Date: 2015-01-27
Speaker: BOBBY SCOTT (democrat)
Chamber: H

for their work on these types of legislation that came up last year. Because the Senate didnt act on them. these bill are being brought up again. The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. I am glad to be the original sponsor. but I am also thankful that my friend. CAROLYN MALONEY from New York. who has been working on trafficking issues long before I was ever in Congress. is the original cosponsor on the Democrat side. Madam Speaker. you dont get much more bipartisan than a New York liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican from Texas. We are just separated by a common language. Other than that. we get along quite well. especially on this issue. When Brooke was 7. Madam Speaker. her mother was ill in the hospital. Her care was then entrusted to a nanny. but protecting her was not what the nanny had in mind. Instead of taking care of Brooke and making sure that she was healthy and safe. the nanny sold her into sex slavery. She was a trafficking victim. She was 7. As is common with child trafficking victims. Brooke was also a victim of child pornography. She was subjected to the most sadistic forms of abuse. She was 7. All she wanted to do was be safe. Stories like Brookes and other survivors make it clear that human trafficking is quite serious. It is occurring with the most vulnerable group of Americans: young children. I have four kids. three daughters. I have 11 grandkids. seven of them are granddaughters. We all believe. I think. the greatest resource of America is our youth. and their lives and their souls are being stolen every day for money. for filthy lucre. This crime happens in America. and it happens across the seas. and it is all about money. I understand that the greatest criminal enterprise for money is drug trafficking. but close behind is the sex slave trafficking. Why is sex slavery such a moneymaker? Well. unlike drugs that are sold one time. children are sold numerous times. As our friend. KRISTI NOEM. of South Dakota mentioned earlier. children sometimes are sold up to 50 times a day. Madam Speaker. Plus. the consequences for the criminals is not as great as the consequences for drug smugglers. and the risk of apprehension is not as great. This bill tries to deal with all three entities that are involved in sex trafficking. There is the trafficker. the slave master. there is the consumer. the child abuser. and then there is the childthey are victims of crime. and the American social conscience needs to change to understand these children are not criminals. and they are not prostitutes. They are children that are victims of slavery. We need to change that conscience. and we need to change it legally as well. Now. in all fairness to police. many times. they see a child on the street. they arrest the child for child prostitution and file a juvenile crime case against that individual. Many times. they dont have a place to take the child. We have approximately 3.000 animal shelters in the United States. I got one of my three Dalmatians from an animal shelter. We need those animal shelters. but there are less than 300 beds for child sex trafficking victims. Why is that? There is no answer. except we need to deal with it. Police dont have a place to take the rescued child. except they put them in the criminal justice system. which is not a good thing. It doesnt help the child at all recover. even though everybody knows that the child is a victim. We need places to take children. We need to treat those children like victims of crime. That is what this bill does. It helps rescue and restores victims of crime. On the other end. the slave master. well. it punishes them. As Chairman SENSENBRENNER said. life sentences are appropriate for some people. and that is quite appropriate. at least a minimum sentence of life. and that is what this bill does as well. The bill also goes after the demand. the consumer. Those menprimarilyare the child molesters. They are child abusers. and for too long. society has kind of looked at that situation as. "Oh. well. boys will be boys." Madam Speaker. those days are over. The days of "boys being boys" is over in America. and this law will go after the consumer. We need to know who they are. You talk about photographs on the Internet. their photographs ought to be on the Internet after they are convicted. but the law goes and punishes them as well. It gives law enforcement. child welfare. health care officials. and others who will come in contact with victims training. It also clarifies some State and Federal wiretap laws. It allows law enforcement officials the flexibility to obtain warrants in all Federal human trafficking investigations so that they are better able to follow evidence and target criminal networks. because there are networks throughout the country that are taking children and selling them every night. Madam Speaker. we will only be able to reduce the demand by putting the demand behind bars. where they belong. Girls are not property. they are little girls. And the same is true of boys who are being trafficked in the United States as well. The legislation here also strengthens and clarifies the Trafficking Victims Protection Act by making it clear for judges. juries. prosecutors. and law enforcement that criminals who purchase sex acts from trafficked victims should be a priority and be prosecuted. That is why we build prisons. for people like thatthe demand and the traffickers. So I am encouraged by the tremendous support in the House on these 12 bills. bipartisan bills. coming up. And I do want to commend the ladies of the House who have been the oneson both sides of the aisleadvocating and making sure that this legislation comes to the House floor. Passage of Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act will be a major step toward ridding our country of modernday slavery. Brooke and her mother have worked through Brookes issues after she was trafficked at 7. They are working together. She has been rescued and restored. and she is an advocate for better legislation and protection of children like she was when she was trafficked. But the message is. Madam Speaker. our children are not for sale. period. I reserve the balance of my time.