politicians sitting around and making decisions. we're taking action right now on the underlying bill to make it less costly for students to go to school and get their education, get their degree, get their certificate by advancing the competency based education bill. we're open to discussing ways to help student borrowers manage the amount of debt they're taking on to finance their college degree but today is not the time, this is not the place to have that discussion. this motion is, as frankly always the says -- the case, a partisan move to have a procedural vote. i urge my colleagues to support the underlying bill and vote no on the motion to recommit and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. without objection, the previous question is ordered. . those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the noes have it. the question is on the passage

of the bill. mr. tierney: mr. speaker, request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested, those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a -- pursuant to clause 9, rule 20, the chair will reduce to five minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on the question of passage of the bill. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on in vote, the yeas are 194, the nays are 221, the motion is not adopted. the question is on the passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the yes have it. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: nobody asked for it. if the gentleman would ask unanimous consent. >> i ask unanimous consent to get a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the ouse will be in order. he house will be in order. mr. kline: i ask unanimous vote. to get a recorded

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 414. the nays are zero. the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i present a prifrpbled report for printing -- privileged report for printing under the rule. the clerk: torpt title.

the clerk: report to accompany h.r. 5171, a bill making appropriations for the department of the interior, environment and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2015, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the union calendar and ordered printed. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 21, points of order are reserved. for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma rise? s >> mr. speaker, i send to the desk from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 680, resolution providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 3393, to amend the internal revenue code of 1986, to consolidate certain tax benefits for educational expenses and for other purposes and providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 4935, to amend the internal revenue code of 1986, to make improvements to

the child tax credit. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i have a motion to instruct. mr. speaker, pursuant to clause 7, subsection c of rule 22, i hereby give notice of my intention to offer a motion to instruct conferees on h.r. 3230, the conference report of veterans' access and accountability. ms. brownley: the form of the motion is as follows. ms. brownley moves that the managers on the part of the house at the conference on disagreeing votes of the two houses on the house amendment to the senate amendment to the bill h.r. 3230, an act to improve the access of veterans to medical services from the department of veteran affairs and for other purposes. be instructed to, one, recede

from disagreement with the title 5 of the senate amendment relating to health care, related to sexual trauma, and, two, receive from the house concur in the senate amendment in all instances. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's notice will appear in the record. ms. brownley: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5076. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5076, a bill to amend the runaway and homeless youth act, to improve services for runaway and homeless youth who are victims of trafficking. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from nevada, mr. heck, and the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, will each

control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from nevada. mr. heck: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 5076. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. heck: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 5076, the enhancing services for runaway and homeless victims of youth trafficking act, legislation i introduced to help better serve our most vulnerable youth who are the victims of extreme trafficking and i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, trafficking is an issue that hits close to home for me. i represent parts of the city of las vegas and the surrounding suburbs. when people think of las vegas, they think of the lights, the magnificent hotels, shopping, fine dining and nightlife, but the city's reputation as a national and international tourist destination, combined to the nature of the population, has made las vegas a prime target for human traffickers. in fact, between 1994 and 2014,

the las vegas metropolitan police department recovered 2,229 victims of sex trafficking. just last year, a metro recovered 107 children victims of human trafficking. all of us, federal and state officials, law enforcement, the courts, all of us have a moral obligation to eradicate trafficking and support its victims and it will take close coordination between all stakeholders to achieve the dual goals. to help facilitate that coordination, i hosted nevada's state government, law enforcement, the judiciary and victims' rights groups for a roundtable discussion on ways to combat trafficking and offer support for victims or potential victims. at that roundtable i met annie. she came to las vegas to make a better life for herself and was instead ensnared in the sex industry. thankfully annie got out.

this is how she described her life as a victim of human trafficking. quote, i felt like a dirty, cheated, disrespected, violated and worthless individual to society. i didn't know who annie was anymore. i often wanted to end my own life, end quote. now she is an advocate, devoted to helping other victims of human trafficking. one of the things she and others at the roundtable talked about was the need for improved resources for victims' advocacy and support, especially for youth victims and at-risk youth. to that end i introduced h.r. 5076, the enhancing services for runaway and homeless victims of youth trafficking act. my bill amends the runaway and homeless youth act to enable the secretary of health and human services to apply existing grant resources to train staff on the effects of human trafficking and runaway and homeless youth victims and for developing statewide

strategies to reach such youth. it also allows the secretary to utilize the street outreach program, to provide street-based services for runaway and homeless youth who are victims of trafficking. our nation's runaway and homeless youth deserve access to services that will help them escape a life of crime, abuse and neglect. by passing this simple fix to the runaway and homeless youth act, we can help ensure that those suffering from the trauma of these deplorable acts will have access to the care and support they need. i would like to thank chairman kline of the education and work force committee as well as my colleague from virginia, mr. scott, for working with me on this important piece of legislation. with that, mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support the enhancing services for runaway and homeless youth trafficking act and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 5076, the

enhancing services for runaway and homeless youth trafficking act of 2014. i'm honored to join my colleagues, mr. heck and mr. kline, and appreciate their leadership on this important issue. our bill makes an important but -- makes an important change in the runaway and homeless youth act so victims of trafficking can be better served. we know that trafficking and youth homelessness often affects similar populations. young people that are runaway or homeless are at risk to sex trafficking. they should be simultaneously equipped to support victims of trafficking when there is such an overlap. research consistently confirms the correlation of running away and becoming exploited through prostitution. for example, according to a 2006 f.b.i. uniform crime report, girls who run away from their homes, group homes, foster homes or treatment centers are at high risk of being targeted by a trafficker

nd becoming exploited. homeless and street youth have been subjected to or at risk of being subjected to sexual abuse. every year 25,000 of these young people find shelter as a result of these programs. the legislation being considered today ensures that street outreach programs can rely on funding already available through the runaway and homeless youth act. this allows the department of health and human services to provide street-based services such as individual assessment, treatment, counseling or access to emergency shelter for runaway and homeless youth who are also victims of trafficking. because of the overlap that often occurs with homelessness and trafficking, this just makes good sense. additionally, it is important that we provide the necessary resources to states, organizations and other entities to train staff working with these victims. this additional training, authorized by this bill, the

runaway and homeless youth research grants will provide service providers to -- will allow service providers to successfully address and respond to the behavioral and emotional effects of abuse and assault. our bill ensures that staff training will also include ways to recognize and respond to the unique needs and circumstances of trafficking victims. this is a simple change but an important one necessary to improve services available. it's my home that we can continue to work in the spirit of bipartisanship and work together to improve and strengthen programs that help our nation's children and i encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada. mr. heck: i yield to the chairman of the committee on education and work force, the distinguished gentleman from minnesota, mr. kline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. kline: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding and for his dedicated

and hard work in combating sex trafficking. mr. speaker, each year there's an estimated 300,000 innocent children who fall victim to sex trafficking right here in the united states. the victims can be homeless or runaway youth. others are simply taken from their parents in the blink of an eye. the victims' families are our neighbors, our friends and our loved ones. as a father of two and a grandfather of four, for me it is impossible to fathom the pain and suffering they must feel knowing their son or daughter is trapped in a modern day slave trade filled with darkness and homelessness. while we will never fully comprehend the grief these families are forced to bear we can as a nation fight this heinous crime with every tool available. there are heroic efforts under way right now to locate victims of youth sex trafficking and return them to their families. last week, the education and work force committee had an opportunity to hear from john ryan who is the head of the center of missing and exploited

children. they protect vulnerable youth, leading in partnership among law enforcement, government agencies and private ventures like honeywell, google and life touch. in my home state of minnesota, the center has helped resolve cases involving 1,699 endangered runaways and 373 family abductions. the center's 24-hour cybertip line has provided law enforcement more than two million leads of child sexual exploitation. the center and staff provide an invaluable service to families, they stand on the front lines of this critical battle each and every day. despite these and other achievements, we know more can be done to protect our vulnerable youth. right now many kids are falling through the cracks of child welfare systems. often they are not properly identified as sex trafficking victims when they enter the system and are lost in the shuffle once they are in state custody and too often runaway and homeless youth who are victims of sex trafficking do

not receive the special help they need. . . i support legislation we will consider this a few moments how child welfare systems respond and identify victims. we will consider legislation that ensures victims are properly identified when reported to the national center for missing and exploited children. mr. speaker, we have to do more to address this national crisis. the bill the house is considering today move our country in the right direction. i'm humbled to lead this bipartisan effort and urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada. mr. heck: i yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. scott: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5076. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada rise. mr. heck: i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5081. the speaker pro tempore: the lerk will report the bill. h.r. 5081, a build to amend the child abuse and prevention act to enable child protection systems to improve the identification and assessment of victims of sex trafficking and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from nevada, mr. heck and the gentlewoman from california, ms. bass, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from nevada. mr. heck: i ask unanimous consent that the members have five legislative days to include extraneous material on h.r. 5081. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. . mr. heck: i rise in support of the strengthening the child response act and yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. heck: human trafficking has reached epidemic proportions in the united states.

young people are being forced into manual labor or commercial sexual activity in what has become a 32 billion a year industry. while we are fighting trafficking with every tool available, there is more that can be done. the fact remains that domestic child trafficking is a serious problem in the united states. around 300,000 american youth are at risk of commercial and sexual exploitation per year. flew my involvement, i have seen the horrific abuses that victims endure. as an emergency room physician i have seen the trauma inflicted on victims and as a father, it sickens me to think that one of my children could become a victim. i have worked on legislation to help address this problem and held a local round table with victims, advocacy and law enforcement groups. h.r. 5081, the strengthening the child welfare response to trafficking act of 2014 will

help protect child victims by improving practices within state child welfare systems to identify, assess and document sex trafficking victims. this legislation amends the child abuse prevention and treatment act to direct states to implement and maintain procedures to identify and assess reports involving children who are victims of sex trafficking. additionally, this bill requires that states train child protective service workers on how to identify these children and the services necessary to meet their needs and would improve reporting on the number f children identified as sex trafficking victims. the bill requires the secretary of health and human services to report on the victims in the system, provide a summary of state practices for serving youth trafficking victims and report on any barriers in federal law that prevents the identification and assessment of youth victims of trafficking.

instead of properly identifying and assisting trafficked and exploited children, these children are often sent to the juvenile justice system where they are treated as criminals. these innocent victims are victimized again by the very system that was designed to rotect

ms. bass: i'd like to thank their help for creating a momentum on this policy that will be a critical step towards preventing child sex trafficking. i want to thank them for bringing this bill to the floor today. i also want to thank representative marino. he's been a tireless advocate for children in the foster care system. mr. marino, along with the congressional caucus on foster youth co-chairs, representatives mcdermott and bachmann, all served as original co-sponsors of the strengthening child welfare response to trafficking act, and their continuing commitment to transforming the child welfare system has brought

national attention to the intersection between child sex trafficking and the child welfare system. the u.s. department of justice reports that more than 300,000 children in the country are at risk of sexual commercial exploitation and trafficking each year. these are 300,000 too many and tragically this number shows that a comprehensive and aggressive response is needed in order to combat child trafficking throughout the country. in my city, the los angeles county probation department reports that 61% of identified trafficking victims are foster youth. the los angeles star court is a specialized collaborative courthouse designed to serve commercially exploited youth and reports that 80% of these girls have been previously involved in the child welfare system. as co-chair of the congressional caucus on foster youth, i've had the opportunity to travel throughout the country as part of our nationwide listening tour. unfortunately, the stories i've heard from advocates and youth

is that children in the child welfare system continue to be preyed upon by traffickers who use their vulnerability as an opportunity to exploit them. the stories that emerge are those like caroline's, a young girl who grew up in a household where she was physically, sexually and emotionally abused. when caroline was just 13 years old, a 35-year-old man attended a sporting event at her school and deceived her into believing he loved her and gave the attention she craved. he began to sell caroline to numerous men for sex. she had many encounters with the child welfare system but no one picked up she was a victim of trafficking. the social workers did not have the training or the proper tools to assess that she needed specialized services. our bill would ensure that children, like caroline, do not slip through the cracks as state and county child welfare departments have protection plans that will outline provisions and procedures to

identify and assess all reports of children known or suspected to be victims of sex trafficking. state systems do not currently have proper protection, services or protocols to adequately serve those in the system who have been victims of trafficking. states also lack such support for victims who enter the child welfare system. in fact, during a site visit recently, a law enforcement officer told us that he had no other option but to arrest the girls to ensure they receive the proper services. in los angeles, the child sex trafficking unit of the county probation department specifically addresses the needs of child victims, and it is the only such division in the country. i commend their critical work and commitment to ensure that trafficking victims receive the resources they need. we must not continue to arrest these children in order to provide them with the services. our bill will be a first step

toward ensuring there are policies and procedures in place to connect child sex trafficking victims to public or private specialized services. last year in a meeting with children in the child sex trafficking unit of the los angeles county probation department the girls all echoed the same sentiment. while they were grateful to have the resources needed to deal with their trauma, they felt stigmatized to be arrested in order to receive these services. our bill would make sure that each state has a plan to appropriately respond to reports of trafficking so that trafficked children would be provided the same resources as youth in the child welfare system and be classified as victims of crime, not as criminals. we have story after story across the country of children being raped and sold as if they were little more than objects but we do not have the concrete data to help them find the appropriate services.

h.r. 5081 requires one within year the department of health and human services report to congress on the prevalence and type of trafficking they've encountered. many advocates believe labor trafficking is also a critical issue with children in the child welfare system. the reality is we need hard data to evaluate what is happening to the children so the proper resources can be allocated in the future. our bill also allows states to establish the same policy and procedures for children if they are victims of labor trafficking. the report will also assess state practices used to identify and serve trafficking victims and federal laws and policies that may prevent states from supporting these victims. including the absence of trafficking in the federal definition of child abuse and neglect under capta, the child abuse prevention and treatment act. the critical steps will help ensure that victims are provided with the same resources and access as other children. i strongly urge my colleagues

to support our bill and continue to build momentum to combat domestic child sex trafficking. and i reserve the balance of my ime. mr. heck: i yield to the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: mr. speaker, you're going to find tonight there are eight, eight bills dealing with sex trafficking in the united states. you'll also find these are bipartisan bills and a lot of different members are involved in this legislation. which goes to say that on this issue of modern day slavery, human sex trafficking that's taking place, members of congress are working together in many different ways to come to the same conclusion to prevent or present legislation to the house floor.

