Human Trafficking Prioritization Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California, Chairman Royce, for his very kind words and for working to expedite the consideration of these important bills. This is an historic week in the House as we seek to pass 12 bills to fight human trafficking.

As the prime author of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as well as reauthorizations in '03 and '05, I believe the bills under consideration by the House today will further prevent the horrific crimes of human trafficking, protect and assist the victims, and aid the prosecution of those who exploit and abuse.

I would also like to offer my profound appreciation to Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy for ensuring that all of the hard work done in a bipartisan way in the House in the 113th session is not lost nor will it be delayed but, rather, immediately sent back to the Senate for action.

Leader McCarthy has explored numerous ways, in meeting after meeting with Members, again, on both sides of the aisle, to find ways to prevent, to prosecute traffickers, and to protect victims. His deep personal commitment to ending modern-day slavery has and will continue to make a major difference.

Mr. Speaker, I offer this bill on behalf of myself and the gentlewoman from California, Ranking Member Karen Bass, who is the chief cosponsor.

I am proud to say the United States continues to lead the world in our trafficking responses at home and abroad, charting the course of best practices for other countries to follow. One of the most successful ways the U.S. transmits our best practices and ensures accountability for the minimum standards to eliminate human trafficking is the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in the U.S. Department of State.

Over the last 15 years, this Office has been led by talented and dedicated Ambassadors--including the most recent one, Luis CdeBaca, with whom we work very closely--who have produced the annual Trafficking in Persons Reports, laying bare the record of almost every country for the world to see and summarizing the country's progress in what we call the annual tier rankings.

For the record, the TVPA established Tier 1 countries. They are the ones that fully meet the minimum standards prescribed in the law. Tier 2 countries do not meet the minimum standards but are making a significant effort to do so. Tier 2 Watch List countries are in a grace period and in real danger of becoming Tier 3 without real action, not just promises of action.

Tier 3 countries do not meet the standards and are not making significant effort to do so. Along with the embarrassment of being listed on Tier 3, Tier 3 countries are susceptible to sanctions by the U.S. Government.

Since the TIP Report's inception, Mr. Speaker, more than 100 countries have enacted anti-trafficking laws, and many countries have taken other steps required to significantly raise their tier rankings--citing the TIP Report as a key factor in their new anti-trafficking efforts. It is a very robust effort in our Embassies, and every country of the world is a part of it.

We have found a system that works; but, tragically, it is sometimes misguided, muffled, and marginalized by unrelated bilateral concerns and by the internal structure of the U.S. Department of State.

As my dear friend, the chairman of the committee, said a moment ago, it was Ambassador Mark Lagon who talked about how they produce a great report, but then, typically, due to the urging of regional specialists rather than the TIP Office's dedicated experts, the ranking and the process goes awry.

The Human Trafficking Prioritization Act, or H.R. 514, will remedy this problem by keeping the fight against human trafficking from being lost in the politics of other U.S. interests.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank my friend for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 514 will raise the status of the J/TIP Office to that of a bureau, ensuring that the leadership of J/TIP is present and has an equal voice at meetings with the other bureaus and the Secretary of State.

Former colleague, John Miller, an Ambassador at Large from 2002 to 2006 said:

Upgrading the status of the Office to a bureau will not create additional bureaucracy--it will simply give J/TIP and the Ambassador at Large who heads it equal standing with regional and functional bureaus at the State Department. That standing is absolutely essential for the issue to remain a priority, especially when multiple U.S. interests are engaged.

We are not authorizing the J/TIP Office to be larger, but for the excellent work of the Office to be consistently heard at a higher level.

In addition, the bill stops countries and other State Department bureaus from gaming the tier ranking system by limiting the time problem countries can use promises of action to avoid a tier downgrade.

Currently, a country can sit on the Tier 2 Watch List for up to 4 years with Presidential waivers, effectively stringing the U.S. along with promises to take action, but never actually taking action. After 4 years, by law, the country must be automatically downgraded to Tier 3.

The law worked very well in its first implementation in the 2013 reporting cycle, but we discovered a problem in 2013, when China was prematurely upgraded from Tier 3 to the Tier 2 Watch List. As the law is currently written, Mr. Speaker, China can, again, game the system with promises and no action for 4 years.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act will hold countries like China accountable by limiting to 1 year the amount of time a country can stay on the Tier 2 Watch List after the country was previously auto-downgraded to Tier 3.

The Human Trafficking Prioritization Act builds on the successes of J/TIP and the tier ranking system for the sake of approximately 21 million people still living in modern-day slavery and, again, does so without increasing the cost of government.

The Human Trafficking Prioritization Act will give J/TIP the integration, it will give it the voice it deserves within the State Department, and it will ensure accurate accountability for countries failing to meet minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and, again, I thank my friend.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source