirements, and providing training and resources to the myriad agencies that investigate these cases, while supporting the victims' families.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in support of this crucial bipartisan legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to S. 3905, the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act, for the simple reason that it is unnecessary legislation.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation already contains provisions targeting conflicts of interest. The FAR includes specific examples of what is a conflict of interest. The FAR includes guidance for agencies to add contract clauses addressing conflicts that might arise.

Therefore, it seems we are telling the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council, the body responsible for Federal acquisition policy, to do something it is already doing.

As a result, this legislation will cause the FAR Council to do work it does not need to be doing, but they will surely feel compelled to produce something in the way of new regulations. That means it will become even more difficult for companies to do business with the Federal Government, and it is complicated enough as it is.

There are concerns that companies, especially small businesses, are deciding not to do business with the Federal Government because it is just too complicated.

From a process perspective, Oversight Committee Democrats marked up this bill without any hearings with relevant agency officials to determine if this legislation was truly necessary. My Democrat committee colleagues may point to their report regarding one specific company of concern and argue that was proof enough that we need to legislate in this already crowded space, but a simple case study is not a solid foundation for governmentwide legislation impacting all Federal contractors.

If there are issues with agencies enforcing existing conflicts of interest requirements, then Congress needs to conduct oversight over that Federal Government failure, not rush to pass more duplicative laws. In fact, that would be the responsibility of the Oversight Committee, which I could argue has not been doing proper oversight over the past couple of years.

There may be other anecdotes about conflicts of interest, but let's be clear: No matter what we do, there will always be accusations of conflicts of interest.

Republicans oppose conflicts of interest, but we also support responsible legislating. We also support holding those who are not following the current law or regulation accountable, rather than passing new laws.

With this bill, the most likely outcome is unnecessary work and a more complicated Federal procurement process. It will burden businesses and shrink the pool of eligible contractors, not reduce conflicts of interest.

Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to this unnecessary, duplicative legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, despite addressing a valid concern, this legislation is simply unnecessary. Federal contractors are already supposed to provide impartial and objective assistance to Federal clients.

The risks of conflicts of interest are addressed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation. I am confident the American taxpayer and our national interests are already protected in this area of Federal procurement policy.

I know the gentleman mentioned opioids and a drug crisis. That is a concern for all Americans, but so is all the fentanyl that is killing Americans coming across our southern border.

I would hope my colleagues would force the administration to close our southern border and make sure these illegal drugs aren't coming over and killing Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I urge that we oppose this bill, which would burden companies, both large and small, that want to do business with the Federal Government, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say that it should be--and already is--illegal for people who are providing this guidance and service to misrepresent things under the False Claims Act. So it is our understanding that it is already a crime to do that, and they would be held accountable.

I know the gentlewoman said it should be a crime. It already is, and I don't know anywhere in the bill that it adds to that. So it should be a crime. People should not be doing things inappropriately. But as I mentioned, we already have the FAR that takes care of making sure people are doing the right things.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against this unnecessary bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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