i'd like to encourage the speaker in his role to get the senate to bring up this legislation as soon as it all passes, either tonight or tomorrow. we already had some good pieces of legislation passed, a piece of legislation called justice for victims of trafficking act, sponsored by carolyn maloney from new york, a democrat, myself, a republican. we don't speak the same language. it passed the house two weeks ago 409-0. the house of representatives is moving as fast as we can, as carefully as we can to deal with this scourge of modern-day slavery. don't get much talk about it in the national media it's just not one of those controversial issues. but it's being done. there are two types of minor sex trafficking taking place. there are children from foreign countries that are being sold and delivered to the united states for sex trafficking, and

then there are americans, kids that live in the united states that are being sold and delivered throughout the united states for domestic sex trafficking. there is a reason we want to hopefully stop and the awareness needs to go to parents and children about what can take place. but also when sex trafficking of minor children takes place, as my friend, ms. bass from california, has said, when that child is rescued by law enforcement, they don't have any place to take them. there are no housing for those individuals. so they put them in a juvenile justice system for their safety but, yes, they're labeled. they're given that stigma of a criminal. even though it's a juvenile criminal, they are still a criminal. they are not a criminal, mr. speaker. they are victims of crime, victims of slavery.

for example, in the united states there are -- there are 5,000 animal shelters and they're great. i've got three dalmatians. i call then the weapons of mass destruction, and two of them came from dalmatian rescue. but, mr. speaker, there are only 300 beds for minor sex trafficked children in the united states. that's it. there aren't any more. we need to have the ability to take those children when rescued by law enforcement by child protected services or whoever to shelter where they have a place that they can stay other than the jail house. that is one of the most important thing that we can do. as the gentleman from nevada has said, this scourge is a multimillion-dollar business. it's second only to the illicit drug trade. the reason is because children can be sold more than once each day. some up to 20 times, drugs are

sold one time. and plus the risk of apprehension and consequences of drugs is a whole lot more than that of sex trafficking and therefore that's why it's becoming -- will soon be the highest income for illicit activity, criminal activity, because there is no risk involved. so those are some things that are being addressed by these eight pieces of legislation tonight. they're all good. they're all bipartisan. they're supported by both members. there's a lot of co-sponsors owl all of that legislation -- on all of that legislation. and hopefully we can get all eight pieces of legislation passed and sent down the hallway to the senate and get their attention and vote on these. and that's just the way it is. i yield back to the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from nevada reserves. he gentlelady from california. ms. bass: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman

from washington state, mr. mcdermott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i rise in support of the strengthening the child welfare response to trafficking act. today more than 293,000 american youth are at risk of sexual commercial exploitation and trafficking each year. far too often state child welfare systems fail to properly identify and assist trafficed that are exploited children. the protective services and protocols established for abused children within the child welfare system are rarely extended to trafficked children and youth. and in many states, such children are often categorized -- they are not even victims. i would point out that we have on our borders today 57,000

youngsters who have come in whatever way they've come to our attention, and one of the real dangers in sort of sending people back into whatever is you may well be sending them back into sexual trafficking. this is one of the issues that should be looked at in every case where you find a youngster roaming the streets. and states have got to look at this issue and figure out a way to deal with it. we know that youngsters when they age out of foster care, they have no skills, they have no job, they have very little to keep themselves alive. and therefore they are easily become victims of sexual trafficking. this is an issue that this country, if we really care about children, we are going to look carefully at every kid and what are the risks which they're being exposed. i yield back the balance of my

time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from california reserves. the gentleman from nevada. mr. heck: mr. speaker, i now yield three minutes to the co-chair of the foster care adoption caucus, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. marino. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized three. -- is recognized for three minutes. mr. marino: i rise in support of h.r. 5081. it is absolute outrage that between 100,000 and 300,000 american youth are currently at sk for becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking right here in the united states. although we know there are many factors that make youth particularly vulnerable to traffickers and exploiters, such as age range, history of abuse, living in an impoverished community and many others, the most astounding indicator a child will be trafficked is whether or not he or she is in foster care, in

the foster care system at all. in 2013, 60% of the child sex trafficking victims recovered as part of an f.b.i. nationwide raid from over 70 cities were children from foster care or group homes. make no mistake about it, our foster care system provides an essential service to our communities and our children. in fact, my wife and i have housed children from the system. however, we are simply not doing enough to protect these children from being preyed upon. this is why i have worked with my colleague, congresswoman karen bass, to introduce h.r. 5081, the strengthening child welfare response to trafficking act of 2014. this bill would make much-needed reforms to the child abuse prevention and

treatment act to ensure states increase their child protection services plans in that we increase the data being reported to congress. to enact good law in congress, we simply need as many facts at our fingertips as possible. sadly, criminals mountain child trafficking industry have become adapt to lurking in the shadows and evading law enforcement, leaving us with very poor records and data on the activity. this is why congresswoman bass and i are calling on states to work with us to strengthen our records and data logs so we can more effectively craft laws to stop these criminals moving forward. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important bipartisan bill because when it comes to those who are the most innocent among us, they deserve as much protection as possible. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california. >> mr. speaker, i yield -- ms.

bass: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, ms. yvette clarke. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. clarke: i want to thank her for letting me speak on this important and timely legislation. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the house's legislative efforts to combat human trafficking, a very cruel form of modern day slavery. i urge all of my colleagues to support the legislation before us, including h.r. 5081, the strengthening child welfare response to trafficking act, a bill that seeks to improve the child welfare response to trafficking by requiring states to have procedures for dentifying, assessing and -- assessing child trafficking.

and h.r. 5081 would help identify victims of child sex trafficking throughout the united states. unfortunately, human trafficking is a big booming business and i cannot and i left-hand turn stand idly by and watch as our country becomes the center for smuggling human beings and human sexual exploitation. we have a major crisis on the border of our nation in cities like new york and others across the country that have been exacerbated and enabled by highly organized crime syndicates are. if we understand the methods these groups use and eliminate their sources of revenue, we can save people from human rights abuses and exploiltations. young girls are sold at sexual property. boys and men are forced to work for cheap labor after they are convinced to sign unfair labor contracts. their government documents are taken from them and they are left with no one and nothing.

the people who want to do harm to our most vulnerable are likely to get more money from trafficking a child from sex than from the illicit drug trade. awareness concerning human trafficking have increased significantly in recent years but awareness is not enough. ms. bass: mr. speaker, i yield an additional minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. clarke: i appreciate that. thank you. the united states is now considered a destination country, according to the united states department of state. yes, mr. speaker, you heard it correctly. human trafficking isn't something that is just occurring in other countries or other continents. it's happening right here in america. in the united states, human trafficking rakes in $9.8 billion for the use and abuse of victims, many of whom are children. the national center for missing and exploited children estimates that each year 100,000 children are falling victim to the industry within

our own borders. i am proud to join my colleagues in the evergrowing number of americans who are standing up to the objectionable practice of human trafficking. congress is taking the additional steps to protect our children with this legislation and, again, i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 5081 and all the legislation concerning human trafficking before the house. the time is now to protect children from being victims of human trafficking, and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentlelady from california reserves. the gentleman from nevada. mr. heck: mr. speaker, i now yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. farenthold. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. -- fornte hold: mr. farenthold: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm here today to support h.r. 5081, the strengthening the child welfare response to trafficking act of 2014. it's been estimated that more than 293,000 children in the united states are at risk of

sexual exploitation. many of whom were imported into this country along the routes used by the drug traders across the rio grande and moved through texas. this form of modern day slavery is absolutely unacceptable. no one, especially children, should have to endure this kind of cruelty. we cannot ignore the child trafficking is a serious problem taking place right here in our own back yard in the united states of america. unfortunately, many state child welfare systems do not identify and assist these exploited children appropriately. this bill strengthens the response to child trafficking by conditioning grants to states on their creating plans to protect children from these abuses and atrocities. you know, we had a hearing of the homeland security committee in houston and learned that trafficked children are not considered victims. they're considered the perpetrators.

we got to educate the police department. we've got to educate the officers on the street. we got to educate all of america that these children are victims. they need help. they don't need to end up in the juvenile justice system being treated like criminals. this legislation would help identify children who were forced into sex trafficking and require states receiving grants to train their child protective services workers to appropriately respond to these activities. ideally, the child sex trafficking industry would not even exist. unfortunately, the monetary motivations and god knows what else keeps it going and it's happening right here and we have got to stop it. this bill and the other bills on the floor of the house tonight take very important steps to combat this scourge. i urge my colleagues to support it and thank representatives bass and kline for moving us forward in this important endeavor. i return the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields. the gentleman from nevada

reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. bass: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. langevin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. langevin: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. langevin: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, i'm proud to speak today in support of the strengthening child welfare response to trafficking act of 2014. i want to thank my colleague and good friend, congresswoman bass, for introducing this bill and all she does on behalf of foster youth. foster youth are some of the most at-risk children in society. they are often victims of abuse and neglect and too many face trials and tribulations beyond their years. so much that we take for granted. a stable home, living with our siblings or returning to the same school year after year are constant obstacles for these children. mr. speaker, this legislation

before us today will specifically address the link between girls in foster care and sex trafficking and will require states to develop a child protection plan to identify and assess all reports involving children known or suspected to be part of sex trafficking. and it will appropriately respond to reports of child trafficking and have procedures in place that will connect child victims to public and private specialized services. i want to echo the comments of so many of my colleagues that have spoken here, i commend congresswoman bass and congressman kline and all those who have had a hand in this legislation and who are looking out for the welfare of our children. i'm proud to support this bipartisan legislation and i urge my colleagues to support the bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from california reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from nevada.

>> continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. >> i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from texas, sheila jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. ms. jackson lee: i rise to support this day and the opportunity to be on the floor, to have the nation recognize the value of our children and the importance of protecting them. in particular, i thank ms. bass, mr. moreno for their support of the foster care caucus, something that's been so important across america and i thank the education committee with mr. miller, mr. kline for aspects of this legislation. but i remember, mr. speaker, walking the streets of houston

with covenant house and finding in cub by holes homeless children. homeless teens. many of them had aged out and many of them had, in that time, when the language wasn't clear, had been prostituted, they were being sex trafficked, no one was happened -- no one was helping. i'm excited about legislation that recognizes that this act of ignoring them is child abuse and that we need to ensure they are not criminals and that the child welfare system understands their need. i was the first to bring to houston a homeland security hearing on human and sex trafficking. it was an emotional hearing. the stories of those being told through law enforcement, those who have trafficked as children, whose lives were ruined, would be the kind that would raise the hair on your head. i support all these human trafficking initiatives, particularly as they take

criminal way from the justice system and i look more forward to understanding this through the international process and our nation recognizing that the unaccompanied children are themselves victims of sex trafficking and need the kind of due process protection. but we start at home and therefore i look forward to working with introducing legislation dealing with the homeland security human trafficking component in that department. but the legislation offered by ms. bass and ms. moreno again, as a program that is long overdue, and i am grateful that .e will now have a system we welcome them to the system that have been taken by this horrible industry, mr. speaker, and save their lives. the bills on the floor today will save the lives of our children. with that, i yield back my time

and ask the court for -- ask support for all the bills on human trafficking today. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from california reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from nevada. >> continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. bass: mr. speaker, the fight against child sex trafficing is a bipartisan issue and i appreciate that both parties have come together today to support the development of legislation that would make a significant impact on one of the most vulnerable populations in our nation. the strengthening the child welfare response to trafficking act is an important step in ensuring that child welfare agencies have the proper systems in place to identify, assess and document child victims as trafficking. stories like those of caroline and the other young girls in child sex trafficking unit of the los angeles county probation department are critical to understanding exactly the effect our bill would have in laying

the foundation of transforming the way our nation responds to child sex trafficking. however, it's also parent -- important to recognize that this bill and the other bills on the floor today are steps on that journey and there is still an enormous amount of work that needs to be done. again, i would like to thank members of the education and work forest committee and the congressional caucus on foster youth for their continued commitment to advancing policies that help change the lives of children. i would also like to take this opportunity to thank my staff, adrian alicia, and my former deputy chief of staff, generalmy wood who did the lion's share of work to make this happen. without her hard work and dedication, legislation would not be on the floor today. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from nevada. >> i yield myself the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> we have heard some compelling

force us to confront this problem of child trafficking. mr. heck: i urge my colleagues to support this bill and all related legislation we will continue -- we will consider this evening. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5081. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. ms. bass: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this uestion will be postponed.

for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? >> i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5111 as amended. clip h.r. 5111, a bill to

improve response to victims of child sex trafficking. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman wish to bring this bill up as amended or as ntroduced. >> as amended. the speaker pro tempore: there is no amendment at the desk.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the bill as amended. the clerk: a bill to improve response to victims of child sex trafficking. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman, mr. walberg, and the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. beatty, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. walberg: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 511. -- 5111. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. walberg: i rise in support of h.r. 45111 and yield myself such time as i may consume -- of

h.r. 5111. and yield myself such time as i may consume. this bill will help us better serve the victims of child sex trafficking in the united states. i want to thank congresswoman joyce beatty for her lead ship on this issue and for introducing h r. 5111 which will improve the ability of law enforcement officials and others to respond to and assist these victims. for too long, these victims have been viewed as willing participants and have been treated as actors in the criminal scheme. however, we now know that oftentimes individuals are trapped as victims by human trafficking organizations. sadly, many of these victims are children. as previous house efforts have done, the bills today attempt to change for the better how we view these victims. congresswoman beatty's legislation will ensure that we

view victims of sex trafficking not as participants, but as victims. and ensure that child sex trafficking crimes are reported. under current law, national center for missing and exploited ncmec operates a cyber tip line to provide a means of reporting internet related child exploitation in many areas, including child prostitution. however, children who are sex trafficked or sexually exploited should be treated as victims, not criminals. in fact, approximately one out of seven runaway youth are likely victims of sex trafficking and roughly one out of three youths are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of running away from home. for this reason, h.r. 5111 would

replace the term child prostitution with child sex trafficking. in the cybertip line, reporting categories to reinforce that children who are sex trafficking or sexually exploited are victims whose situation should be taken seriously when reported. it would also ensure the public recognizes that child prostitution is included in how they use the term child sex trafficking and thus should still be reported in the tip line. again, i want to thank congresswoman beatty, along with the education and work force committee and house leadership for recognizing the need to steadfastly address this dreadful practice. with that, mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 5111 and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio.

