Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I rise with regret because,
unfortunately, we remain divided. There is so much common ground, so
many good ideas in this bill, and so much that unites us. We have so
much more in common than in conflict on this bill.

The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act has involved so much work
by great colleagues--Senator Cornyn, Senator Klobuchar, Senator Murray,
Senator Feinstein, and my colleague who has just finished speaking.

I am proud to be a cosponsor of this bill. We are divided on one
paragraph that is simply unacceptable, and it is fundamental to the
goals of this bill, which is to restore human dignity and freedom to
victims and survivors of human trafficking. Restoring freedom involves
giving those survivors choices over whether they will bear children as
a result of that trafficking. Trafficking is, fundamentally, modern-day
slavery. It is sex slavery and sex exploitation, which results, all too
often, in pregnancy. At its core, the human trafficking bill before us
today is about restoring human dignity to those victims and survivors
and enabling them to avoid the long-lasting and enduring consequences
of that slavery.

This legislation is an acknowledgment of our common commitment to
these survivors and to providing them the services and support they
need so much. One of them is abortion. Where we are divided is on
guaranteeing that reproductive right--the essence of freedom, dignity,
and choice. So it is well beyond a technicality here. It is about the
fundamental goals of this bill, which are contradicted by this
provision in the law.

Senator Cornyn's proposed amendment changes the words of this
paragraph that we find objectionable, but it doesn't change the basic
substance or its practical effect. We are told the provision in
question doesn't matter because it includes a rape exception, but it
requires the survivor to request, to ask, to entreaty and supplicate to
the State whether the rape was really rape, whether it is a pretense or
they must bear a rapist's child.

We are told the provision in question is essentially the same as the
Hyde amendment, but that is flatly untrue because the Hyde amendment
applies to taxpayer funds. I would say to my colleague from Texas, a
good friend, who is determined to address this problem of human
trafficking, there are no taxpayer funds in that $30 million that is
taken from criminal fines and penalties. It is an entirely different
source of funds.

As a former prosecutor, I view those moneys as restitution. They come
from criminals and they are used to try to support and serve the
victims of that criminal activity. There is nothing more fundamental
than using funds taken from criminals for the benefit of their victims.
Congress has never before privileged the concerns of criminals over the
rights of women, and we should not start now.

I respect my colleague from Texas and other colleagues who may differ
with me on this issue. He has stated, in heartbreaking and eloquent
terms, the practical human impact of trafficking, sex slavery. I ask my
colleagues now to give these women the real freedom from that sex
slavery. Liberate them, truly, from this heinous and horrific violation
of basic human rights by guaranteeing them one of the basic human
rights, which is the right to make choices about their own bodies,
about their futures, about their hopes and dreams as they are liberated
from this slavery. Let this Chamber and my colleagues recognize the
rights they have to truly be free from those who enslave them. I urge
this body to strike the Hyde language from S. 178 and to make good on
its promise.

As cochair of the bipartisan Senate caucus to end human trafficking,
I agree completely this cause ought to be bipartisan. It ought not to
divide us along any partisan or party lines. I am proud to have worked
with Members on both sides of the aisle, and I hope we can come to
agreement now with my good friend and my excellent colleague Senator
Cornyn and others who have worked so hard and who are so genuinely
determined to solve this problem and to take a step--it is only a first
step--in the direction of combating human trafficking.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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