Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, it is a tragedy that in the Presiding Officer's home State of Louisiana, in my State of Ohio, and around this country, girls and women, children and adults, are being trafficked online. Sex trafficking is really a stain on our country.

We have taken some actions in the U.S. Senate to deal with this. We passed four or five bills to increase prosecution of those who engage in this, to ensure that women who are victims are treated as such and not as criminals. We have talked about how to help find missing children. I have been involved in those efforts. We have a caucus here on trafficking which has gotten involved in these issues.

Here is the reality, as I see it. Unbelievably, in the 21st century, this practice of selling people is increasing, and it is increasing primarily because it has moved online, where it is, tragically, efficient.

We have learned, through an extensive investigation over the last couple of years, that there is one website online which handles most of the commercial sex business and most of the trafficking, and that is a website called backpage.com.

What we have done in the U.S. Senate by focusing on this issue is we tried to determine how do you turn the tide, begin to get to the point where, instead of hearing more and more stories about women and girls and sometimes boys being trafficked online, in fact, we are beginning to get to a situation where we can find ways to get those people into treatment and recovery, deal with their trauma, and begin to stop this horrendous practice. It is really taking away the God-given potential of those engaged in it. There is nothing more horrible than meeting a young girl who has been trafficked and hearing the horrendous stories.

I was recently back in Ohio and had the opportunity to visit with some victims. I remember one young woman in particular told me she was trafficked at age 9--starting at age 9--by her father. He would take her to Super Bowls out of town, and he would traffic her online in their hometown. Imagine the trauma and the heartbreak.

Typically, now it is connected also with heroin or fentanyl or prescription drugs or other opioids. In other words, these girls or women are often made dependent, in part, from their addiction, and the traffickers cruelly use that addiction to force them to do things they would never otherwise envision.

So we know that. We know this is happening. We know it is increasing. We know it is online. What do we do about it?

Unfortunately, as we have learned in our investigation, these websites online that engage in this are largely protected. They are immune from prosecution. They are immune from victims being able to get justice. They are denied justice because of a Federal law which protects these evil people who knowingly are engaged directly in sex trafficking. That is pretty amazing; isn't it? But that is what is happening.

Victims were denied justice just 2 weeks ago, when a judge in Sacramento, CA, dismissed pending charges against backpage.com--this group I talked about--because of what they cited, which is a broad immunity granted by a 1996 law called the Communications Decency Act.

As the court saw it--and other courts have seen it--this law gives third-party website providers or publishers immunity from these kinds of heinous crimes, even if the website is participating in sex trafficking.

The court opinion made it clear, it is up to Congress to remedy this injustice, suggesting: ``If and until Congress sees fit to amend the immunity law, the broad reach of section 230 of the Communications Decency Act even applies to those alleged to support the exploitation of others by human trafficking.''

In other words, what the courts have said is, Congress, this is up to you. You passed legislation--I believe inadvertently--inadvertently-- which provides this immunity and protection for these people who continue to engage and participate in--knowingly participate in trafficking, including of underaged girls.

This is just the most recent ruling in a string of judicial decisions that have defended backpage and the other sites from legal challenges, despite their clear involvement in this criminal activity.

In 2016, last year, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of backpage in a case brought by three girls who were sold for sex on the site, but the court opinion noted that in order to fix the problem, ``the remedy is through legislation, not litigation.'' They called the practice what it is, immoral, but then they said the solution is not more litigation, it is legislation; in other words, Congress, get your act together--get your act together.

These court rulings underscore the need for us to get our act together and to do so with urgency because every day that goes by, more girls, more women are trafficked online, and this must stop.

Having met with dozens of sex trafficking victims, I asked them the question, of course: How did it get to this point? Were you trafficked by someone? How did you find yourself here?

Most of these victims--most of these victims--tell me the same story, which is backpage.com. Their trafficker has them, as they say, off the street corner onto the smart phone--and, again, tragically efficient, in the sense that they may be sold 10, 15, in one case, 20 times during a single evening. They deserve to know we will not passively let this injustice continue. They deserve to know Congress will step up and correct this Federal legislation which we passed in Congress 20-some years ago to deal with this issue.