mrs. beatty: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of h.r. a a -- of h.r. 5111, a bill i introduced to help victims of child sex trafficking by decriminalizing their behavior and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. beatty: i thank chairman kline from minnesota and ranking member miller of california of the education and work force committee for bringing this important bill to the floor for consideration. i also thank representative walberg from michigan who is managing the bill today for the republicans. mr. speaker, i also want to thank senator portman, who i partnered with on this legislation earlier this year. together, we introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation in order to assist victims of child sex trafficking and ensure that they are viewed and treated as victims and not criminals. we participated in a round table

discussion with the dominican cysters of peace in my district, with diverse stake holders who shared stories of victims and ideas of what we could do to further help these children who are trafficked. we heard stories after stories, just like on the house floor today. the story of caroline in my district, the story of theresa. who was a victim herself at a very young age and now is a national advocate against child sex trafficking. as we know, human trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. in fact, according to the united states state department, human trafficking is the world's second largest criminal enterprise after illegal drug trade. in the united states, some 300,000 children are at risk each year for commercial sexual exploitation. many of them come from family and social backgrounds that

render them particularly at risk. these are children who fall through the tracks in our society. mr. speaker, many are runaways, homeless, and in and out of foster care. these children deserve better. the average age of a trafficked victim in the united states is 12 years of age. mr. speaker, this is shameful. at 12 years of age, girls and boys should be playing youth sports, participating in their school's science fair, learning a new language, or just being able to be a child. in my home state of ohio, each ar, an estimated 1,0 8 ohio children become victims of -- 1,078 ohio children become victims of human trafficking and over 3,000 more are at risk. ohio is the fifth leading state for human trafficking because of its proximities to waterway that

leads to an international border and a system of interstate highways that allows an individual to exit the state within two hours to almost anywhere. . the i-75 corridor is infamous for subjecting children to the horrors of sex trafficking. with reports of victims being repeatedly abused. just last week in my hometown paper, "the columbus dispatch" reported that ohio children, younger than 6 years old, have been sexually trafficked by their parents in exchange for drugs, for rent or cash. mr. speaker, i seek unanimous consent to enter a copy of this article into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. beatty: mr. speaker, more must be done to assist these

children, these children who are victims, not criminals, and need our help. we foe that no single system can successfully -- we know that no single system can successfully prevent trafficking. this needs a multicoordinated approach across all levels of government. we need to encourage all people when they see something say something. currently the national center for missing and exploited children operate a cybertype line which receives leads and tips regarding suspected crimes of exploilt ace against children. -- exploitation against children. have han 3.2 million tips been submitted between 1988 and march of this year. the exploitation that should be reported to the cybertip line,

current law does not specifically mention child sex trafficking as one of its reporting categories. even though the national center for missing and exploited children encounter child victims of sex trafficking and currently uses this term on its website in order to encourage the public's reporting of these types of crimes. instead, the statute uses the term child prostitution, which we know does not fully and accurately capture these types of crimes against children. my bill would add the phrase child sex trafficking, including child prostitution to the section b-1-p of the missing children's assistance act. working with my colleague from the education and work force committee and congressman chris smith from new jersey, we have crafted legislation in order to improve and update the law in order to reflect the current state of federal law and to

reinforce that children who are sex trafficked or sexually exploited are victims and not criminals. mr. speaker, children in sex trafficking situations are often misidentified as willing participants. we know there is widespread lack of awareness and understanding of trafficking. by adding the term child sex trafficking, including child prostitution, the missing children's assistance act will continue to fight the perception that sex trafficking is a voluntary victimless crime. child sex trafficking is an issue of abuse and exploitation of children. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation and, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. >> mr. speaker, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio.

mrs. beatty: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to recognize the gentlelady from california, ms. bass, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of h.r. 5111, a bill to improve the response to victims of child trafficking. first, i'd like to commend my colleague, representative joyce beatty, for her commitment to transforming the language we use to discuss child victims of sex trafficking and for taking the lead on this important legislation. while trafficking as vow indicates and organizations have worked tirelessly over the years to ensure the framework and language used to describe child victims of trafficking to recognize they are victims, we still have a long way to go. for example, men who exploit the children, we call them johns. we arrest the traffickers, we arrest the victims but the men are seldom arrested and when

they are, it is for soliciting. as we change the way we speak about the girls, we must change the way we speak about the men. the men who are not johns but are child molesters. representative beatty's bill is another critical building block to transforming the framework and dialogue among child victims of sex trafficking. i look forward to continuing to change the conversation and urge my colleagues in the house to support this important legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentlewoman from ohio reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. walberg: mr. speaker, i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio. mrs. beatty: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, let me conclude with saying that i urge all of my colleagues, democrats and republicans, to support h.r. 5111. this is a very important piece of legislation that will help the victims of child sex

trafficking. it will decriminalize their behavior. it will help rescue them from the horrible situations that we have heard tonight. let me also share that it is not only about h.r. 5111, but it is about all of the bills that we are hearing tonight that i ask this house to support. i will certainly be remiss if i did not thank the house leadership on both sides of the aisle for allowing us to bring these important bills forward d also my entire staff but specifically my legislative director for all of her hard work. and lastly to congresswoman bass, let me say thank you for someone that's led this charge and who has been willing to work with me and the others on helping bring all of our bills forward. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. walberg: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself the remainder of the time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. walberg: the passage of this legislation, mr. speaker, shows the house's commitment to not only bolstering enforcement efforts against human traffickers but also ensuring that we properly identify victims. i urge all members to lead efforts in their districts, to continue the conversation, as i've doan in mine, about human trafficking, to learn what more we can do in our communities to curtail this heinous crime. during the human trafficking roundtables i held in my district, law enforcement officials have consistently raised the need to make community members aware of the real and present threat of human trafficking. we must work to not only educate children but also families and the general public about the safety risks. h.r. 5111 is another step to educating our communities about human trafficking victims and

it continues our work to ensure that we are doing what we can to help reduce this horrible crime. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on h.r. 51111, and i yield back the balance of my time. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5111 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. mrs. beatty: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition?

>> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 4980. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4980, a bill to prevent sex trafficking of children in foster care and to improve adoption incentives and to support recovery. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, and the gentleman from texas, mr. doggett, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. camp: and mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: i rise in support of this legislation which is designed to prevent sex trafficking of youth in foster care. encourage the adoption of more children from foster care and increase child support collected to support children. among other important purposes. i'll focus my comments on the

important adoption provisions in the legislation and then recognize subcommittee chairman reichert to discuss the provisions designed to prevent sex trafficking. i've spent much of my professional career promoting adoption of children by loving parents. as an attorney and private -- in private practice i worked with parents and children in the foster care system. those sorts of experiences provided much of the background for changes in landmark adoption legislation congress has approved in recent years. in 1997, my colleagues and i on the ways and means committee crafted the adoption and safe families act. that legislation streamlined the adoption process to help more children in foster care quickly move into permanent adoptive homes. it also for the first time offered incentives to states to safely increase the number of children from foster care. it worked. in the decade following that legislation, a number of u.s. children adopted from foster care increased by 71%. in the years since, adoptions

have continued to remain higher even as the foster care caseload started to decline. overall, almost 300,000 children have been adopted as a result of the increase in adoptions starting in 1997. while placing children in permanent loving homes is the most important benefit of the legislation, one study estimated the federal government saved $1 billion over eight years by ensuring children were adopted instead of remaining in foster care. that's the successful incentive program this legislation extends and updates. with this bill today, we add a new award for states that increase adoptions of older children who are the hardest to adopt and have the worst outcomes if they age out of foster care without a family to call their own. we also add a new award for increases in guardianship. when family members step up to care for their nieces and nephews, grandsons and granddaughters, and this bill ensures states maintain their

commitment to postadoption and related services to children have a forever family. finding a forever family is the goal of this legislation, and forever homes are possible. just last year, i met with the johns family of midland, michigan. the johns family adopted three children and was honored during their visit to washington as an angels in adoption family. but before they adopted they were foster parents to austin and katie, their first two children. they adopted them and later adopted their third child, aileya. the johns made this a reality for three children and with this legislation we can continue to build on that success. i note that this legislation is fully paid for by expecting all states to use electronic methodes that will do a better job of collecting child support, increasing family incomes and reducing the amount of welfare benefits taxpayers pay. those savings not only cover

the cost of this legislation but reduce the deficit by $19 million over the next 10 years. that's a win-win for children, families and hardworking taxpayers alike. this legislation reflects bipartisan, bicameral agreements on all these policy areas, and i thank my colleagues who joined me in introducing this legislation, mr. levin of michigan, mr. reichert of washington and mr. doggett of texas as well as the chairman and ranking member of the senate finance committee, senators wyden and hatch. they are all leaders on these issues and i value their help in developing and advancing this legislation. this bill was crafted the way legislation is supposed to be, through hearings, markups, public comments and negotiations with our colleagues in the senate. the bill we're considering today incorporates many suggestions from experts in the child welfare field as well as just interested citizens and adoptive parents. we are grateful for the public's comments and their participation in this process. the bottom line is this -- children in foster care deserve

a place to call home, not just for a few months or years, but for good. we've already seen great progress in increasing adoptions since the adoption incentive program was created in 1997 and it's our hope that we can continue this progress once this bill is signed into law. i encourage all my colleagues to join us in supporting this bill in the house and i hope and expect the senate to also act soon on this bill so we can continue to move more foster children into permanent loving homes and mr. speaker, i yield the remainder of my time to mr. reichert and ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control the time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from washington reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

mr. doggett: this is bipartisan legislation that takes some important, though modest, steps toward meeting that responsibility by addressing three issues. combating the exploitation of at-risk children, promoting permanent homes for foster children, and strengthening international enforcement of child support obligations. with a bipartisan, bicameral agreement with the chairman of the senate finance committee and the ranking member of the senate finance committee, this legislation combines modified version of three bills that we previously passed here in the house earlier in the session. this measure has been endorsed by a number of important child advocacy group the children's defense fund, the child welfare league of america, and voice for adoptions. i was pleased to work with chairman camp, with ranking member levin and certainly human resources subcommittee chair mr.

reichert as well as our colleagues in the senate as we came together with bipartisan agreement on this legislation. there are still provisions in the bill that i think could use improvement, including the fact that a -- an important program that helps link children in foster care to relatives called family protection grants is extended only for a single year, but i think that even with some of its limitations, this legislation does make a positive different in the -- difference in the lives of many children, particularly those who are vulnerable to sex trafficking. when children come into foster care, they already have issues. they have suffered abuse or neglect, they been exploited, they've suffered, they have a sense of isolation and they often feel that they've been removed from one home and put out in a place with which they're not familiar. they are especially prey for sex

traffickers and are targeted in that condition. this bipartisan legislation attempts to combat trafficking in the foster care system by screening at-risk children and providing services when necessary. by reporting the incidence of trafficing so we'll have a clear indication of that for foster children and by expediting the location of children who run away from foster care. additionally this bill attempts to help children live more normal lives while in foster care by allowing them to more fully participate in the activities that most children enjoy, such as playing sports and occasional sleepover at a friend's house. this legislation also extends and adopts changes in the adoption incentives program to encourage states to find permanent homes for children in foster care, which is certainly the best approach. the bill increases the program's focus on promoting the adoption of older children in foster care and also for the first time

provides an incentive for states to increase the number of children leaving foster care to live with a legal guardian. it includes a provision that i authored ensuring children won't lose their eligibility for federal guardianship assistance, if their guardian dies or becomes incapacitated. finally the legislation would take necessary steps to implement a very important international treaty on enforcing child support obligations abroad so that leaving this country doesn't allow individuals to leave behind their responsibility for the children that they parented that are here in the united states. mr. speaker, we still have much to do to ensure that the well being of vulnerable children is receiving the attention that it deserves, but i think this is a good start with this bill and i urge its passage and swift action by the senate in accord with our agreement to see that it gets to the president's desk

soon for signature and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington. yield one minute to majority leader cantor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cantor: i thank the gentleman from washington. i rise in strong support of the preventing sex trafficking and families act and the other anti-trafficking bills we have on the floor today. in furtherance of our efforts to bring an end to this jab hornet crime. mr. speaker, human trafficking continues to be one of the world's great dangers, threatening millions of innocent lives, including right here at home in the united states. our very own department of homeland security describes human trafficking as a modern day form of slavery, involving the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain. the national center for missing and exploited children estimates

that between 100 and -- 100,000 and 300,000 children in america may be trafficked for commercial sex every year. these children represent the most vulnerable among us. and it is our responsibility to act now and do what we can to stop these heinous crimes. ending human trafficing is a goal that both parties share and today we can take one step closer to achieving that goal. some of the most vulnerable to this crime are america's foster children as the gentleman from texas just discussed. all too frequently they fall through the cracks and become victims in these criminal schemes. the legislation before us today takes this problem head on, encouraging states to tackle the issue of trafficking foster children and to ensure their placement in a loving, adoptive home. this is a great opportunity for us in this house to stand together, to show the people that sent us here and the rest

of this country and the world that our house is united to bring an end to human trafficking. i'd like to thank the gentleman from washington, mr. reichert, ranking members levin and doggett, and the rest of the members on the committee for their work on this issue. i strongly urge my colleagues to support this measure. i would also like to take a minute to thank the gentleman from michigan, chairman dave camp, one of our great leaders in congress who has not only led on this issue but has been a tireless champion for families and children throughout his career. over the years, chairman camp has advocated and succeeded in bringing much-needed reforms to our foster care system. the adoption and safe families act, which chairman camp introduced in the house and president clinton then signed, streamlined the adoption process, making it easier for kids to move out of foster care

and into more permanent homes. , 2003, president bush signed then congressman, now chairman camp's adoption promotion act which provides financial incentives for states that increase adoption among older children. these are just a few of chairman camp's many great accomplishments and today's bill is another example of his heartfelt dedication to putting america's kids first. few have had the impact on creating a better future for our children than dave camp. because of chairman camp, children all over america have the opportunity to live in safe homes and to pursue their dreams. i've been very proud to call him my colleague, and honored to call him a dear friend. i know we've still got several months before the end of this congress, i want to take this opportunity to congratulate dave

camp on a terrific, wonderful career. i want to thank the gentleman for his service and wish him the very best in his retirement. congress will certainly miss the gentleman from michigan. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia yields back. the gentleman from washington reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, at this time, i would yield three minutes to the gentlelady from california california, ms. bass. she co-chairs the congressional caucus on foster youth and i don't know another member of this congress who has expressed more concern in going all over the country to work and seek improvements in the lives of our foster children. thank you so much and i yield you three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. bass: mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of h.r. 4980, the preventing sex trafficking and strengthening families act. first, i'd like to commend chairman camp and reichert and ranking members levin and

