S.J. RES. 54--MOTION TO DISCHARGE--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you, Mr. President. As you know, our Chamber is focused on a heavy subject at the moment--human trafficking.

An estimated 25 million people are victims of human trafficking all around the world. Smuggling people for forced labor and sex slavery is a heinous crime. It is the kind of crime that we tend to think happens in some far-off place, but these atrocities are happening all across the globe--sadly, including, unfortunately, here in the United States. In fact, human trafficking appears to be on the rise in our country, according to data released by Polaris, which shows a 13-percent jump in cases reported to the help lines it runs.

Since Polaris began operating over 10 years ago, its help lines have received reports of 203 cases of human trafficking from my home State of Arkansas. Almost half of those were reported in the last 2 years. Fortunately, our State is fighting back. Last year, Arkansas legislators approved a law requiring State-licensed truckers to be trained in spotting the red flags of human trafficking. Using their position on the road, these drivers have the tools to recognize the signs of human trafficking and alert the authorities to any suspicious activity.

Congress is also increasing its efforts to combat human trafficking. In September, the Senate unanimously passed two pieces of legislation to renew existing programs in support of survivors and help bring perpetrators of these horrific crimes to justice.

The Abolish Human Trafficking Act provides more resources to law enforcement in its effort to combat human trafficking and establishes human trafficking justice coordinators at every U.S. attorney's office and at the Department of Justice. In addition, the legislation helps survivors rebuild their lives by extending the Department of Justice Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act reauthorizes key programs to help survivors in their recovery, as well as offering specialized training on human trafficking to judges and Federal investigators.

We have made progress, but more needs to be done, and the legislation on the floor this week will help by giving law enforcement and prosecutors additional tools to crack down on crimes involving exploitation of the vulnerable. It will help us to take on nefarious actors like Backpage, which hid behind the Communications Decency Act to avoid prosecution for trafficking crimes.

It is time to rip the cover away from these bad actors. We are going to do that by making narrowly crafted changes to the law to ensure that websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking online are held accountable. ``Knowingly'' is the keyword here.

During the last session of Congress, the Homeland Security Committee, under the leadership of Senators Portman, McCaskill, and Johnson, uncovered just how much Backpage knew. It was a lot. In fact, Backpage's operators helped customers modify their ads to hide references to underage prostitutes. I think we can all agree that rises to the threshold of knowingly facilitating sex trafficking online.

Should this bill pass--and I believe it will in a very bipartisan way--these bad actors will not be able to fade quietly into the dark, as we are going to give State attorneys general the authority to prosecute websites that violate sex trafficking laws. That is why I support this bill. That is why I cosponsored similar legislation here in the Senate. It is also why I supported the inclusion of at least $90 million in Federal funding to combat human trafficking. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will continue to support funding for these important programs, and I look forward to the Senate's completing work on fiscal year 2018 funding bills.

I am pleased to see all levels of government lending their support to help fight this crime. Together we can end this attack on human rights in our State, our country, and around the world.

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