In August, I visited the Oasis House in Dayton, OH. Oasis is a wonderful place. They welcome up to 11 women at a time to live in a faith-based community which provides them incredible support. It helps deal with the trauma we talked about earlier, helps them to be moving from that trauma to independence. They are getting recovery and support there. So many of these women have had a transformation, and it is wonderful to see them back with their families or back at work.

Speaking with these victims, backpage came up--as it often does. It is just heartbreaking to hear what they had to say--but mostly they can't get justice; that the website that facilitated these crimes against them is off limits.

That is why, in July, after an 18-month investigation into online trafficking, I introduced--along with a number of my colleagues-- legislation called Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. Currently, we have 27 cosponsors in the Senate. We have only had this introduced while we have been in session for 2 weeks because we introduced

it just before the August recess, but Senator Richard Blumenthal, Senator John McCain, Senator Claire McCaskill, Senator John Cornyn, Senator Heidi Heitkamp, and more than 20 other Senators have joined in this effort to deal with the real problem, which is the growth of trafficking due to the online presence and specifically some of these websites like backpage.

The bill would make three narrowly crafted changes to what is called the Communications Decency Act to allow backpage and other websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking to be brought to justice.

First, it allows victims of sex trafficking to seek justice against websites. It does so by removing the law's unintended protection we talked about for online sex traffickers. Second, it helps law enforcement by allowing the prosecution of websites, again, that knowingly assist, support, or facilitate a violation of already existing Federal sex trafficking laws. There is already a law in place that makes it illegal to engage in sex trafficking. The exception is, again, these websites online that are protected by the Communications Decency Act. So it basically says that you will be treated like others if you engage in, facilitate, and support it.

Finally, it lets State law enforcement--not just the Department of Justice--take legal action against these websites that violate Federal sex trafficking laws.

The Communications Decency Act, again, was enacted by Congress a couple decades ago--21 years ago--and now it needs to be brought into the 21st century. Again, it is an important piece of legislation, broadly speaking, but on this particular issue--inadvertently, I believe--it has allowed this incredible injustice to continue.

In my view, victims shouldn't have to wait one more day to get the justice they deserve. State and local prosecutors, those on the frontlines, should be able to prosecute backpage and others for their roles in these crimes.

The leading website for online sex trafficking has and will continue to escape legal justice for its active role in trafficking unless Congress acts. The solution is right in front of us. This bipartisan legislation will make the changes necessary. By the way, these are changes that a number of groups on the outside have called for and have strongly supported.

On August 15, I was proud to announce the support of 16 new Ohio organizations and officials who endorsed the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. The list includes anti-human trafficking advocates, human rights groups, State officials, and Ohio sex trafficking victims, among others. This is in addition to the list of dozens of national anti-human trafficking and law enforcement groups who have come out publicly in support of this bill. I appreciate them. I appreciate what the human trafficking advocacy groups do every day, trying to help these victims. I really appreciate our law enforcement officials, and the fact that organizations like the Fraternal Order of Police step forward to support this legislation is very important.

On August 16, the day after we had this endorsement from all these groups from Ohio, 50 attorneys general from across the United States-- 50, including Ohio's Mike DeWine--sent a letter to Congress asking for the Communications Decency Act to be changed to allow State and local authorities to hold backpage and other websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking accountable.

The letter stated, in part: ``It is both ironic and tragic that the CDA, which was intended to protect children from indecent material on the internet, is now used as a shield by those who profit from prostitution and crimes against children.''

They are right. Initially the Communications Decency Act was put in place to try to shield young people from pornography.

What these attorneys general are calling for and what this Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act will do is allow us to go after these websites. This bill will allow victims to get justice, as I said, and will do so in a way that protects internet companies that are doing the right thing. Notably, we preserve the Communications Decency Act's Good Samaritan provision, which protects those good actors who proactively block and screen for offensive material, shielding them from any possibility of frivolous lawsuits. That is important.

The good actors out there--and the vast majority of websites are good actors--have nothing to do with sex trafficking. In fact, many of them police their site for it. The Facebooks of the world and the Googles of the world are not the bad actors.