doggett for their work on this important legislation and for their ongoing commitment to our nation's foster youth. as co-chair of the congressional caucus on foster youth, i've had the opportunity to hear stories from youth across the country during our listening tour. many of the young people i've heard from share similar stories from washington state to missouri. that they just want to be a part of loving families and have the ability to participate in sports, hang out with their friends, and have the same experiences as their peers. i strongly believe this legislation will help bring a greater sense of stability to foster youth and give kids a chance to be just like their friends. since 1997, when the adoption incentives legislation became law, we have seen a significant reduction in the number of kids in foster care. by improving adoption incentives, we help children find their forever families. this is why it's so critical to highlight this legislation's investment in legal guardianship

and relative care givers. more than half of the youth in the child welfare system are placed with a relative caregiver a grandmother, an aunt, uncle, or older sibling. guardianship is often the preferred type of permanence for relative care givers. in addition, parts of h.r. 4980 includes funding for family connection grant which is provide critical resources to ensure children find permanent homes, often times with relatives. in my los angeles district, relative care givers are the largest group of foster care providers. research shows that foster placement with relatives are good for children. ey allow children to receive continued support from their community and culture and feel connected to families that continue to love them. despite the importance of relative care givers, they face unique obstacles. becoming a caregiver changes lives in every way, physically, emotionally, and financially. stable, middle class families or

seniors who live on their life savings are often pushed to the brink of poverty because they have sthepped unexpected financial burden of caring for a child. i am greatly encouraged by the critical work this legislation before us encourages, children having forever families through both adoption and guardianship throughout the country, and hope to continue this work with my colleagues in the house. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. reich spert -- mr. reichert:: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i'd like to also add my compliments to chairman camp and not to be repetitive but i think it's important to mention some of the fine work that chairman camp has done in his time here in congress and has inspired all of us, i think, to move to legislation that we're discussing today. he's left an indelible stamp on our nation's child welfare

policy during the years he's served in congress, and especially throughout his service on the ways and means committee. there's a whole list of bills and initiatives and amendments that he's been associated with, to champion this cause, but i think suffice it to say mr. camp has probably done more than most in the last 20 years of his service here to the people of america to help children and especially focused on foster care and adoption. so again, i want to join in praising and thanking the chairman for his service and ted case to the children of this country and families in general. mr. speaker, i rise today to urge support of h.r. 4980. the title of this bill is preventing sex trafficking and strengthening families act. this bill as the chairman said, reflects the bipartisan

agreement, bicameral agreement, so after we pass this bill tonight, it goes back to the senate and this will go to the president's desk, i'm sure, and be signed within, i hope, the next month or so. this bill is designed to prevent sex trafficking in youth and foster care. it's designed to strengthen families by increasing adoptions from foster care and can he signed to improve child support collections. -- and designed to improve child support collections. and this issue is a very personal issue for me and i've listened to the speeches tonight and i appreciate the enthusiasm and the dedication and the focus that members of congress have put on this issue over the last year, especially. this is our second week. this month, i think, that we focused on human trafficking in

foster care. mr. speaker, some people know that my previous career was in law enforcement. i spent 33 years in the sheriff's office. many of those years spent in investigating a case that's been entitled the green river murder case. we finally arrested that person. he says that he killed somewhere between 60 and 70 oung girls in seattle. 60 to 70. lives taken. children. hildren's lives taken. i collected a lot of those bodies, mr. speaker. i remember where they laid. 15-year-old girls.

so we're not talking about a bill today, ladies and gentlemen, mr. speaker. we're not talking about a bill, legislation, that's just a piece of fluff, that's just a piece of legislation, that's just words. we're talking about lives, the lives of children and monsters who are out there and they've been discussed tonight who are ready to prey on them, who are ready to take their life. even if it's just a take a piece of their life away from them for a moment or maybe 20 times a night, they take a piece of their lives and they survive physically. mentally and emotionally, their lives have been ripped apart and so have their families. if you were to just drive down the street and see 10 young ladies standing on a street corner, mr. speaker, six out of those 10 involved in human

trafficking, six out of those 10 would be foster kids. these are kids that we have responsibility for, that we have as a nation have the responsibility for, all of us in each one of our states who take care of foster children and we place them in foster homes and they run away and we don't find them and we don't search for them and they go on the streets and they get scooped up by somebody who says i love you, stay with me, i'll buy you clothes. i'll buy you jewelry. i'll put you on the street, too, and that's how you'll buy those things and guess what, you'll provide me with some of those things too. that just makes me sick. it should make every american sick to their stomach. we need to stop this. i've seen it with my own eyes for 19 years involved in this case, trying to bring this monster who not only took away

their soul but he also eventually ended up taking away their life and he ripped that ife out of the families' hands . gone. my 15-year-old daughter gone. can you imagine? so that's why we need to help folks. one of the -- this is such an important piece of legislation. one of the young ladies who was one of the first victims in coffield. as wendy she was a foster care, wound up on the streets. nobody looked for her until we found her floating in a river just south of seattle. ead. one of the things that i wanted to do as the chair of the human

resources subcommittee was to help educate this country and other members about this issue and we held hearings and we had experts from dshs in the state of washington and human resources across the country who were directors of dshs and were social workers and provided information. you know, one of the most powerful speakers and witnesses e had was a young lady named ms. or tezz walker pet grew. she is nicknamed t. she is part of the 100 most influential people of the world. this is a young lady who spent her first 18 years of her life in foster care and seven of those years were in human trafficking. and she's now one of the most 100 most influential people in the world.

she was trafficked on the streets. she was trafficked on the internet. she was trafficked on the back pages of newspapers and now she's speaking out and she's the one and people like that are the ones that provide us with that information. i think that we can all agree that our nation's children deserve better. because her statement was and her comment was i felt like i was part of a family. i identified with my pimp, and the other young ladies who were out working the street, that was my family versus having a family that could hold them and love them. this bill requires states to identify victims of sex trafficking and provide them with the services they need to heal. it will also improve data on instances of child sex trafficking so better policies can be developed to prevent it. also on the prevention front, this bill makes sure that kids can be kids, that foster kids can participate in after-school

events which would give them -- i think make them less vulnerable, anyway, to getting them involved in street activity and get sucked into the life of human trafficking. it encourages states to move -- states to move children out of the foster care system and into loving families more quickly. the approach we're taking is practical. it's bipartisan. it's based on experiences from states around the country. it's evidence-based and it's also real-life experience-based. this bill incorporates a wide range of ideas from bills gleaned from members of the ways and means committee, like mr. paulson, which will speak soon. all of the house and over 150 pages of public comment received in our december, 2013, discussion draft. i want to thank the subcommittee ranking member, mr. doggett, as well as the chairman, mr. camp and ranking member, mr. levin, for their support of this legislation and

for their help throughout its development. i also want to thank the many outside groups who offered their feedback and support and as of today we have received support for this bill from 48 child welfare groups, which is an indication of the importance of this legislation. i can't think of a more important, more bipartisan topic than protecting vulnerable children in foster care and working to find loving homes for each of them. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i yield myself one minute to join in the accolades for our chairman, dave camp of michigan, to particularly recognize the key role he played in helping to create our child abuse commission, which is currently holding hearings. they had the first one down in san antonio in my district.

they'll be going to michigan. they've been in florida and i think they're collecting data that will provide us another opportunity to act, to deal with some of the same issues that we're concerned with today and i appreciate the leadership that he has shown and certainly that mr. reichert has shown. i'm pleased that among those groups that we heard from is the american academy of pediatrics which play such a leading role. they say that this legislation is an essential step in improving the health and well-being of foster youth and expanding their access to appropriate perm nancy options. the -- permanency options. the children's defense fund was important in this legislation and emphasized the importance of permanent placements for children as they leave care and empowering our older youth. so i believe that this bipartisan legislation is a good step forward, and i reserve the balance of my time. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. reichert: mr. speaker, may i inquire as to how much time is remaining? the speaker pro tempore: four minutes remain. mr. reichert: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. paulson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is ecognized. mr. paulsen: this is absolutely an area where there is agreement and bipartisan and bicameral work being done and we have already passed five anti-trafficking bills in may and i'm pleased we're taking additional action on these pieces of legislation tonight. more than 100,000 children are at risk of being trafficked for commercial sex in the united states, and those most at risk of victimization are the vull unusual, including children -- vulnerable, including children in foster care. they are unable to participate in school activities, play after-school sports or even spend time with friends. youth that have been involved in the foster care system are

much more likely to become runaways or homeless at an early age. the preventative measures in this legislation will make a difference. mr. speaker, on any given night, ,500 youth in minnesota, my home -- 2,500 youth in minnesota, my home state, will experience homelessness and the majority are solicited for sex within 48 hours of becoming homeless or out on the street. in fact, law enforcement will say and tell me that the overwhelming majority of trafficked victims are homeless. most were in foster care or group homes when they ran away. we know that trafficking is a complex problem that requires many different solutions. it's going after the johns, shutting off access of trafficking through backpage.com. passing safe harbor laws to make sure that children are treated as victims, not as criminals. and most importantly, as we have in this legislation, we

need to prevent children from becoming potential victims in the first place. this bill takes important steps to improve the sharing of information as to what is happening, where and to whom, by eye dendfying trends and filling in the gaps -- identifying trends and filling in the gaps, we can prevent this from happening in the first place. i want to thank not only chairman camp, ranking member levin and ranking member doggett, i want to thank subcommittee chair reichert for his passion, advocacy and hard work on this legislation, we brought this together in a bipartisan fashion. i want to thank for including provisions from the legs that i authored with congress -- legislation that i authored with congresswoman slaughter, reporting to law enforcement as it relates to runaway youth from the child welfare system, and i look forward to its passage and the passage of all of these important bipartisan bills this evening because together we can end trafficking. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota yields back. the gentleman from washington reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas.

mr. doggett: mr. speaker, could you report on the time i have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: 12 1/2 minutes. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i would yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i'm so pleased tonight to hear one colleague after another indicate that they are ready to act in a bipartisan way on this issue and that it should be a bipartisan commitment to addressing the vulnerability of our children. i think that needs to apply to all children. this legislation that we are considering at the moment is one of seven bills that we are going to approve here in the house today that deal with trafficking. because trafficking remains a serious problem here and around the world. several of the bills that we are considering recognize that there is an international dimension to this problem, and therefore, i would particularly urge my republican colleagues and all of our colleagues tonight to remember next week the statements that are being

made this evening and to be as concerned about the vulnerability and the exposure to trafficking of those children who have recently sought refuge in our country as we are about foster children or any other children in our country. while the sex trafficking prevention in this bill addresses specifically problems within the foster care system, the surge of -- scourge of youth sex trafficking extends far beyond this population. as we are aware, we've had a recent influx of children come across our southern border, many of whom have been abused t home, abused along a 1,000-plus-mile track and could be involved in sex trafficking. a group that works help end modern day slavery notes that undocumented immigrants are highly vulnerable to sex trafficking due to their lack of legal status and protections, language barriers, limited employment options,

immigration-related deaths and social isolation. most of these vulnerabilities are amplified when the immigrants are children. we have an obligation in this congress to take their unique situation into account and provide them with the protection and the care that they deserve. the steady drumbeat to remove the very protections that help vulnerable children from becoming sex slaves are re-- or remaining in slavery is wrong and that is why 37 latino organizations, including the national council of la raza, the hispanic chamber of commerce, among them, all have urged this congress to assure due process for these kids rather than stripping away rights that this congress provided in current united states law. a diverse group of faith leaders, including the southern baptist convention, the

sojourners and the society of evangelicals have joined with these groups in calling to ensure that these children are not denied their due process rights and that they do not have rights guaranteed by american law today taken away next week. over 50 child development experts from around the country, many of the same people that supported our effort in today's legislation, wrote this congress yesterday and urged that we change course before we put thousands of traumatized children into danger. they describe an expedited screening process that would leave children in danger. it's the expedited screening process that applies today to mexican children. and it is flawed. children who fear trafficking or were previously trafficked can be returned to mexico to re-enter that trafficking trade and come back again. we shouldn't subject the central american children to the same process. yet that's what's been

recommended today. i'm concerned about what happens to children along the green river. about what happens along the potomac river. about what happens along the colorado river. but i'm also concerned about what's happening to the many who have just crossed the rio grande river. when children are asked about whether they have been trafficked by a police officer who may not speak their native language, in a rushed interview in what may be a chaotic situation in a detention center that's much like a police station where someone who just abused them or who may have been involved in trafficking and smuggling process is nearby and can perhaps overhear these tales, they will be reluctant to articulate the sexual trauma, the very private trauma, to which they have been subjected. these children who have been traumatized, in some cases multiple times, who may well have left their native country because of abuse, deserve to be

interviewed and evaluated in an environment that takes into consideration their youth, their vulnerability, all of the factors that we've been talking about on this piece of legislation and the other six pieces of legislation that the house is about to approve. these children deserve the same type of protections, not an intimidating environment that has -- that is made more unfamiliar to them by virtue of the fact that they're in a land that they've never been to before. this special treatment does not occur and happen if you have an expedited screening process. that's why we unanimously pass the guarantees that are in the 2008 law. if we want to protect these children, we should abandon a plan to throw out these children by the wayside by abandoning those protections. i believe that we should let -- we shouldn't let our desire, the fears of some, perhaps the hate of others, result in the quick

deportation of children and return them to a life of sex slavery. they are vulnerable children. we don't assure them amnesty, certainly we cannot accept every child that wants to enter this country. i'm not in favor of amnesty but i do think we need a little humanity, a little human decency and those children deserve the same respect and due process as any child that we're talking about tonight. so i'm pleased that we're making progress on this piece of legislation and another six bills. i think they're an important step forward in dealing with a serious international problem but it's critical that this interest in bipartisan concern for the as a result nerblet of children extend to -- for the concern of the vulnerability of children extend to those in my home state and about whom we'll be talking in the few days that remain in this congress and that we aplay the same standard then as we are applying tonightism

reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. reichert: do you have any further speakers, i would ask? mr. doggett: i believe i can yield back, mr. reichert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. reichert: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert in the record a list of organizations in support of this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. reichert: mr. speaker, this legislation, as i said earlier, represents bipartisan, bicameral progress in protecting our nation's most vulnerable children. in plain language, the house of representatives cooperated together and developed a bill, the senate cooperated together, senator hatch and wyden worked together to develop a bill on the senate side. they agreed to pass the bill, we agreed and passed the bill.

