Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017
Floor Speech
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Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Chair, I would like to thank Congresswoman Jackson Lee not only for yielding me time, but for all her scholarship and all of her commitment to making a difference against sex trafficking.
Mr. Chair, today is a proud day for me. I am proud to stand here on this House floor to urge the support and passage of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, known as FOSTA, as well as the Walters amendment.
Human trafficking and sex trafficking is happening in all areas: big cities, little cities, rural and suburban areas, Democratic districts, Republican districts. It happens in every congressional district in America, regardless of whether that district is red or blue.
Trafficking, Mr. Chair, is a nonpartisan issue, and that requires bipartisan solutions. And if Congressman Poe were still here, I would add, ``And that is just the way it is.''
I am so honored to be joined today with so many colleagues. I also want to thank Congresswoman Roby for her leadership in managing the time. What an honor it is for me to join the leadership of Congresswoman Ann Wagner, not only the sponsor of this bill, but a friend, a colleague, someone who is my classmate. And early on, she started talking about human trafficking, and we shared our mutual interest; and we have been, so to say, joined at the hip ever since. And I could not thank her enough for all of her leadership.
Mr. Chair, it tells you that we must work together. Congresswoman Wagner has done that with this legislation and more. So I am very honored to be the lead Democrat. You have heard what the Fighting Online Sex Trafficking Act will do, so I won't go in great details with that again. But I will tell you, it will address a critical problem.
Our laws have not kept pace with how technology has been used to exploit the innocent. The internet has changed how humans are trafficked. It has taken something that was once done in the streets and made it easier and more anonymous. Trafficking online is a well- documented problem, yet we have seen a few websites turn a blind eye, even as they profit on the buying and the selling of children, women, and men.
FOSTA will help solve this in many ways, as you have heard. On this last point, I would like to say FOSTA is targeted in a way that will not only affect websites engaged in the online trafficking trade; it will recognize some of the concerns that some of the tech communities initially raised. But I think that the process that FOSTA has gone through in the Judiciary Committee and now with the Walters amendment shows how the legislative process can be used.
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Mrs. BEATTY. It shows how the legislative process can be used to result in a better product. The bill now has the support not only of the trafficking victims' advocates, but also of law enforcement and many of the internet and tech companies.
So, again, I thank the hard work of Congresswoman Wagner. I want to say that we won't solve the problem of human trafficking overnight, but if we get this bill signed into law, we will make it harder for traffickers to exploit the innocent and we will keep countless children, women, and men out of the cycle of abuse.
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Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. More importantly, I thank her for her amendment. As the lead Democrat sponsor of this bill, I proudly join her with that amendment.
Like my colleague Congresswoman Roby said, it is always good when you have a great bill that you can have an amendment that asks for a study to make sure that it is effective.
Lastly, let me just say, I thank the Congresswoman for sharing those stories, whether it is the story of Cathy, whether it is the story of Erika, or in my district, Theresa, it makes me proud to stand with her. And I thank her not only for this amendment but for her work in judiciary because what we know her amendment will do, it will protect the innocent.
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