We are gaining momentum within the tech community, some of whom have concerns about changing the Communications Decency Act. Just this week, we got a letter from Oracle, strongly supporting the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. They agreed that this narrowly crafted bill will hold the bad actors accountable while protecting well-intentioned websites.

Oracle's letter says, in part:

Your legislation does not, as suggested by the bill's

opponents, usher the end of the Internet. If enacted, it will

establish some measure of accountability for those that

cynically sell advertising but are unprepared to help curtail

sex trafficking.

Other tech companies have also joined in the fight to ensure that we can stop sex trafficking. I know they are going to follow Oracle's lead in publicly supporting this legislation.

Courts across the country, again, have made it clear that their hands are tied. Their hands are tied in bringing backpage and other websites to justice.

It is our responsibility right here in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Congress to change this law. Women and children have had their most basic rights stripped from them and have been let down by our judicial system and, frankly, up to now, by Congress in their search for justice.

With these latest calls to action from judicial rulings and this recent letter from 50 attorneys general, any future injustice in the legal system because of the Communications Decency Act falls on Congress. It falls on the shoulders of those in the U.S. Senate and the House.

It is not just the attorneys general around the country who have supported this; the district attorneys have sent a letter this week supporting it--again, other law enforcement across the board.

Through this legislation, we have the opportunity to right this wrong, to make a real difference in the lives of vulnerable women and children who have been victims of trafficking.

Justice cannot be seen, but its absence can be felt. Those who have been trafficked by backpage, only to see the company prosper and escape legal consequences, have experienced unimaginable injustice. They feel it.

The path to action is clear. Victims need this legislation that the courts, attorneys general, district attorneys, victims, and others have been calling for. Congress must pass the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act in order to correct this injustice.

I yield back my time.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I appreciate the indulgence of my colleagues from Iowa and Rhode Island.

(The remarks of Mr. Portman pertaining to the introduction of S. 1693 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

I thank my colleague from Iowa.

I yield back my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I would like to talk today about the criminal act of sex trafficking.

Today we introduced legislation that is incredibly important to combating sex trafficking. The Senate also passed a resolution today by unanimous consent to provide information to the Justice Department that comes out of an investigation that we did in the U.S. Senate regarding sex trafficking. This is an important day in pushing back.

Let me talk about this for a second in personal terms. Imagine, if you will, that your daughter is missing. You do everything you can do to find her. Finally, you see her picture on the internet, and she is being sold for sex. That may sound like a horror movie to you, but it is very real. Unfortunately, it is happening across our country.

Families in Ohio and in your State have experienced this nightmare situation. Let me tell you about Kubiiki Pride. Kubiiki Pride gave powerful testimony before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in the Senate. Ms. Pride said her daughter had been missing for 9 months when she found her picture on the top website for commercial sex activity--backpage.com. She was actually glad to have found her daughter. So she called backpage.com and said: That is my daughter. She has been missing for 9 months. She is 14 years old. Thank you for taking down the ad.

Backpage.com said to her: Did you pay for the ad?

She said: No. It is my 14-year-old daughter.

They said: We are not going to take down the ad. You didn't pay for it.

Imagine if this were your daughter. Imagine how you would feel.

These traffickers are using the internet to sell girls and women. Congress has a responsibility to act. We have a responsibility to act because human trafficking is now becoming a national crisis.

Human trafficking, including sex trafficking, is a $150 billion-a- year industry. That makes it the second biggest criminal enterprise in the world, only behind the drug trade. And this ruthless, corrupt industry is growing significantly. Why? Because of the internet in the digital age. Victims of sex trafficking told me: Rob, this has gone from the street corner to the smart phone.

Since 2007, the Polaris Project--a leading anti-trafficking advocacy group--received 33,000 reports of human trafficking through its various hotlines.

By the way, Polaris endorsed our legislation, which I appreciate.

In 2016 alone, Polaris-operated hotlines received 8,000 reports of human trafficking. Almost 25 percent of trafficking incidents reported to Polaris in the past decade happened just last year. Human trafficking reports through these hotlines went up dramatically--35 percent--between 2015 and 2016. There is no reason to believe this trend will reverse unless we act.