this bill we're talking about today is one of those rare moments in history where not only did democrats and republicans agree, but the senate and house agreed, this was a good bill. here it is today. and after we pass this bill tonight, it will move to the senate and we already know we have agreement there. it will be passed in the senate, hopefully sometime early next week and move on to the president's desk for signing. we're focused tonight on this bill with foster kids because this is the jurisdiction that i have as the chairman of the human resources subcommittee and that mr. doggett as the ranking member has to view. we are focused on foster kids and human trafficking and helping them find loving homes so they can have a productive life, so they can have hope. hope. for the future. we need to pass this bill tonight and i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 4980? those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> mr. speakering i move that the house suspend the rules and pass -- mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5135, the human trafficking prevention, intervention and recovery act of 2014. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: h.r. 5135, a bill to combat trafficking, to identify strategies to prevent children from becoming victims of trafficking and review trafficking prevention efforts, to protect and assist in the recovery of victims of trafficking and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte, and the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. mr. goodlatte: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on h.r. 5135,

currently under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. goodlatte: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. goodlatte: i rise to speak in favor of h.r. 5135, the human trafficking prevention, intervention and recovery act of 2014, introduced by representative kristi noem. the crisis of human trafficking is rues now to the lives of its victims, many of whom are drawn if the ranks of the most vulnerable in our society. this crisis has touched nearly every corner of the globe and even exists here in the united states. the justice department and its many state and local partners have made great strides to rescue children and other victims from the terrible crime of sex trafficking. last month, the f.b.i. announced a successful nationwide sting that led to the rescue of 168 children and the arrest of 281 pimps in more than 100 cities. also last month, the justice

department seized a major website known for promoting illegal sex trafficking and indicted its owner. both of these cases, and the many other trafficking cases that have been brought in recent years, show that law enforcement is making progress in the fight against child exploitation. but sadly, there remains more work to be done. studies suggest that over 290,000 youth are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation in the united states. to effectively combat human trafficking, we must cut it off at its root by trying to prevent the trafficking before it can occur. existing requires the intra-agency task force to monitor and combat trafficking to survey the catalog and catalog the methods being employed by our federal, state government -- federal and state governments to deter individuals from committing trafficking

offenses and children from being victimized. the bill also directs the task force to identify best practices and what gaps might exist if any, in research and data so that we can place new and valuable tools in the hands of law enforcement. one challenge that victims of sex trafficking often face is a lack of financial independence that keeps them trapped in a life of prostitution. h.r. 5135 helps to address that by clarifying that existing federal trafficking grants may be used for programs that provide housing for victims of sex trafficking. as i have said before, sex traffickers and the buyers who enable them to stay in business dehumanize their victims, treating them as objects to be used for the profit and pleasure of others instead of human beings created in the image of god. in may of this year, the house passed a number of

anti-trafficking bills that originated in the house judiciary committee which are all awaiting consideration by the senate. i encourage my colleagues on the other side of capitol hill to move swiftly to pass those bills. i am pleased that we can consider another set of bipartisan anti-trafficking bills here today. it is important that we do everything that we can to bring an end to this ill list industry. h.r. 5135 will help us to do just that. i hope that this bdy will join with me and congresswoman noem supporting this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. he chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: i rise in support of traffickinghe human

prevention, intervention and recovery act of 2014. this bill is vital to identifying best practices to deter individuals pr from committing trafficking offenses and prevent children becoming victims. it enjoys bipartisan support in the house. this bill would encourage federal, state, and local governments to work together as an interagency task force to investigate and enforce the existing laws. this task force will emphasize prosecution of the purchase os -- purchases of sex with children as child rapists. these purchasers are usually referred to as johns who pay for sex with children but insofar as as children cannot consent to sex, the johns are legally committed -- committing rape and should be prosecuted as rapist. the bill encourages the law enforcement coordination with intergovernment organizations and academics who will put into practice what research and data demonstrate will work to prevent these crimes. the g.a.o. will submit a report

on how the federal grant program's funds have been used to combat human trafficking or to assist victims of trafficking , the interagency task force will submit a report to congress on its findings. the bill will also provide housing to protect and assist children and assist in recovering victims of trafficking. to date the number of victims, especially child victims, greatly exceeds the number of available shelter beds. without a safe place to stay, many rescued victims will end up running away and returning to their abusers due to the ewe trauma bond that occurs in these cases. we must do more to rescue child victims and expand services they need. our currentry has a moral imperative to protect these children and those who are vulnerable and warrant special protection, even in the best of circumstances need these services. this vulnerability is come bounded -- compounded amongst children who have been victims

of sexual exploitation, physical violence, trauma and extreme poverty. with our protection, support, and assistance we can help them survive. i commend my colleague from virginia, the chairman of the judiciary committee, for working to bring the bill to the floor and i commend our colleague from south dakota, mrs. noem, for introducing the legislation and i urge my colleagues to join me in prosecuting those who rape children, protecting and rescuing child victims and providing the victims with the support they need. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. mr. goodlatte: it's my pleasure to yield four minutes to the chief sponsor of the legislation, the gentlewoman from south dakota, ms. noem. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. noem: thank you, mr. speaker, and i want to thank the chairman for yielding as well. over the past several years my eyes have really been opened to

the disturbing type of slavery that we've seen across the world and here at home. i've heard about human trafficing before and young children being sold for sex overseas but i guess i didn't really realize how much it was happening here in the united states. and even in my home state of south dakota. the more i learned about human trafficking and the risk that is posed to our kids, the more i became convinced i needed to do something about it. the average age of a child that is trafficked is just 11 to 14 years old. many times the trafficker will lure these children in, pretending to be their friend or their boyfriend, control them through the use of drugs or alcohol, give them comfort and stability that may be lacking at home. after they have them isolated, dependent, they sell them for sex. it's heartbreaking for me as a mom and for an aunt of many nieces and nephews, as a 4-h leader and a person who works with our youth every single day to think about innocent children that are being forced into this disgusting industry. and becoming slaves to these

predators. every year hundreds of thousands of children are at risk to being trafficked here in the united states. so this isn't a problem that's far away. it's a problem that's right here in our backyards. back in south dakota i held a lot of round tables and a justice against slavery summit. i heard from local shelters, law enforcement officers, tribal leaders, from victims and advocate groups and learned from their expertise. i learned a lot about what was being done to stop human trafficing and what additional tools they needed from congress and for us to pursue. while we talked about the problem, i wanted them to focus on what they needed for solutions. with the insight of all these community leaders we identified ways we could root out the disgusting industry and help victims recover. so that's why i'm so proud to be here today. to introduce h.r. 5135, the human trafficing prevention, intervention and recover -- trafficking prevention, intervention and recovery act. how best to prevent and combat

human trafficking. the best way to stop human trafficking in its tracks is to prevent it. my bill launches a task force review to look into federal and state trafficking prevention activities. the review will be done in consultation with nongovernmental organizations like those i heard from in south dakota. and will work to identify and develop best practices to prevent trafficking. next it requires an inventory to be done of existing antitrafficking efforts by the federal government. it is important to take a hard look at all of these programs across the federal government and ensure that federal resources are targeted and that they're used where they're needed. we can also identify any gaps in federal programs that need to be filled. and finally, my bill improves existing department of justice grants and allows them to be used for shelters for survivors. do you know nationwide that there's only about 200 beds available for underage victims of sex trafficking? many of these kids, once they're rescued from their trafficker, they have nowhere

safe to go. they don't have any other option, so often what they're forced to do is to return to their trafficker. many who are in the foster care system don't have the family support that is necessary to be safe and to recover. so sadly without a place to recover from the trauma that's happened in their lives, kids return back to those traffickers and that's why it's important that we use federal resources wisely to promote more facilities to help these recovering children. so i'm proud to be standing here with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to take action on this bill today and other bills that were brought to deal with sasking. it's an issue that we -- sex trafficking. it's an issue that we can and we should all stand together on. together they do more to prevent trafficking, give law enforcement more tools to deal with it and help victims recover. i urge my colleagues to support this package and continue our fight to end human trafficking. thank you, mr. chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south dakota

yields back -- the gentlelady from south dakota yields back. the gentleman from virginia reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. mr. goodlatte: thank you, mr. speaker. now it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from tennessee, ms. black, who s also been a leader on -- builds black, who has also been a leader on this issue. mrs. black: as many as 17,500 people are trafficked into our country annually. with the rise of the internet, the number of sex trafficking incidents in particular has exploded. we must do what we can to combat this rising epidemic, by identifying best practices in combating trafficking so that others can duplicate these successful models. i'm proud that in my home state

of tennessee the tennessee bureau of investigation has developed a card that would identify an algorithm of how law enforcement would interview those two potentially have been sex trafficked, as well as on the back of the card those kinds of resources that can be used to help those who are in this situation. systems like this must be identified, studied and duplicated to combat trafficking and i'm proud to support this bill from congresswoman noem that would help to make this very important work successful. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from tennessee yields back. the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte, reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, at this time it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from north dakota, mr. cramer. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized. mr. cramer: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the chairman for yielding. it's no secret that my home state of north dakota is enjoying the blessing of an energy boom, an economic boom, driven largely by an oil and gas renaissance that has us contributing now over a million barrels of oil per day toward america's security. but with this comes some unwanted consequences and chief among them is a growing demand for the product of human trafficking. it has caused the citizens of our clean and beautiful state to be somewhat alarmed, rightfully so. our local and state law enforcement agencies are stressed to the max. our nonprofit and faith-based communities are doing all that they can to assist and doing it with great effort, but need some additional help and encouragement. so this and many of the other bills that have been passed by the house and hopefully, and i'm sure will be passed, in the next couple of days dealing with this plague of human trafficing will provide the

tools that -- human trafficking will provide the tools that frankly only the federal government can provide and provide the encouragement we can provide to assist, not replace, but assist local, state and nonprofit agencies in this fight against the plague of human trafficking in our society and i encourage all of my colleagues to support this and the other bills before us. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north dakota yields back. the gentleman from virginia reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. mr. goodlatte: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i'm the only speaker remaining on our side. we're prepared to close whenever the gentleman from virginia is. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: mr. scott yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. mr. goodlatte: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. goodlatte: to say to all that the chair of the judiciary

committee appreciates the bipartisan work that has been done on many of the sex trafficking bills. i appreciate especially the work of the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, who is the ranking member on the crime subcommittee, and the ranking member of the full committee, mr. conyers, as well. and commend the chairman of that subcommittee, mr. sensenbrenner, as well as congresswoman noem for their leadership on this issue as well. sex trafficking is a serious problem and while we see it around the world, we should not overlook the fact that it is a serious problem right here in the united states. this bill joins several others that we have already passed through the house, representatives, to address this serious problem and it deserves the same bipartisan support that the others received and it also deserves consideration on the other side of the capitol by the other body, which needs to take these bills up and pass them as well,

so they can go to the president's desk and be signed into law. this is truly a bipartisan effort, to address a serious national problem and we all need to join into the solution. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5135. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 5116. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 5116, a bill to direct the secretary of homeland security to train department of homeland security personnel how to effectively deter, detect, disrupt and prevent human trafficking during the course of their primary roles and responsibilities, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from indiana, mrs. brooks, and the gentlewoman from california, ms. sanchez, each will control 20 minutes the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from indiana. mrs. brooks: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the bill under

consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. brooks brocks brooks mr. speaker, i yield my he was mrs. brooks: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. brooks: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of h.r. 5116, the human trafficking detection act of 2014, sponsored by the gentleman from north carolina, mr. meadows. this bill requires the department of homeland security to implement a human trafficking awareness training program for customs and border protection, transportation security administration and other d.h.s. personnel which is tailored to their professional roles and responsibilities. additionally, it directs the secretary of homeland security to annually assess and update training as needed based on current human trafficking trends and then report to congress on the number of suspected and confirmed trafficking cases reported by d.h.s. officials. lastly it authorizes d.h.s. to provide training curriculum to nonfederal entities that

request assistance in setting up their own programs. the committee on homeland security expects that this bill will primarily codify already existing training programs within the department, thereby having little or no implementation costs. mr. speaker, d.h.s. plays a critical role in combating human trafficking. which has unfortunately become one of the most profitable forms of transnational crime in the world. amounting to a $32 billion per year industry. trafficked individuals are often forced into prostitution and labor and an estimated 100,000 u.s. children are victims of trafficking each year. this modern-day form of slavery is a heinous stain on our society. moreover, it's often c.b.p. personnel, they're often the first to come into contact with unaccompanied minors crossing the border, which we are seeing on a daily basis now. it's become a significant humanitarian crisis that must

be addressed. and while these children are crossing under a variety of circumstances, it is imperative that d.h.s. personnel encountering them are adequately trained to detect potential victims of trafficking and respond most appropriately. as a member of the committee on homeland security and chair of the subcommittee on emergency preparedness, response and communications, i believe it is critical that we continue to equip department of homeland security personnel with up-to-date training and the tools to detect and counter this growing challenge. including fema, the federal emergency management agency, employees and others who often are working on the frontlines with local communities. and we know they are working on the frontlines of the southern border as we speak. h.r. 5116 would not only strengthen and codify training requirements for d.h.s., but it would also provide congress with a clearer picture of the effectiveness of the training, as well as the number of

suspected and confirmed instances of human trafficking reported by d.h.s. officials. finally, this bill will encourage partnerships between d.h.s. and state, local and tribal governments, as well as private organizations, to set up additional training programs, raise broader awareness and further enable these entities to become a force multiplier in human trafficking prevention and detection efforts. i commend congressman meadows for introducing this bill, as well as mr. mccaul, the chairman of the subcommittee on transportation, mr. hudson, and the ranking member of the subcommittee and the ranking member who is here in the chamber today, and the fact that we are working on this in a bipartisan way, and i appreciate their continued attention to this critical issue and i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 5116 and reserve the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california.

ms. sanchez: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of h.r. 5116, the human trafficking act of 2014 and yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. sanchez: thank you. this whole issue of human trafficing is one, in my 18 years in congress, that i have been working significantly on. i sit on the homeland security committee and one of the things we were able to do many years ago was to direct funds actually into my area, into orange county, california, to work on a collaboration of state and -- states and agencies and police officers and the federal government and we funded this to make one of the first task forces on human trafficking in our nation. originally, there were six, and we were one of six.

