Justice For Victims Of Trafficking Act Of 2015 -- Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I will speak briefly in support of the remarks of the Senator from Maine and the Senator from Vermont.

The Cornyn approach on runaway and homeless youth excludes language that would prohibit discrimination against the recipients of these services because of their sexual orientation. How can we have reached that point in the Senate?

Haven't we engaged in a national debate that centered on Indiana and other States? Haven't we decided in America that, regardless, we aren't going to allow discrimination against people because of sexual orientation? Sadly, this Cornyn amendment excludes language that prohibits discrimination against LGBT youth.

Secondly, to fund a less than $1 billion a year program, the Senator from Texas is eliminating a $10 billion health prevention fund, which serves 50 States to deal with infectious disease and serious health issues.

This is, sadly, an effort to attack ObamaCare, and it shouldn't be done in this important legislation. We have wasted 4 weeks on an extraneous issue. Let us stick to the basic issue before us.

Defeat the Cornyn amendment and support the amendment being offered by Senator Collins and Senator Leahy.

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, in opposition to the Cornyn amendment, let me say this. Up to forty percent of the overall homeless youth population identify as LGBT, and many have reported that they have been subjected to service denial and discrimination by staff and providers based on their sexual orientation. The Leahy-Collins alternative expressly prohibits discrimination against youth because of their sexual orientation. That should be the gold standard.

Defeat the Cornyn amendment and vote for the bipartisan Collins-Leahy amendment.

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