This is a 21st-century epidemic. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children noted an 846 percent increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking through its CyberTipline from 2010 to 2015. In just 5 years, that is an increase of over 800 percent. They found this dramatic spike to be ``directly correlated to the increased use of the internet to sell children for sex.'' That is what is going on.

How is this happening? People are being bought and sold on public domains accessible from a simple search. And the majority of online sex trafficking can be traced to one website called backpage.com. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said 73 percent-- three-quarters of all suspected sex trafficking it receives from the general public through its CyberTipline comes from this one website.

According to leading anti-traffic organizations, including Shared Hope International, service providers working with child sex trafficking victims have reported that between 80 percent and 100 percent of the victims they help were bought and sold on backpage.com.

My experience in Ohio is similar to that. I will tell you anecdotally, as I talked to women and girls who had been victims of sex trafficking, almost all of them tell me they have been sold on backpage. By the way, almost all of them tell me that they had become addicted in the process to an opioid, heroin, or prescription drugs and that is used to keep their dependency on their trafficker.

In January of this year, a nearly 2-year investigation by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations produced a report finding backpage to be more deeply complicit in illegal online sex trafficking than anyone imagined. Everyone already knew sex trafficking was taking place on this website. It is there. But our report found that backpage actively and knowingly facilitated the criminal sex trafficking of women and children; then it covered up evidence of these crimes to increase its own profits. This is the information we have now provided to the Department of Justice.

We also know from a recent Washington Post report that, despite its claims, backpage aggressively solicited and created sex-related ads to lure customers to its website. It claims it ``leads the industry'' in its screening of illegal activity, including sex ads for children, but that isn't true. To the contrary, it appears the industry backpage leads is online sex trafficking, valuing its profits more than the rights of vulnerable women and young children. They have known their site has been used for illegal sex trafficking for years, but instead of putting a stop to it, the company has actively facilitated these crimes.

That is why Congress has to act. Last month, I, along with Senators McCaskill and Carper, launched a criminal review of backpage.com. Today, the Senate passed a resolution releasing materials from our 18- month investigation to the Department. I hope the Department of Justice will join in this fight against backpage, but I believe achieving justice for these victims requires a legislative fix once and for all.

There is a recent documentary, and I would encourage you to look at it. It is powerful and tough, but it is important. It is called ``I am Jane Doe.'' It chronicles the cases of three young girls who were sex trafficking victims bought and sold on backpage. In 2014, these girls brought cases against backpage, accusing them of knowingly assisting in their trafficking. The ads on backpage for each of these girls explicitly promoted their youth. These were underage girls.

The court found that the victims made a strong case that backpage tailored its site to make underage sex trafficking easier, but the court ruled that third-party websites facilitating sex trafficking are immune from charges brought on by victims, no matter how complicit the website was in the crime, citing the blanket immunity granted by a 1996 law called the Communications Decency Act, or CDA.

Around the same time in Massachusetts, three young victims sued

backpage after they were bought and sold on their website for sex. They, too, argued that backpage made sex trafficking easier. This case reached the First Circuit Court of Appeals, but backpage was once again spared of any legal ramifications because of the Communications Decency Act, specifically section 230 of that law--the clause courts credit to giving third-party providers blanket immunity from crimes committed through their website.

Despite its ruling, the court recognized the immoral nature of backpage appearing to profit from online prostitution but maintained they couldn't do anything about it because the law protected these acts. The court opinion stated that in order to fix the problem, ``the remedy is through legislation, not litigation.'' That is who we are. We are the legislators. The court of appeals said: Congress, do your job.

Numerous judicial decisions have suggested that Congress must act, before the courts, to bring justice to the victims and families of online sex trafficking. That is my intention in introducing this legislation today.

I believe that we need to have free internet. All of us do. I believe that the Communications Decency Act is a well-intentioned law that has an important purpose. But the law was not intended to protect those who willingly facilitate illegal conduct, such as sex trafficking, and it wasn't intended to protect backpage.com. That is why today I, along with a number of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, have introduced this bill called the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. It clarifies section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to ensure that websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking can be held liable and the victims can get justice. It is very narrow. You have to knowingly be involved in supporting, assisting, and facilitating sex trafficking. This will not be a broad net.

