Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I, too, want to recognize and say to Senator Portman, who has been a leading voice in the Senate in the fight against human trafficking, what a great job he has done getting us to this point. This was a long, multimonth, as he said, 2-year effort. Senator Portman has been absolutely relentless in pushing and driving this process forward. I commend him for his important work, which will culminate today, I certainly hope, with a big bipartisan vote in support of the legislation in front of us.

I also commend the bipartisan group of Senators who worked hard to draft the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which includes Senator Blumenthal, whom we will hear from in just a moment; Senators McCaskill, Cornyn, and Heitkamp; and as Senator Portman so very appropriately pointed out, Senator McCain, who has been a passionate advocate for addressing this issue for so many years too. We wish he could be here to participate and vote for passage of this legislation, but we know his work over the years has played an incredibly important role in getting us to where we are today.

This group also helped lead the effort to conduct important investigatory oversight that has helped us to get to the point where we are today.

Last year, as Senator Portman pointed out, I chaired a Commerce Committee hearing on his bill, where we heard testimony from experts on both sides of the issue. We listened carefully to what our witnesses had to say. After the hearing, we worked together to make some targeted changes to the legislation. The bill that ultimately advanced from our committee enjoyed, as Senator Portman pointed out, solid support from the internet industry. It passed the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously.

The bill is strongly supported by Members of both parties. It has racked up lots of bipartisan support: 68 out of 100 Senators are now cosponsors of this bill. The bill is supported by the White House, so we know that as soon as it leaves the Senate, it will land on the President's desk, where it will be signed into law.

It is supported by law enforcement organizations, organizations that fight sex trafficking, and by faith-based organizations.

At our Commerce Committee hearing, we also heard powerful testimony from Yvonne Ambrose, whose daughter Desiree Robinson was sexually trafficked repeatedly before being murdered. Desiree was just 16 years old, a bright and loving girl who dreamed of becoming a doctor in the Air Force. Instead, she was raped and murdered by a man twice her age who had sought her for sex after seeing her advertised on an internet site.

Ms. Ambrose's powerful testimony helped the members of our committee understand the terrible pain that victims of sex trafficking and their families are exposed to. I am very thankful to her for sharing Desiree's story.

This bill has already cleared the House of Representatives by an overwhelming margin.

I encourage my colleagues in the Senate to reject any attempts to slow this bill down with amendments. This has been very carefully and thoroughly vetted through the many processes that Senator Portman described. We need to get this bill over the finish line and on the President's desk and signed into law because there are thousands of children out there who are waiting for our help.

So, again, I commend Senator Portman and our colleagues in the Senate who have worked tirelessly on this legislation. I hope we have a big outcome today, and I hope we can do something really meaningful to address a scourge that this country needs to get rid of.

I know there are others here who have joined us who intend to participate in this discussion.

I yield to the Senator from Ohio.

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