undersecretary sewall: thank you. thank you for having me here today, and thank you for your leadership on this issue. i know that trafficking in persons, modern-day slavery, is a significant concern for this committee, and i look forward to working with you closely to tackle this insidious crime in human rights abuse. the release of this year's trafficking in persons report underscores the importance that the administration and secretary kerry placed on combating modern slavery. as noted by senator cardin, this year marks the 15th installment of the report, as the 15th anniversary of the trafficking victims protection act. the tvpa. the report itself reflects a year of dedicated effort to monitor persons, as well as other bureaus and offices, and our missions around the world. working your route across -- year-round across offices incontinence the department , engages government and civil society. it collects data. it navigates local laws. develops best practices and objectively assesses each government's efforts, in

sarah sewall: let me get that information. cuba sent two to participate in a leadership program in june of 2015. this is the first time any government of cuban officials participated in the program and participants learned about the u.s. perspectives on the problem and observed how we site trafficking in person. sen. menendez: so that was an informative process. sarah sewall: over the course of the last two years, the department has begun sharing information with cuba, asking cuba for information regarding its anti-tip measures. the significance of the engagement cannot be overstated, which is to say we previously had no information from cuba at all on the trafficking situation in cuba and now we receive information from the government. that has enabled us to provide more concrete -- sen. menendez: the providing of information is sufficient -- sarah sewall: no. sen. menendez: let me ask you this, did the ustr of the white house communicate to urge a specific outcome in any of these rankings? sarah sewall: not to my knowledge.

undersecretary sewall: thank you. thank you for having me here today and thank you for your leadership on this issue. i know that trafficking in persons, modern-day slavery, is a significant concern for this committee, and i look forward to working with you closely to tackle this insidious crime in human rights abuse. the release of this year's trafficking in persons report underscores the importance that the administration and secretary kerry placed on combating modern slavery. as noted by senator cardin, this year marks the 15th installment of the report, as the 15th anniversary of the trafficking victims protection act. the vpa. tvpa. the report reflect a year of doubt -- dedicated effort to monitor traffic persons, as well as other bureaus and offices, and our missions around the world. working your route across offices and continents, the department engages government and civil society. it collects data. it navigates local laws. in excesses best practices and objectively analyzes each government efforts to apply

if i dig between here and that sewall, i will come up with a -- seawall, i will come up with a different color soil where uprig a -- it was clear it was palisade of a triangle are shaped board would begin to appear. i started myself. right here. i couldn't hold back. i knew, i had a grant that would not kick in for a couple months. i started here. the first day i was digging under the grass and came up with a piece of pottery. this woman was here with her son watching this guy, pretty skeptical. she finally said to me, what you doing? like do people know you are out here digging in their sacred property? and i had that pottery. i was manic at the time because i knew this party was old enough. i'm finding james fort! she backed away with her son. come on, bobby, let's not upset the nice man. she really said that. that was 1994. done, luckily enough, was to dig at this place which turned out to be a filled in cellar of a building that were replicated above. that we found pieces of by finding where a post had been put in the ground and left a dark s circle stain. for each one, there was a s

guest: in the past few months i have noticed a warming in relations between beijing, sewall, and tokyoportunity to give more momentum to that regional relation and try to address the strained ties and put the ball in seoul's court. eight is going to miss this opportunity. he is going to give contrition. he will not go enough to please the neighbors. this is a wasted opportunity but who knows, maybe he will surprise us. and we're going to wait for what the emperor has to say. how much of this is part e, an overall strategy by ab who has in the face of protest push through a strengthening of japan's defense, a strengthening of the military buildup japan. in the face of all of not only japan's protests on mistreatment regional ones as well. how much of this is part of the broader strategy? guest: a lot of people look at this as a political ploy. the rumor is he might apologize came out a week ago as he became imploding in the public opinion polls and he went down significantly because of support for the new security legislation. oppose.ll the japanese all of his signature policies, they o

it's also true you can recognize people like john lewis, lake mel watt, lake terry sewall, commerce onefrom selma is very dynamic would've never been elected without these districts. there were unintended consequences but also one of the most important thing the voting rights act did was much as the congress but elected bodies across the country. in some cases that do this harmoniously with a lot of spirit of cooperation and an cross racial alliances and sometimes it didn't happen and they recognize racial polarization existed and sometimes the good guys and sometimes the bad guys. >> you may have the last question. >> i just wondered if you had given any thought about how to amend this in light of michelle alexander spoke, the disenfranchisement of african-american men in in particular but other minorities with the drug felonies and a vast difference between state of what the sentences mean for your ability to become a citizen again. >> is an increasing realization that we needlessly disenfranchise millions of people in this country is unfortunately solid-state make it harder for ex-fe

