Cramer: House Passes Senate Human Trafficking Legislation

Press Release

Today, Congressman Kevin Cramer joined fellow members of the U.S. House of Representatives to overwhelmingly approve S. 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. S. 178 was introduced on January 13, 2015, and passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 26, 2015. After Senate Democrats filibustered the bill for a month, S. 178 passed the Senate on April 22, 2015, by a 99 -- 0 vote. This bill contains many of the reforms passed by the U.S. House of Representatives nearly four months ago to combat human trafficking. Congressman Cramer was a co-sponsor of six of those reform bills (Co-Sponsorship listed below). A complete list of these reform bills accompany this release. One additional highlight of S. 178 is the inclusion of the Human Exploitation Rescue Operations (HERO) Act language, which Congressman Cramer was an original cosponsor of in the U.S. House.

"Today's vote shows the continued strong bi-partisan commitment in the House to ending the practice of human trafficking. I urge the President to sign this bill into law immediately before thousands more young girls and boys are lost to the flourishing sex slave trade. My hope is the U.S. Senate will swiftly complete their work on the remaining Human Trafficking Reforms passed by the House, " said Cramer.

As a $32 billion a year industry, human trafficking is second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of international crime. The Department of Homeland Security estimates more than 20 million victims exist worldwide

Source