The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act puts in place three narrowly crafted and commonsense reforms.

First, it allows victims to seek justice against websites that knowingly facilitate crimes against them.

Second, it eliminates the Federal liability protections for websites that assist, support, or facilitate a violation of Federal sex trafficking laws--laws already on the books.

Finally, it will enable State law enforcement--not just the Department of Justice--to take legal action if these businesses violate Federal sex trafficking laws. Forty-seven attorneys general asked for this.

The internet revolutionized illegal sex trafficking, and Federal law has not kept pace. It is time for this 21-year-old law to be brought into this century. The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act is legislation our courts have been calling for, our attorneys general have been calling for, and most importantly, what victims and their families have been insisting that we do.

Again, this law was never intended to protect sex traffickers who prey on the most innocent and vulnerable among us. This narrowly crafted bill gives law enforcement the tools they need to go after criminals who traffic women and children online for sex.

There are some groups who have been critical of this effort to hold backpage accountable and stop this online exploitation. They have suggested that this bipartisan bill could impact mainstream websites and service providers--the good actors out there. That is false. Our bill does not amend, and thus preserves, the Communications Decency Act's Good Samaritan provision. This provision protects good actors who proactively block and screen for offensive material and thus shields them from any frivolous lawsuits. That is in the legislation and needs to be in there.

This bipartisan legislation preserves internet freedom, while holding those who actively facilitate online sex trafficking accountable.

I recently visited the Ranch of Opportunity in Washington Court House, OH. This is a place of hope for girls between ages 13 and 18 to find healing and recovery during a residential treatment program. Most of the girls at the ranch, I am told, have been victims of sex trafficking. As I heard heartbreaking stories from these girls who have had their most basic human rights stripped from them, backpage came up. As I said earlier, it almost always does. We can never take back the horrors they had to endure. What we can do and what this legislation will do is bring justice to these victims and their families.

I am proud to stand with my 20, now 25, bipartisan colleagues, as well as 18 anti-human trafficking advocacy groups and law enforcement organizations around this country, to support this legislation as we fight against this abhorrent evil.

In a letter of support, the president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said: ``This bill will help ensure justice for child sex trafficking victims and clarify remedies available to civil attorneys and State attorneys general to assist victims in holding everyone responsible who participated in their trafficking.''

That is what it is about. It is about securing justice for those who have had their most basic human rights taken away, and it is about protecting vulnerable women and children. Victims of sex trafficking know evil far worse than many of us can ever imagine. The trauma they go through is unbelievable. We owe it to them to fix flaws in the justice system that allow people complicit in these crimes to profit from human misery and suffering. The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act will do that.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. President, I would like to talk today about the criminal act of sex trafficking.

Today we introduced legislation that is incredibly important to combating sex trafficking. The Senate also passed a resolution today by unanimous consent to provide information to the Justice Department that comes out of an investigation that we did in the U.S. Senate regarding sex trafficking. This is an important day in pushing back.

Let me talk about this for a second in personal terms. Imagine, if you will, that your daughter is missing. You do everything you can do to find her. Finally, you see her picture on the internet, and she is being sold for sex. That may sound like a horror movie to you, but it is very real. Unfortunately, it is happening across our country.

Families in Ohio and in your State have experienced this nightmare situation. Let me tell you about Kubiiki Pride. Kubiiki Pride gave powerful testimony before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in the Senate. Ms. Pride said her daughter had been missing for 9 months when she found her picture on the top website for commercial sex activity--backpage.com. She was actually glad to have found her daughter. So she called backpage.com and said: That is my daughter. She has been missing for 9 months. She is 14 years old. Thank you for taking down the ad.

Backpage.com said to her: Did you pay for the ad?

She said: No. It is my 14-year-old daughter.

They said: We are not going to take down the ad. You didn't pay for it.

Imagine if this were your daughter. Imagine how you would feel.

These traffickers are using the internet to sell girls and women. Congress has a responsibility to act. We have a responsibility to act because human trafficking is now becoming a national crisis.