now there are, i think, in the double digits. and so we've learned a lot. we've learned a lot about human trafficking. we've learned that there are some countries that are initiation or supply countries. there are some that just transit these young people, these children, these women, and we've also learned that there are destination countries, or demand countries. of course the united states is one of the largest demand countries. we're also a transit country because we take our own children from one state and put them in the other state. we're also a supply country because we use our own children in this human trafficking profits, these terrible people who do this. they're really just, most of the time, about making money any way they can. and so what we know is that

there are many children being trafficked across our state lines but also across our borders. they come into our airports, they come in through boats in miami, and in my state of california. and yes, they pour across our borders. just as we see the humanitarian crisis that my colleague mentioned earlier. nd so some of the people who first see these young children, or these women who are being trafficked, are going to be our customs people. they're going to be our border patrol. and as you can imagine, depending on the circumstance, there's a lot of -- they've got a lot of other things coming -- going on in their mind. they're trying to stem people

from coming across, trying to determine if people have drugs o they may not notice what you can notice, and that is that the trafficking of people -- and that is the trafficking of people. because in order to traffic that person, you have to have the trafficker coming along with them. so if we train them, if we give , our department of homeland security, our customs, our border patrol, our people, our transport people, will have a better idea and will be able to see almost immediately, which is what i've learned to do through this task force that we have, the signs re always there. it's do we know, do we have something in our mind that can show us what is happening. now, the department of homeland

security has obviously tried but they've got a lot of things they've got to work with. so by actually doing and increasing awareness and increasing training of our frontline employees, we will do a better job. we'll do a better job of stopping this trafficking. i thank the pe and other side for working with us to ensure that this bill moves forward and becomes law, to give that additional training that i believe our department of homeland security employees need i want, and with that, reserve the balance of my time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from indiana. ms. brooks: mr. speaker, i yield such time as he may consume to

the distinguished gentleman from north carolina, the sponsor of the legislation, mr. meadows. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. meadows: thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to thank the gentlewoman from indiana for her leadership on this particular issue, for her time and her eloquent remarks in introducing this particular piece of legislation. i would also like to thank the gentlewoman from california who is leading from the other side of the aisle and you know, much is made of headlines, of where the dysfunction of washington, d.c. is in every newspaper on how things do not work and yet a few hundred feet away from me is the gentlewoman from california, representing a constituency many, many miles away from my home state of north carolina. so today we have not only reaching across the aisle, but we have reaching across the

country, from california to north carolina. because human trafficking affects us all. i was first made aware of this by my daughter who was 15 years old she did a report on human trafficking, i thought it was one of those things that was not a big deal until she informed that it was in our backyard. it was ooin our neighborhoods, in our communities -- it was in our neighborhoods, in our communities. and right now, some estimated 23 million people are trafficked, caught up in human trafficking. to give you perspective of that, that equals a number that is very close to another slavery that we know as a horrific blight on our nation and our world, the african slave trade. today we have more people caught up in modern day slavery than at the height of that particular time.

and yet somehow we continue to not address it. and so hopefully on our watch, mr. speaker, we will address that. i want to provide a little bit of the context of this particular bill and the genesis of it came from a hearing. many times we have hearings over and over, mr. speaker. some people say, well, why do you continue to have those hearings? we had some delta airline flight attendants who came into a hearing that was -- they were talking about the effort they went on a voluntary basis to set up a program to train their flight attendants and ultimately now all of their customer service representatives who see people on a daily -- on a day-by-day basis, they've trained them to recognize those that are being trafficked. yet they did this on their own and so from that, we felt like

it would be a good idea to not only partner with them to provide that same type of training for the federal workers that get to see these people at our borders, in our airports, and places across our nation. i want to thank chairman mccaul, chairman hudson, mr. o'rourke, the entire homeland security committee staff for their hard work on working on this bill to make it not only one that hopefully will be a useful tool, but also one that will make a difference. it is estimated that there is no additional cost for providing this training, and yet the benefits will be great. tens of thousands of people are trafficked through the united states every year. 0% of whom are exploited

sexually. 2/3 of them. women. more accurately, most of them little girls. we must stand together in a bipartisan way and i thank my colleague across the aisle for working with us and her leadership on this. but if we are successful, well, the word should not be if, but when we are successful, mr. speaker, we will have saved thousands of lives, we will have changed thousands of lives, and so it is with great humility that i ask my colleagues to come together and support this piece of legislation and with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina yields back. the gentlewoman from indiana reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california. ms. sanchez: mr. speaker, i have no more speakers if the gentlewoman from indiana is -- has no more speakers, i'm

prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. sanchez: mr. speaker, first of all, i would like to applaud representative meadows for introducing what i think is a very important piece of legislation in a bipartisan manner and i'm thankful that he cares enough and that he has a daughter who wrote a report. this is -- you know, these people who are trafficked live amongst us. in particular, they live in areas where there's lots of diversity, lots of people going about, doing their business, in crowded areas a lot. trafficked, you're right, they're exploited for sexual purposes, about 70% of them. but the other 30% are -- they're

used in homes, in domestic servitude. not even getting, sometimes, to sleep in a bed of the very house where they're worked as a slave. sleeping on the floor, getting the crumbs off the table. we've seen that. we've seen that in orange county, california. one of the richest areas of the nation. and one of the nicest homes this is happening with a little egyptian girl that was there, had been trafficked in by a family. and if it's not demest exand it's not sexual, then it's sweat shops. where people literally have their passports and papers taken away and they're working 18 or 19 hours a day and not being paid. barely being fed. and so they're all around us. americans have to open up their

eyes. we have to see it in our neighborhood. and of course we have to stop them as they bring them from other countries. and that's why i believe that our nation's screeners and our customs officers serve as the eyes and the ears on the frontline of our ports of entry and exit from the united states. if they are properly trained, then they will see it and they can help stop it. lastly, i'm very grateful that tonight we've had a series of bills with respect to human trafficking. i just want to remind my colleague that this humanitarian crisis we see on our southern border, that many of those children also have faced what we are talking about tonight. and in order to stop it, we have to be as generous as possible with those young people to

restart their lives. with that, mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to say yes to this bill and i yield back the alance of my time. >> thank you, mr. speaker. this bill, that will ensure that trafficking is provided to d.h.s. employees, and that is so very important, the gentlelady from california reminded me that when i was united states attorney, between 2001 and 2007, we started one of the human trafficking task forces in indianapolis. mrs. brooks: and at that time human trafficking was not really a concept that law enforcement really understood. and so trafficking task forces did start up in this country. and they have grown and we've put a lot of resources at the local and state level, educating law enforcement,

nonprofit groups, and neighborhood groups to understand what human trafficking is. but i think what this bill does is it strengthens for the federal employees the department of homeland security -- federal employees, the department of homeland security employees, their training, so that they, as the gentlelady from california mentioned, they who have so many responsibilities, whether they are coming through our port, whether they're coming through our airports, whether they're coming through our borders, they need the same type of training, if not enhanced training, than what they already have. and providing d.h.s. employees with the tools to identify and appropriately respond to the potential victims of human trafficking will only serve as that force multiplier as we work to combat this terrible crime. so i urge all members to join me in supporting this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from indiana yields back. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 5116. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> i move that the house suspend the ruse and -- rules and pass h.r. 22 3. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: -- 2283. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will rorpt title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 2283, a bill 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. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. smith, and the gentleman from new york, mr. maloney, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. smith: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: mr. speaker, today is an historic day for the house of representatives so i'd like to begin by offering my profound appreciation for the extraordinary leadership of majority leader eric cantor,

for encouraging and moving through this house this very comprehensive package of antitrafficking legislation. i've been this congress now 34 years and i've never seen so many bills that are mutually reence forcing, that send a clear -- he enforcing, that send a clear, -- reinforcing, that send a clear message to the rest of the world and to americans that we care and we care deeply about the victims and we want to put the perpetrators behind bars for a very, very long time. so i again want to thank eric cantor for his leadership. i'm very proud to say that the united states continues to lead the world in our trafficking responses at home and abroad. the bills we debate today not only bring relief to trafficking victims, but light the way for the rest of the world to do likewise. one of the greatest and most successful efforts to transmit our best practices to the rest of the world and to ensure accountability for minimum standards that we created in

the trafficking victims protection act is the office to monitor and combat trafficking in persons, housed in the u.s. department of state, created by the legislation that i authored known as the trafficking victims protection act of 2000. over the last 15 years, this office has been led by several incredibly talented and dedicated ambassadors who through their persistence and grit have turned down the annual trafficking in persons record , laying bare the for each country for the world to see. tear one countries for the record -- tier one countries for the record are countries that meet the minimum standard. tier two countries do not meet the minimum standards but are making significant efforts to do so. tier three countries do not meet the standards and are not making significant efforts to do so. and those countries can be held

liable through a series of sanctions that are imposed by our government. along with tier one, two and three, we also have what we call a watch list. since the tips reports inception, mr. speaker, more than 100 countries have enacted antitrafficking laws and many countries have taken other steps required to significantly raise their tier rankings. many citing the tip report as a key factor in their increased antitrafficking response. the importance of accurate tier rankings cannot be overstated. over the years we have seen countries begin in you are nest the hard work of reaching -- ernest the hard work of aching the standards, each country's failure to take significant action against human trafficking. whether that country be a close ally or foe, the tip report is designed to speak truth to

power and even some of our greatest friends and allies like south korea, israel have found themselves on tier three, only to engage in herculean efforts to get off tier three and to protect victims and to prosecute the traffickers. the tier rankings were meant to be and in large part have become a very powerful tool in the fight against trafficking. we have found a system that works, but tragically it is sometimes muffled, miss guide and marginalized by unrelated bilateral concerns and by the internal structure of the state department itself. in the words of ambassador lagan from 2007 to 2009, he was our ambassador at large to combat human trafficking, he said, state department does a tremendous job in producing a report which tells it like it is, offering objective rankings, yet it pulls its

punches at times, typically due to the urging of regional specialists rather than the tip office's dedicated experts on trafficking. this problem, mr. speaker, is what my bill, the human -- trafficking priorization act or h.r. 2283, seeks to remedy. human trafficking priorization act will keep the fight against human trafficking from being lost in the politics of other u.s. interests by raising the status of jtip from an office to that of a bureau within the u.s. department of state. in the words words of ambassador john miller who served from 2002 to 2006 as ambassador at large, upgrading the status of the office of a bureau to a bureau will not create additional bureaucracy, it will simply give jtip and the ams about doer at large who heads it -- ambassador at large who heads standings as functional bureaus within the department of state. that standing is absolutely essential for the issue to

remain a priority, especially when multiple u.s. interests are engaged. h.r. 22 3 encouraged the secretary -- 2283 encouraged secretary to upgrade, to lead the bureau without leading to the number of assistant secretaries the state department is permitted by law. in addition, h.r. 2283 will make it more difficult for countries and some state department bureaus to game the tier ranking system, by limiting the time period countries can use promises of action to avoid tier downgrades. currently a country can sit on the tier two watch list for up to four years, with presidential waivers, effectively stringing the u.s. along with promises to take action, but never actually taking action. after four years, by law, the country must be automatically downgraded to tier three and therefore subject to sanctions. the law worked very well upon

its first limitation in 2013 reporting cycle, but we discovered a problem with dwhreer, when china was wrongly and foolishly upgraded from tier three to tier two watch list. as the law is currently written, china and its enablers at the u.s. department of state can game the system for four more years. h.r. 2283 will hold countries like china accountable by limiting to one year the amount of time a country can stay on the tier two watch list after the country was previously ordered downgraded to tier three. h.r. 2283 builds on the success of the t.i.p. office for the sake of the 21 million people still living in modern day slavery and does so without increasing the cost of government. h.r. 2283 will give the t.i.p. office the integration and voice it deserves within the state department and ensure accurate accountability for countries failing to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human

trafficking. i respectfully urge my colleagues to support the bill and i would like to also thank and offer special thanks to gary, hallie and tim and the grassroots efforts of the international justice mission, which worked so tirelessly to educate members of congress on the importance of this bill and i would note that at least two of those people, holly and gary, especially gary when we were first writing the trafficking victims protection act, was a frequent contributor to hearings, as we crafted the bill, and then when we did the oversight, as to how well or poorly the u.s. department of state was implementing the law, you could always count on him to be there to give a very, very incisive look at the work that was being done or not being done. so thanks very, very special thanks to them for their work on this legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. mr. speaker, do i ask, if i could, i yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from

north carolina, mr. meadows, and ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control the time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. >> mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> first let me thank my friend and colleague, representative chris smith. mr. maloney: for introducing this important piece of legislation, which elevates the office of -- to monitor and combat trafficking to the status of bureau within the state department. put simply, as we've heard this evening, human trafficking is modern day slavery. regime.sents a brutal unfortunately this practice is all too common around the world and in our own neighborhoods. but fortunately the united states is committed to responding to this crime here at home, arbleds the world -- around the world, and since this congress passed the trafficking victims protection act in 2000, leaders on both

sides of the aisle have rallied around this issue. indeed three administrations have made this effort a priority. and our coordination across government through the president's interagency task force on human trafficking has never been stronger. mr. speaker, today we can take another step forward, by making the office to monitor and combat trafficking in persons a full bureau within the state department. this office is already doing such critical work. its annual trafficking and persons report has become the global gold standard in assessing how well governments around the world are meeting this important challenge. elevating the trafficking office to a state department bureau would send a strong message to the world that combating modern day slavery remains a top priority for the united states. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina. med med thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker -- mr. meadows: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include

extraneous materials on h.r. 2283 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. meadows: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to rise in support of this particular legislation and follow up on what the gentleman from new jersey had shared, the importance of not only the t.i.p. report but to remain vinlle with a number of the countries -- vigil with a number of the countries abroad where trafficking has become very commonplace. just in the last week, we had an ambassador from one of those countries come to us and share the fact that they are a tier three country. they were very concerned and wanted to outline the things that they were doing to try to combat human trafficking. it was very obvious to me that with the emphasis that we have placed on that, not only here in congress, but with the state