. >> if there was any consolation for sewall during the hearing they said they didn't blame her and saidhey will find out who is responsible. >> joining us to discuss human trafficking is the director of the research institute and former head of unesco's trafficking program. >> has the malaysian government done anything to justify it being upgraded in the trafficking report this year? >> in my view, not at all. i think one thing though, that's very important to understand is that there is always a political input into the tier rankings. there has been under this administration and under the past administration. >> has it ever been so blatant because just last year, the state department downgraded malaysia in its human trafficking report, putting it in the same categories as north korea and zimbabwe. >> malaysia's had a dismal record. in the past, i don't remember exactly which year, but under the bush administration, when all the experts in the field felt that malaysia should be in tier three, it was jump graded. last year was important because it actually identified this, and in additio

cap sewall, again, that's an air and space in the apollo gallery. it's mounted under the ceiling. i encourage you to take a look at it. it's a great one. this brought the skylab program to an end. nasa had plans to try and salvage the skylab space station. we had three crews go up, it was still in good shape so we didn't have any more castles away to get up there. nasa was hoping to get the space shuttle flying and maybe we can utilize it again. develop a reboot capability, slowly, space stations fall back to earth. skylab was slowly coming back down. it was a race against time, if they could get the space shuttle flying with a re-boost module, they could boost it up to a higher orbit. unfortunately, the shuttle was delayed a little bit, they had problems developing the main engines and other issues with tiles sticking. during this time, we had really high solar activity. when you have high solar activity, it interacts with our atmosphere and expands the atmosphere little bit. there was more drag on skylab. eventually, he came down before we could get a space shuttle up to it. on

we thank sarah sewall for being here. the fact we have concern about trafficking about again on unanimous vote we voted to end slavery in the world. and we will not be viewed as people who are unpatriotic or be viewed as people who are not serious about the issues. >> in regards to your opening comments, i think you are continuing and have been a thoughtful principled person. i know you to know that. i respect greatly your leadership on the committee in the manner we have been able to work together. >> hopefully if i disagree with you once you won't compare me to the hardliner side in iran. >> and i want to -- i am still going through the review process. i have not reached a decision on the vote that will take place when we return in september. and i want to underscore the point that senator corker and i working with our leadership encouraged our leadership to provide for the debate on the floor of the united states senate that we think is fitting this critical issue. yesterday, without any objection we moved on to the bi

i just hope we today that we thank sarah sewall for being here, the fact that we have concerns about trafficking that on unanimous vote of we ended slavery in this work, that somehow we would not be viewed as patriotic or unpatriotic, that somehow people are not serious on these issues. senator cardin: i want you to know i think you are a thoughtful and principal person. i respect your leadership on this committee in the matter that we had been able to work together. senator corker: you compare me to the hardliner syed in iran. senator cardin: i am still going through the review process. i have not reached a decision on the vote that will take place when he returned in september. i want to underscore a point that senator corker and i, working with our leadership, encouraged them to provide for the debate on the floor of the u.s. senate that we think would be sitting of this critical issue. yesterday we moved on to the bill currently comeback on tuesday, he will not go through a cloture vote, not go to any procedural hurdles. we will be on you. i expect the majority leader will put fo

so i just hope that today we thank sarah sewall for being here, the fact that we have concerns abouttrafficking. that begins on a unanimous vote. we voted to end modern slavery in this world, that somehow we will not be viewed as people who are unpatriotic. be viewed as some other people are not serious about this issue spirit first, thank you for convening this hearing. in regards to your opening comments i want you to know i think you are a continued and always have been a thoughtful principled person but i want you to know that and i respect greatly your leadership on this committee in the matter we been able to work together. >> hopefully if i disagree with you once you will not compare me to the hardliners in iran. >> that's -- i want to i'm still going through the review process. i have not reached a decision on a boat that will take place when we return in september. i want to underscore a point that senator corker and by working with our leadership encouraged our leadership to provide for the debate on the floor of the united states said that we think is befitting this critic