Human trafficking, including sex trafficking, is a $150 billion-a- year industry. That makes it the second biggest criminal enterprise in the world, only behind the drug trade. And this ruthless, corrupt industry is growing significantly. Why? Because of the internet in the digital age. Victims of sex trafficking told me: Rob, this has gone from the street corner to the smart phone.

Since 2007, the Polaris Project--a leading anti-trafficking advocacy group--received 33,000 reports of human trafficking through its various hotlines.

By the way, Polaris endorsed our legislation, which I appreciate.

In 2016 alone, Polaris-operated hotlines received 8,000 reports of human trafficking. Almost 25 percent of trafficking incidents reported to Polaris in the past decade happened just last year. Human trafficking reports through these hotlines went up dramatically--35 percent--between 2015 and 2016. There is no reason to believe this trend will reverse unless we act.

This is a 21st-century epidemic. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children noted an 846 percent increase in reports of suspected child sex trafficking through its CyberTipline from 2010 to 2015. In just 5 years, that is an increase of over 800 percent. They found this dramatic spike to be ``directly correlated to the increased use of the internet to sell children for sex.'' That is what is going on.

How is this happening? People are being bought and sold on public domains accessible from a simple search. And the majority of online sex trafficking can be traced to one website called backpage.com. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said 73 percent-- three-quarters of all suspected sex trafficking it receives from the general public through its CyberTipline comes from this one website.

According to leading anti-traffic organizations, including Shared Hope International, service providers working with child sex trafficking victims have reported that between 80 percent and 100 percent of the victims they help were bought and sold on backpage.com.

My experience in Ohio is similar to that. I will tell you anecdotally, as I talked to women and girls who had been victims of sex trafficking, almost all of them tell me they have been sold on backpage. By the way, almost all of them tell me that they had become addicted in the process to an opioid, heroin, or prescription drugs and that is used to keep their dependency on their trafficker.

In January of this year, a nearly 2-year investigation by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations produced a report finding backpage to be more deeply complicit in illegal online sex trafficking than anyone imagined. Everyone already knew sex trafficking was taking place on this website. It is there. But our report found that backpage actively and knowingly facilitated the criminal sex trafficking of women and children; then it covered up evidence of these crimes to increase its own profits. This is the information we have now provided to the Department of Justice.

We also know from a recent Washington Post report that, despite its claims, backpage aggressively solicited and created sex-related ads to lure customers to its website. It claims it ``leads the industry'' in its screening of illegal activity, including sex ads for children, but that isn't true. To the contrary, it appears the industry backpage leads is online sex trafficking, valuing its profits more than the rights of vulnerable women and young children. They have known their site has been used for illegal sex trafficking for years, but instead of putting a stop to it, the company has actively facilitated these crimes.

That is why Congress has to act. Last month, I, along with Senators McCaskill and Carper, launched a criminal review of backpage.com. Today, the Senate passed a resolution releasing materials from our 18- month investigation to the Department. I hope the Department of Justice will join in this fight against backpage, but I believe achieving justice for these victims requires a legislative fix once and for all.

There is a recent documentary, and I would encourage you to look at it. It is powerful and tough, but it is important. It is called ``I am Jane Doe.'' It chronicles the cases of three young girls who were sex trafficking victims bought and sold on backpage. In 2014, these girls brought cases against backpage, accusing them of knowingly assisting in their trafficking. The ads on backpage for each of these girls explicitly promoted their youth. These were underage girls.

The court found that the victims made a strong case that backpage tailored its site to make underage sex trafficking easier, but the court ruled that third-party websites facilitating sex trafficking are immune from charges brought on by victims, no matter how complicit the website was in the crime, citing the blanket immunity granted by a 1996 law called the Communications Decency Act, or CDA.

Around the same time in Massachusetts, three young victims sued

backpage after they were bought and sold on their website for sex. They, too, argued that backpage made sex trafficking easier. This case reached the First Circuit Court of Appeals, but backpage was once again spared of any legal ramifications because of the Communications Decency Act, specifically section 230 of that law--the clause courts credit to giving third-party providers blanket immunity from crimes committed through their website.

Despite its ruling, the court recognized the immoral nature of backpage appearing to profit from online prostitution but maintained they couldn't do anything about it because the law protected these acts. The court opinion stated that in order to fix the problem, ``the remedy is through legislation, not litigation.'' That is who we are. We are the legislators. The court of appeals said: Congress, do your job.

