We strongly feel that when you treat women, children and boys as a commodity and you are willing to sell them as a commodity and treat them as a commodity, there is nothing worse than that.

These girls and boys are not criminals, as Senator Klobuchar has so powerfully pointed out, and they are not prostitutes.

According to the State Department, 800,000 individuals are trafficked every year across international borders.

We intend to stay together to see that we do the very best we can to see that this industry, which is so malevolent, is curbed dramatically in our country.

I am pleased to have played a role in that enactment, 15 years ago that was, and it was called the Trafficking Victim Protection Act.

This is a big issue and it requires us to be able to work together.

I think that, on balance, it is time to do that as well as reform the tax code.

Thank you very much. And if you wonder why I did not give you the proper attention by coming here at the last minute, I was just chairing another committee on sex trafficking.

Too often the current debate on tax reform has been preoccupied by talking points about so-called 'wealthy' not paying their fair share.

Senator Gillibrand also deserves credit for her efforts to develop legislation that would curb on-campus sexual assaults at universities across the Nation.

In your view, what do such high marginal rates mean for low-income individuals attempting to advance up the economic ladder?

I hope my colleagues will all join me not only this week in passing this important legislation out of this Committee, but also next week when I hope the Majority Leader will take up this legislation on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

It is important, from an equity goal and just so the system seems fair, that we treat people who are equal equally.

Thank you very much, Senator Grassley, for helping--calling this hearing and inviting us to be at the table to talk about this vile and violent issue of human trafficking.

In our own country, up to 300,000 children a year are victims of trafficking.

We have a responsibility in Congress to end these crimes against the most vulnerable among us.

Senator Collins has worked to help the most vulnerable youth at the risk--at risk for human trafficking by cosponsoring S.178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act.

Mr. President, today, I am introducing a measure that would help us make progress in the fight against domestic human trafficking, a terrible crime. This legislation, titled the Combating Human Trafficking Act of 2015, has three…