department, that making human trafficking a priority for them to correct and combat was certainly something that has drawn great attention. to strengthen the efforts there, to continue to strengthen the state department, to raise the -- and elevate this position to bureau status certainly will send a message not only to our country , not home to countries abroad -- only to countries abroad, ut hopefully will give hope to young girls and young men that are being trafficked in so many of these foreign countries. that the united states is serious about this. and that it is not just a few words that perhaps are shared by myself and the gentleman from new york here on the house floor today, but that it goes to the very core of who we are, that we must stand up and be a

voice for those who have no voice and with that, mr. speaker, i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. maloney: mr. speaker, i'd like to thank the gentleman from north carolina, i listened with great interest to his words earlier, i'd like to thank him and acknowledge him for his leadership on this issue and so it's so great to see him reaching across the aisle to do so and i want to acknowledge his leadership on this issue. mr. speaker, i'd like to yield two minutes to my colleague from new mexico, mr. lujan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new mexico is recognized. mr. lujan: i rise in support of this legislation and many other bills we are considering that deal with human and sex trafficking, an important issue, critical issue that especially relates to protecting children who are too often victims of abuse and violence. i commend the speaker for bringing these bills up for a vote. mr. speaker, as i was watching the debate this evening, i

couldn't tout but come back to the floor. i hope all of my colleagues that are speaking tonight on the importance of passing these human trafficking bills will join us next week to talk about the importance of protecting children. it was with alarm, mr. speaker, that i read a letter that speaker boehner penned to president barack obama that appears that my republican colleagues when they left the meeting earlier this afternoon are asking to take away the very protections from children during a law that was passed in 2008 that we're asking to protect these children tonight. so we come today to ask my colleagues to read the transcripts, to read the debate this evening and to think about it. to go home this weekend and talk to our pastors and religious loords about it,

because these kids that we'll are king about next week the very protections. this is the same motivation that moved this body to pass legislation that became law in 2008, to protect children. this law has become the subject of much condemnation from many of my republican colleagues as we discuss the humanitarian crisis on the border. while we are here on this floor debating legislation to protect children, yet, many of my colleagues want to take away due process from children who are trying to escape unimaginable violence in central america. the murder capital of the world, the violence was captured in a story recently and i apologize for the graphic nature of this story -- if i might have another 30 seconds. mr. maloney: i yield two

minutes. mr. lujan: the story during the late night visit to the san pedro morgue, more than 60 bodies, all victims were piled in a heap, each wrapped in a own plastic bag, while picking bullets -- technicians discussed how they regularly received corpses of children under 10 and sometimes as young s 2. an 11-year-old had his throat slit by other children because he did not pay a 50 cent extortion fee. the doctor at the morgue said, before we saw children being killed because they were at the scene when gangs were coming to prey on families and they just appened to be there.

there are hundreds of stories like this which i'll submit into the record with extraneous materials, but, mr. speaker, i beg and i plead of my colleagues, each and every one of us that may or may not have been here when the law passed but those of us that are here now. these are kids. we love children and we need to make sure they are not victims of these horrific crimes. please, please take this weekend and ask the speaker to remove the provisions that will take away the dufe process from these children -- due process from these children and as we pass these bills together, let us not forget what brought this congress together in 2008, to protect these children. let us show the same compassion that is the driving force of these bills tonight. and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields.

>> i'd like to thank the gentleman from new mexico for his eloquent, passionate remarks, concern that many of us share. mr. maloney: with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from north carolina is recognized. mr. meadows: mr. speaker, we have no more speakers and so i would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 2283. as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? mr. meadows: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4449, as

introduced. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4449, a bill to amend the trafficking victims protection act of 2000 to expand the training for federal government personnel related to trafficking in persons and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. meadows, and the gentleman from new york, mr. maloney, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina. mr. meadows: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and to heir remarks include extraneous materials on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. meadows: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. meadows: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of the bill 4449, to amend the trafficking victims protection act of 2000 and to expand the training for the federal government personnel related to

trafficking in persons and for other purposes. i thank the gentleman from new york for his leadership and addressing this issue and as we look at this, this particular bill will require appropriate personnel at the department of state that they will be trained in identifying victims of severe forms of trafficking and provide for the protection of those victims. h.r. 4449 would specify three minimum training requirements in that underlying statute. one, a distance learning course for embassy and bureau personnel dealing with trafficking issues. two, trafficking briefings for all ambassadors and d.c.m.'s before they head to their postings. and three, annual reminders to appropriate personnel regarding key trafficking problems and issues related to their

legislation extend new minimum training procedures for personnel in nt order to identify and stop human and icking at its source take action before people cross the borders before it becomes already inen they're the united states and already victimized. since we know criminals will do and about anything to adapt to avoid being caught, this legislation also requires annual problems, key threats, methods and warning signs of trafficking. colleagues ank my across the aisle because by working across the aisle we have new community to combat this practice ofonstrous trafficking children, women and men. urge my er, i colleagues to support my egislation, the human

trafficking prevention act we're prepared to close if the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mr. meadows: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to just close by saying anything we can do certainly to continue to highlight this particular issue, whether it's with the state department or laws within our nat n is -- gives us the rare opportunity to affect lives, not only here in the united states but across the world. i'd like to thank the committee work for those on the foreign affairs committee, their diligence and hard work here at a late hour, certainly our own personal staffs, congressional staffs. many times they don't get mentioned. with that i urge my colleagues to support this, h.r. 4449 and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house

suspend the rules and pass the ill h.r. 4449, as amended. as introduced. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on he table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> mr. speaker, i have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. peters of california moves that the managers on the part of the house at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two

houses on the house amendment to the senate amendment to the bill h.r. 3230, an county act to improve the access of veterans to medical services from the department of veterans affairs, and for other purposes, be instructed into, one, recede from disagreement with section 702 of the senate amendment, relating to the approval of courses of education provided by public institutions of higher learning for purposes of the all-volunteer force educational assistance program, and the post-9/11 educational assistance program, conditional on interstate tuition rate for veterans, and, two, recede from the house amendment and concur in the senate amendment in all other instances. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 7 of rule 22, the gentleman from california, mr. peters, and the gentleman from florida, mr. miller, each will control 30 minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from -- minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. peters: thank you, mr.

speaker. i rise today in strong support of the veterans' access to care through choice accountability and transparency act of 2014, which the senate passed on a bipartisan 93-3 vote last month. it's no secret that the department of veterans affairs is failing to keep our nation's promise to our veterans and their families. ensuring that our veterans have access to the medical care and benefits that they have earned is one of the most important jobs of congress and a top priority of mine given the more than 200,000 veterans who live in san diego county. in recent months, failures at the phoenix v.a. and other facilities across the country demonstrated a culture of complacency and ineptitude that is unacceptable and must change. and this time, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield three minutes to my colleague from phoenix. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from arizona is recognized. sinn sinn thank you, mr. chair. i -- ms. sinema: thank you, mr. chair. i thank mr. peters for his motion to instruct and his

leadership and work for veterans and military families. this urges house conferees to accept language in the senate bill that ensures post-9/11 veterans receive in-state tuition at colleges and universities regardless of their home state. this concept was overwhelmingly supported by the house of representatives when it passed the g.i. bill tuition fairness act in february. i'm a co-sponsor of the g.i. bill tuition fairness act authored by chairman miller and i appreciate his bipartisan leadership and dedication to improving opportunities for veterans. tuition fairness gives our veterans a better chance to achieve the american dream. in april, 2011, as a state senator, i authored and led the effort to pass the same law in arizona. and i am proud to now be a part of the national effort to make college more affordable for our veterans. as david, president of the arizona veterans and military leadership alliance, said, this is an opportunity to create the next great estrogen ration, by

investing in our veteransed a -- greatest generation, by investing in our veterans. i couldn't agree more. acting on tuition fairness is the right thing to do. acting on a v.a. reform bill is also the right thing for congress to do. but in arizona, we're not waiting for congress to act. we're making sure that veterans receive the care they need right now. in phoenix we recently co-hosted the veterans first clinic, which brought together community providers, the phoenix v.a., and over 20 veterans-serving organizations to help veterans access services. we're leveraging community-based providers to make sure that veterans receive timely access to care and we are holding the v.a. accountable through monthly reporting meetings. we are moving forward while washington drags its feet. because in arizona we believe that veterans and their families should come first. but more action is required. i appreciate the bipartisan work to advance the v.a. reform

bill, especially from chairman miller and ranking member michaud. and i call on the conferees to move quickly to produce commonsense reforms that can be signed into law. by working together, we can address this crisis and create a v.a. system that our veterans deserve. again, i thank my colleague from california for offering this motion and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. mr. peters: thank you. i thank my colleague from phoenix, ms. cinema. while san diego's v.a. centers -- ms. sinema. and while san diego's v.a. centers have performed and backlog claims have been redulesed significantly in my region, we can't ignore the larger structural reforms that the entire v.a. system clearly needs. in san diego, my district office staff has been working to help veterans and their families who who have experienced the bureaucratic red tape firsthand. since coming to congress last year, we've handled more than 400 vet cans' race -- veterans' cases. i've also focused on ways to

make the transition from active duty service back to civilian life an easier one for our veterans and their families. last year i engaged with military commanders, nonprofits and veterans' advocates to launch the military transition support project. this collaborative commune effort will provide a central hub of information for service members as they become veterans and search for housing, employment and benefits. it's on its way to being a national model and doesn't cost the federal government or taxpayers a dime. the experience of dr. howard somers somers -- jean has only added to my urgency in addressing reform at the v.a. their son daniel served our country in operation iraqi freedom. as they testified in the house veterans affairs committee -- house veterans' affairs committee, their son made several attempts to seek help and counseling for posttraumatic stress. but was unsuccessful ultimately and eventually he took his own

life. the v.a. system failed daniel somers, failed his parents and it's unacceptable. both the senate and the house have taken action to make real, substantive changes at the v.a. and i voted for many of these measures in the house, but the senate's plan is comprehensive, bipartisan and is the best opportunity for the quick action that our veterans deserve. it will benefit thousands of veterans by increasing their access to care, by allowing the v.a. to lease more facilities, hire doctors and nurses to fill their most pressing staff shortages, and by allowing veterans to see non-v.a. provide fathers they've been forced to wait for an appointment or live for from the closest facility it. would increase accountability on those -- it would increase accountability for those responsibility on the recent failures by allowing the v.a. secretary to fire complacent employees and through changes to the scheduling, staffing and administrative processes in each facility. part of my motion also has to do with ensuring that our

veterans, their spouses, are able to access a high-quality education after their time of active duty has ended. veterans are advancing themselves at colleges and universities across my district and across san diego and across the country. expanding in-state tuition to our vets, regardless of where they live, would expand their educational opportunities significantly and potentially reduce the financial burden that many of them face. as of today, only 24 states offer in-state tuition benefits for vets who have not yet met the standard residency requirements of that state. my home state of california is one of those that does not offer it. and university of california system, one of the premier public university systems in the entire world, more than 1,600 vets are currently enrolled. the in-state tuition at a u.c. school averages $13,200 per year, nor nonresident, $36,000. a difference of $23,000 that the vet must pay out of pocket.

u.c.-san diego, part of which is in my district, enrolls 324 veterans and nearby san diego vets. as 1,127 in the state university system, being a non-california resident costs nearly double the tuition, to the tune of $4,000 per year. by forcing veterans who fought not just for one state or for their home state, but for the entire united states, to fit into the standard residency requirements in many instances, we are forcing them to delay their education or vocational training, that which they need for career advancement. and instead of making it more difficult to use their earned g.i. bill benefits, we should more ng it easier and financially feasible. a recent national investigation called back home, the enduring battles facing post-9/11 vets, noted the example of marine corps corporal veteran brian holler, a student at u.c.-san diego's scripts institution of ocean yog are aify, he was --

oceanography, who was paying out of pocket. 15,000 veterans are discharged in the san diego region each year and about half decide to stay in the area to restart their civilian lives. many of them are not from california, but they should have access immediately to the in-state tuition rate. giving veterans the in-state tuition rate is a bipartisan idea that i know our chairman, mr. miller, supports. the house passed a bill 390-0 to provide this benefit. the comprehensive senate bill i wanted to -- want us to vote on also includes that language. mr. speaker, i hope we can pass vet advance' access to care through choice, ktability and transparency act, in its entirety, and provide the necessary relief and support to our veterans and show that the american -- show the american people that congress is capable of passing comprehensive reforms for what is clearly a broken system. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this motion to instruct, let's actually get the needed reforms in place and expand educational

opportunities and our support for our veterans and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in opposition to the motion to instruct and yield myself such time as i might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker, as i said during debate last week, on other motions to reconstruct that were brought to our floor, improving timely access to quality health care and imposing true accountability for senior managers are the keys to beginning the long process of restoring trust at the department of veterans affairs. mr. miller: this was the central charge to the conferees that are currently meeting. at the beginning of our conference. and it remains the same charge tonight. as i said last week, now's not the time to tie the hands of the conferees with an

unnecessary motion on the floor. i know my colleague, mr. peters, has the best of intentions. they're rooted in his desire to serve veterans of this country, but unfortunately somebody somewhere has different ideas. veterans except us to do what's best to improve the quality of care that they receive and the delivery of benefits that they've earned. and i certainly expect that none of these votes that have been taken, in fact i believe we've done four, will be used by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in 30-second political ads. by adopting the motion to instruct, we'd be telling our conferees to recede to the senate position on all provisions of the senate bill. while i'm still hopeful that a deal is possible, senator sanders and i and our staffs

and other conferees continue to work each day and into the night. it's becoming more difficult, though, because the senate has once again changed the goal posts and i don't know what the senate's real position is today. in fact, i said last week i don't know if the senate could vote for their own bill now. senator sanders has recently indicated his desire to expand the scope of our conference committee's work. expand it by adding v.a.'s request, and i say request in quotes because i really don't know, is it an emergency request, is it a supplemental request? nobody seems to be sure exactly what it is, most importantly v.a. doesn't know what it is, but senator sanders is asking for the inclusion of an

into onal $17.6 billion our conversation. as i said last week, both the v.a. office of inspector general and the general accounting office have said on numerous occasions that they do not haveny confidence in the number of -- have any confidence in the numbers that v.a. provides right now. moreover, at every budget hearing before our committee in recent years, the secretary has sat at the witness table and clearly said when asked by members, do you have the funds necessary, the secretary says, we have the funds necessary to meet the needs of our veterans. so why all of a sudden would we believe that v.a. sees this need for an additional $10 more n to hire 10,000 health care staff and $6

billion in new construction without thoroughly vetting the numbers? oh, yeah, add an additional $1.5 billion for i.t., when we already know that v.a. has squandered hundreds of millions of dollars in i.t. money over the years. but what i want to do for the members here tonight is to show you what a typical budget submission, a request from the administration on behalf of the department of veterans affairs, over 1,300 pages in four justify the money that is spent at the department of veterans affairs. mr. speaker, here's the explanation that was given to ask by he $17.6 billion

the department, and i have in recent days called it a three-page document. 7.6 billion justified by a three-page document. but actually if you take the cover letter off, you take the closing page off, you have one $17.6 billion. with in talking senator sanders and the acting secretary sloan gibson on the phone a couple days ago, i expressed this was not the way to justify this kind of expundture to this congress. i believe people on both sides of the aisle will clearly admit that this is not what we would

call regular order. but the acting secretary said by noon yesterday i would receive much more detailed information on this ask. and n came and rolled by it was 9:00 last night when finally we got this deep dive, additional information and they oubled the pages, two pages of information for a $17.6 billion ask. two pages. the acting secretary will be before our committee tomorrow morning. i hope he brings three pages with him to justify this request. this is not enough information or such a huge ask by v.a.

