Ed Royce: “I would just begin here by recognizing Representative Bill Keating, who brings to this issue--I just want to acknowledge…”

“I would just begin here by recognizing Representative Bill Keating, who brings to this issue--I just want to acknowledge this. We don't have that many District Attorneys, former District Attorneys in this body who have the experience of law enforcement in terms of dealing with the types of criminals that go into this line of work, and he brings that expertise and has assisted greatly in this. I just wanted to acknowledge that before the body today. I acknowledge also the contribution of Congressman Chris Smith, who, I think it was in 2000, as I recall, originally brought before us this very idea of how to combat human trafficking internationally. He has worked on many, many issues, the International Megan's Law, and many others. But this idea of how we could hold governments around the world to account, this idea of the TIP Report, and then, on top of it, the enforcement, so that it meant something; the idea that he would get on a plane and go and make certain that our consulates and our embassies overseas were carrying out that audit, and that the victims had someone to explain this to; that NGOs had someone to talk to about what was going on in-country, so that, country by country by country, he could identify situations where underaged children were being trafficked or being exploited.…”