Numerous judicial decisions have suggested that Congress must act, before the courts, to bring justice to the victims and families of online sex trafficking. That is my intention in introducing this legislation today.

I believe that we need to have free internet. All of us do. I believe that the Communications Decency Act is a well-intentioned law that has an important purpose. But the law was not intended to protect those who willingly facilitate illegal conduct, such as sex trafficking, and it wasn't intended to protect backpage.com. That is why today I, along with a number of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle, have introduced this bill called the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. It clarifies section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to ensure that websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking can be held liable and the victims can get justice. It is very narrow. You have to knowingly be involved in supporting, assisting, and facilitating sex trafficking. This will not be a broad net.

The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act puts in place three narrowly crafted and commonsense reforms.

First, it allows victims to seek justice against websites that knowingly facilitate crimes against them.

Second, it eliminates the Federal liability protections for websites that assist, support, or facilitate a violation of Federal sex trafficking laws--laws already on the books.

Finally, it will enable State law enforcement--not just the Department of Justice--to take legal action if these businesses violate Federal sex trafficking laws. Forty-seven attorneys general asked for this.

The internet revolutionized illegal sex trafficking, and Federal law has not kept pace. It is time for this 21-year-old law to be brought into this century. The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act is legislation our courts have been calling for, our attorneys general have been calling for, and most importantly, what victims and their families have been insisting that we do.

Again, this law was never intended to protect sex traffickers who prey on the most innocent and vulnerable among us. This narrowly crafted bill gives law enforcement the tools they need to go after criminals who traffic women and children online for sex.

There are some groups who have been critical of this effort to hold backpage accountable and stop this online exploitation. They have suggested that this bipartisan bill could impact mainstream websites and service providers--the good actors out there. That is false. Our bill does not amend, and thus preserves, the Communications Decency Act's Good Samaritan provision. This provision protects good actors who proactively block and screen for offensive material and thus shields them from any frivolous lawsuits. That is in the legislation and needs to be in there.

This bipartisan legislation preserves internet freedom, while holding those who actively facilitate online sex trafficking accountable.

I recently visited the Ranch of Opportunity in Washington Court House, OH. This is a place of hope for girls between ages 13 and 18 to find healing and recovery during a residential treatment program. Most of the girls at the ranch, I am told, have been victims of sex trafficking. As I heard heartbreaking stories from these girls who have had their most basic human rights stripped from them, backpage came up. As I said earlier, it almost always does. We can never take back the horrors they had to endure. What we can do and what this legislation will do is bring justice to these victims and their families.

I am proud to stand with my 20, now 25, bipartisan colleagues, as well as 18 anti-human trafficking advocacy groups and law enforcement organizations around this country, to support this legislation as we fight against this abhorrent evil.

In a letter of support, the president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said: ``This bill will help ensure justice for child sex trafficking victims and clarify remedies available to civil attorneys and State attorneys general to assist victims in holding everyone responsible who participated in their trafficking.''

That is what it is about. It is about securing justice for those who have had their most basic human rights taken away, and it is about protecting vulnerable women and children. Victims of sex trafficking know evil far worse than many of us can ever imagine. The trauma they go through is unbelievable. We owe it to them to fix flaws in the justice system that allow people complicit in these crimes to profit from human misery and suffering. The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act will do that.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. President, we have some work to do this evening.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 95, S. 190.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 23, S. 178.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Grassley amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the bill.

I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 116, H.R. 601.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be agreed to, the Rubio amendment at the desk be agreed to, and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

I know of no further debate on the bill.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate the message to accompany S. 114.

The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 114) entitled

``An Act to amend title 38, United States Code, to require

the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit an annual report

regarding performance awards and bonuses awarded to certain

high-level employees of the Department of Veterans

Affairs.'', do pass with amendments.

I move to concur in the House amendments, and I know of no further debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 339 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Murkowski-Cantwell amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2210, which was received from the House.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 2288 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Isakson substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 93, S. 582.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be considered, the Johnson amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the committee-reported amendments, as amended, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.