it's not some unsubstantiated guess put together in the back room of a massive bureaucracy. in fact, interestingly enough, it's titled, "a working estimate," as of july 22. this isn't even the number they are sure they want to ask for. mr. speaker, what's really disappointing is that i actually believe that we could have already come to an agreement if senator sanders had not insisted on moving the goal post and adding this $17.6 llion ask into a clearly defined conference committee. and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i have no further speakers and

prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman reserves. mr. miller: the senate has a dozen of bills sitting including important changes to the processing of disability claims that has been so backlogged over the last few years, education benefits including the in-state tuition bill that passed unanimously out of this house that has sat languishing with the other 11 bills in the senate, waiting to e brought up for a vote. the senate could pass these bills, send them to the president and they could become law right away. again, to my colleague from california, i'd remind you that h.r. 357, the g.i. bill tuition fairness act did pass this

house unanimously and you were a co-sponsor of the bill that passed by 390-0 in february. it gives states insintives to provide veterans in-state tuition rates. very similar to the provision in the senate bill that mr. eters wants our conferees to have in conference. this bipartisan bill could be sent to the president if the senate would just bring it up for a vote. , we are trying to work out a deal with the senate, but i submit to this body today that these motions to instruct are clearly becoming unproductive, are slowing down our process and unfortunately i think they are being used as nothing more than a political ploy. i find it very interesting that not one member of the minority

side on our v.a. committee has offered over the last four times a motion to instruct conferees. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote no on the motion to instruct and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. peters: thank you, mr. speaker. first, i'll lament the notion this motivated entirely by politics. though i understand it would not be entirely unusual in this body. it was 80 degrees in san diego today, and a beautiful day. i don't fly all the way over here to the 91-degree heat that feels like 100 not to do so and veterans are a top priority for me. the point of this motion is that we have something right before us that would deal with the culture of complacency that's failed our veterans and we could pass the bill supported both by senator

bernie sanders and senator john mccain, which was passed by a vote of 93-3. i don't think you could get much more bipartisan than that. and would not raise the issues that chairman miller has discussed, because if we wanted to add more money as senator sanders would want we can take that up later. there are many points of agreement in the senate bill that if we pass the senate bill would incorporate many of the things we did here in the house. we passed it just like this. so it makes all the sense in the world to go ahead and have that bill before us so that we could pass it, it could be on the president's desk tomorrow. at least many of the points of agreement like the in-state tuition, for example, would be on their way to helping veterans right away. last week i attended part of the standdown for homeless veterans in san diego. the veterans' village of san diego organized it first in

1988. there are over 200 similar programs that provide a handup, not a handout, for homeless vets. no one at the event asked me whether i thought the house or the senate or the president had the best plan for keeping the promise to america's veterans. they want action and they want it now and they don't want to hear about how the procedural rules of this place are some way to hide behind our lack of action. they fought for our country in the jungeles of vietnam, in the deserts of iraq and in the mountains of afghanistan and the fact that this house can't put aside partisan politicks to do the right thing for our -- politics to do the right thing for our veterans, for our veterans is even more messed up than anyone could imagine. yes, sir. mr. miller: mr. speaker, surely the gentleman did not insinuate that i as chairman of the most bipartisan committee in this congress was being partisan in anything that i have said or done. mr. peters: absolutely not, mr. chairman.

what i'm suggesting is that the effect of our inability to vote on the senate bill which passed 93-3 sends the message that we just can't get it together. mr. miller: if the gentleman will yield? mr. peters: yes. mr. miller: mr. speaker, i do know one bill that's much more bipartisan than the senate's 93-3 vote and that was the use's bill that passed 4440-0. mr. peters: that bill is connected -- is contained within the senate bill that i hope we're able to vote on. that's why we could kill two birds with one stone. frankly, if we can't get this kind of thing done it's no wonder that the approval rate of the body is at 9%. it's a shame. so i do urge my colleagues to adopt the motion to instruct so we can get this effort moving and provide our veterans with the educational opportunities that they deserve and with the support they deserve and with the opportunity that they deserve because they fought so

hard and so bravely for us. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman yields. all time for debate has expired. without objection, the previous question is ordered. the question is on the motion to instruct. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, he ayes have it. mr. peters: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this uestion will be postponed. the chair lays before the house the following personal request. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. gingrey of georgia for today and the balance of the week.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request s granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. it is my distinct honor to recognize a friend, a colleague, a guy i came in with in the class of 2004, my friend, mr. fortenberry, for all the time he may use. mr. fortenberry: i thank the

gentleman from texas, my good friend, congressman gohmert. i appreciate you yielding the time. i appreciate your willingness to engage in the most important dialogue facing our nation night after night and thank you, again, for allowing me to intrude a bit on your time. but i wanted to raise something . utmost urgency, mr. speaker mosul is iraq's second largest city, and for 1,600 years, mosul has been a center of christian life. and today not a single christian remains. now, who could have imagined that one month ago, just a month ago, large swaths of the country of iraq would be invaded, conquered by an army of religious fanatics who fly a flag that is a black banner of death? and after capturing mosul, this group, known as the islamic

state of syria -- of iraq and syria, commonly referred to as isis, they issued an ultimatum to the christians who live in this city. they said three things. you must depart, you must convert to islam or you will die by the sword. and they did more than that. r. speaker, they did this. this is the arabic letter for n and it's pronounced none. it is a symbol that stands for the word nazarene which is a den grading term use -- denigrating term used to describe christians and in the brutal campaign against christians and our religious minorities, isis spray painted this letter on the doors of the

remaining christians of their homes, their businesses and the churches. except they didn't do it in gold. they did it in red. blood red. leave, convert or die. mr. speaker, iraq's christians have just as much right as anybody else to be there. that community has traditionally served, even in a minority status, as an influence, oftentimes trying to build bridges where there were ethnic or religious tensions. people all around the world fortunately are recognizing the grotesque injustice that's happening. even though we're busy here debating all types of other concerns, nonetheless in a land very, very far away people are

being told that they must live, they must leave their home, their ancestral homeland and go to who knows where or they will die. but fortunately there is a movement that is now happening. many people around the world are taking that red symbol of death that was painted on those christians' homes and they're turning it into this gold symbol of solidarity saying that if we are going to find peace in the world, if we are ever at least going to find a bit of stability, we are going to have to come to some deeper awareness of understanding of the nature and dignity of all human persons and that most sacred right of religious liberty, to be able to express one's faith tradition,

particularly an ancient faith tradition which has existed in this area for 1,600 years, we must find a way to elevate that value. so in the midst of this chaos, this horror, this grotesque injustice there is a little bit of glimmering light and that people all around the world are starting to use this symbol on facebook and social media and, mr. speaker, all i wanted to do tonight is say i stand with them in solidarity. . i yield back to high friend from texas. mr. gohmert: i -- my friend from texas. r. gohmert: i thank my friend. i'm immensely grateful to my

friend, mr. fortenberry, for bringing this point home. it's a point that has been brought home repeatedly to me in different places in the world. , where this country helped with a constitution that would be shari'a law-based, my country, my country where americans have , my t and died for freedom country where the most valuable commodity we have, human life, has been sacrificed on the altar of freedom. we believed where there was a threat, like afghanistan, to us

as americans, we could repel the taliban and the world would benefit and certainly america would benefit and christians around the world would benefit who were being so persecuted by the taliban and controlled in afghanistan. we weren't alone. moderate muslims in afghanistan were being persecuted. that's why there was plenty -- there were plenty of groups willing to rise and fight with merica, for america, against the radical islamists of the taliban. the moderate muslims didn't want radical islamists running their country. they were perfectly willing to allow christians or buddhists , to live ists, jews

and worship or not worship as they saw fit in their country. so, the people that some in this administration call war criminals, the northern alliance, fought for us and they defeated the taliban in a matter of months. it was in october of 2001, a month or so after the worst attack on the united states in our history, killed over 3,000 people here in our homeland. we finally figured out planning and preparation occurred in afghanistan. and there did have to be some diplomatic negotiations to get some of the tribes to be willing to fight together because they didn't like each

other sufficiently at least to work together and be under each other's control and command. and diplomatically there may have been some money changed hands, we're told, to get one tribal leader to subjugate to another. a legendary general in the region, in the whole continent, for courage, led. we had less than 500, around military imbedded special ops guys, as well as intelligence. and within about four, five months, the taliban were totally routed, totally the ted and then

administration, under the leadership of the state department, decided the best thing for afghanistan would be to have a stovepipe, centralized, top-heavy government. even though this was a regional , tribal country, had been for millennia. that was a mistake that was not the obama administration's. that happened before president obama took office. but from those i talked with, they could see problems and i believe if there had been a president bush clone, he'd have been willing to admit we needed a change, but the new president accepted afghanistan with its top-heavy government, where the

president can appoint the governors, appoint the mayors, appoint the police chief, appoint the highest level teachers, appoint a slate of ig portion of the legislature, incredible powers. if you were looking for a formula that would help you create corruption, we helped provide it to the afghans. if you were looking for an environment that could be created that would encourage corruption, we helped provide it to the afghans. well, everybody makes mistakes. but the important thing is, after you've made them, recognize them and correct them. and instead, this administration came in and really doubled down and bet on the top-heavy, corrupt karzai

administration. really lt, synagogues can't be found in afghanistan, christian churches, you'd be hard-pressed to find a church in afghanistan. not that they're not there , one ere, but the taliban of whose leaders has been on national television in afghanistan on behalf of the taliban, citing shari'a law and basically announcing, if you've been opposing the taliban, if you've not actually supported us, then everyone knows when the americans leave, which will be this year, then we the taliban will be back in charge, you must hari'a law

ask forgiveness and ask for our protection, your allegiance to the taliban. we'll forgive you and provide you protection, but if you fail to do so, then you'll be fodder for death. so, we have helped create the , under n in afghanistan this administration, where now if you're not going to be a radical islamist, your life is going to be miserable, which were the conditions in afghanistan before we went in. we have set up a situation in afghanistan that will be ripe for further taliban development further taliban training,

planning for a more glorious 9/11 attack that can and would kill more americans. and although that would would most likely occur after this president leaves office, it would only be the mainstream media would would -- who would not recognize that it was this administration that made this possible. yes, the bush administration ould have contributed some, by the government, so centralized it was set up, but all but the most deaf and blind to the mistakes of the current administration would say the bush administration never would have allowed it to get to this point in afghanistan, where christians and jews have to fear for their lives, where

moderate muslims have to fear for their lives and where those who fought for and with america will likely be killed. now, knowing some of these people, mr. speaker, i can assure you they're not going to go down without a fight. so most likely our president here in the united states, by siding with the bullies, is ikely to contribute to a massive ugly, destructive civil war in afghanistan. but it's one of the situations that's led our allies around the world to say, wait a minute , the northern alliance in afghanistan fought for america, they fought for you, they defeated radical islamic taliban in afghanistan, they

were defeated, they were overrun. that last incredible battle where general dustham, and i talked with him personally he t it in afghanistan, how knew that they couldn't send tanks up to this last for thefication of the taliban -- fortification of the taliban because they could get blown up and they'd block the way up. he knew he couldn't send massive numbers of infantry until eventually they prevailed because they're fighting uphill against artillery, rocket-propelled grenades and gun fire and they wouldn't have a chance, no matter how many they sent. he felt the only chance was if they put the thousand fastest, most courageous, best horseback riders they had on horses and sent them uphill into this taliban stronghold and they

did. and these thousand courageous freedom fighters, muslims, who anted freedom from these cruel uncivilized, brutal beasts called the taliban, they wanted them defeated and they went after them, riding as fast as they can, they head up the hill, rocket-propelled grenades, artillery, gun fire coming their way, and they lost 30% of the thousand riders. they didn't slow down, they didn't stop, they didn't watch and see as someone fell. they knew their only chance of victory was to keep heading up that hill to the fortification and around 700 got there and wiped out the taliban

derksstroid the last forthfication, the last strong hold -- for thefication, the last stronghold of the taliban and there was victory in afghanistan. and now all these years later, 12 years later, with an administration that keeps helping the bullies of the world and hurting those who were oppressed in the world, the taliban is poised to take back over and our allies are wondering, why did we trust you? why did we fight with you? you said when we defeated the taliban for you that we could trust you, we could give you our weapons, because we had nothing to fear, the united states would always stand with us, and make sure the taliban would never take back over. and now 12 years after we

trusted you, we put our lives in your hands, we gave these weapons to you, you're turning ur back on us in afghanistan that fought for you and with you, lost family, lost limbs, fighting for you and with you and now you're going to walk away and leave this country to fall back in the hands of the taliban. we're not going to let it happen without a fight. but we can't believe you would do this to someone to whom you said, hey, trust us, you can trust us. and we did and now the current administration is turning its back on us. calling us war criminals. other allies around the world see this. and they say, wow, you know, we can't say this to secretary of state kerry, we couldn't say it to secretary of state clinton,

we couldn't say this to president obama, but we can say this to you. we trust you, but we're wondering if we're going to be the next allies to be thrown under the bus. people around the world are saying, seems to be pretty clear you can't trust the united states or you'll pay with your life. that's not the america that gained the trust and respect around the world from everyone xcept the radical islamists. and some of the mainstream media. the america that became the most free, the most affluent nation in world history has also been the most generous nation in world history. what we've done and