Justice For Victims Of Trafficking Act Of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, earlier this month, two Florida men were charged with human trafficking. They drugged a runaway 16-year-old girl. Then they forced her to have sex with up to 10 men a day. They sold her to men in a gas station bathroom. They sold her on the street and they sold her in the back of a car.

She was 16 years old. She had run away from home. She was terribly vulnerable. They promised her food, then they beat her, drugged her, and sold her. When she escaped, they tracked her down, beat her, and sold her again.

All of us--I think we should have an agreement that Democrats and Republicans alike must remember the many other survivors of this heinous crime.

We have been working for almost 1 year on bipartisan proposals to protect these vulnerable children, count the survivors, and then punish those who put them through this hell. This effort had strong bipartisan support until partisan politics was injected into the debate.

The fight against human trafficking should not be made into a partisan issue to score political points. That is unfortunately where we are today. Everyone expected this legislation to move smoothly through the Senate, I know I did, just as it did through the House. Instead, Senate Republicans have turned away from a comprehensive solution that can garner broad support.

I am deeply saddened by this partisan fight. It is both destructive and unnecessary. It is destructive because it threatens to derail important legislation that would make a difference in the lives of survivors--such as the 16-year-old girl in Florida.

This partisan fight is unnecessary because abortion politics have no place in this debate. Congress has a long history of passing legislation to address human trafficking. We have consistently done so without abortion politics being injected into the discussion.

I know we have passed the Violence Against Women Act. We included a trafficking amendment of mine in that. While I was disappointed that a number of my Republicans colleagues voted against the Violence Against Women Act, which had the sex trafficking amendment in it, we still passed it by a bipartisan majority, as did the House of Representatives, and the President signed it into law.

So I was pleased we were able to get that significant piece of legislation passed, even though many in this body who say why aren't we passing this voted against the Violence Against Women Act with the sexual trafficking amendment.

But I wish to make clear to everyone that this partisan provision that has now popped up is not something that survivors of human trafficking are asking for. It is not something experts in the field who work with them every day are asking for. We should look at these experts who know what is going on and ask them what it is they want. They do not want this.

In fact, those who are closest to the damage wreaked by this terrible crime are asking all of us, Senate Republicans and Democrats, to take out this provision. They are asking us to put politics aside and to focus on the needs of those who have lived through a hell we will never understand.

Holly Austin Smith, a survivor, was a girl who ran away at the age of 14 and was bought and sold for sex. She put it this way when she testified before our committee:

Politics should not govern the options available to victims of sex trafficking--especially when such victims often have had their basic human rights taken away by criminals who had only their own agendas in mind.

So I think we have to stand with these human trafficking survivors. We have to put aside our agendas. They are asking us to take out this unnecessary provision and move the bill forward to address their urgent needs.

I support the rest of Senator Cornyn's bill, and that is why I included it in the comprehensive substitute amendment I filed last week. Also included in my substitute is a vital component to prevent human trafficking by focusing on runaway and homeless youth.

If we are serious about helping to end this heinous crime, we should be talking about all the good ideas to expand the protections of trafficking victims. Don't try to score partisan points. We should all come together to protect these vulnerable kids. That is why we are here. I am confident that if we remember these children, Republicans and Democrats, we can move forward and return to the bipartisan path we have always walked on this issue.

One of the reasons I have that amendment--talking about preventing is one thing and we should prosecute those people who do this--but wouldn't it be that much better for the victims if we could prevent it from happening in the first place?

I have spoken before of the nightmares I still have from some of the cases I prosecuted when I was 26 years old and the chief prosecutor for one-quarter of my State. I looked at these victims and the ages of my own children, and all I wanted to do was to get--and did--the people who perpetrated these crimes, prosecute them, and convict them.

We should prosecute people who do this, but I also thought how much better it would have been if we had programs that would have given these people somewhere they could turn to before they became victims, some way to protect them so we wouldn't see it afterward.

I said on the floor the other night that in preparing for these trials, the people I prosecuted, I wouldn't bring paperwork home in the evening to do it. I stayed in my office and prepared it. One, I didn't want to take the chance that one of my then-young children might see some of the photographs I was going to introduce into evidence--but I also didn't want them to see their father crying and wonder why, because I always tried to tell them the truth. I was not about to tell these young children the truth of what I was seeing.

Instead, I would tell the truth to the jury and the jury would convict, but even the jury wishes it had never happened in the first place.

The National Network for Youth sent a letter saying:

The National Network for Youth is writing this letter with the hope that the U.S. Senate will remove the partisan piece of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. This legislation is desperately needed and we cannot let this moment pass us by because of the addition of partisan and divisive provisions.

The National Network for Youth is saying: Let's go back to why both Republicans and Democrats wanted this legislation--to stop trafficking, to help the victims of trafficking, and not to score political points.

Just as the majority of this body voted for the Leahy-Crapo bill, the Violence Against Women Act, which had a provision on sexual trafficking, a majority voted for it, Republicans and Democrats--I wish that others--I wish everybody in this body voted for it.

I understand that some who now strongly support the partisan part of the trafficking bill voted against the Violence Against Women Act. Each Senator has the right to vote as he or she wants.

But I find it strange that they say: Let's go forward with this partisan provision, when only 1 year ago or so those same Senators who are now saying we should go forward with this voted against the Violence Against Women Act. The very same Senators voted against it.

Let's get out of politics. That was a good act. It had a very strong sex trafficking provision, which fortunately also was accepted by the House of Representatives and signed into law by the President. Senator Crapo and I set aside politics so we could pass that bill. That is what we should do today.

I yield the floor.

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