Jackie Speier: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling me young and for your able leadership on this issue. A special recognition must be…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling me young and for your able leadership on this issue. A special recognition must be offered to Congresswoman Maloney for her effort in bringing this to our attention. And I'm very proud to be associated with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have come together in a true bipartisan effort here, because I think we recognize that this is a travesty. To speak about 300,000 youngsters in this country, girls and boys-- mostly girls, but girls and boys--who are caught up in sex slavery is an abomination. And while this is a great first step--and I applaud it and embrace it and support it--it is a mere $45 million and six projects throughout the country. And we've all admitted that we're talking about hundreds of thousands of young people impacted. So I hope as part of this effort today we are going to redouble our efforts and expand this program. Because I, like so many of you, have spoken to local DAs, have spoken to local U.S. Attorneys, have spoken to the FBI, have gone on ride-alongs in Oakland, and have witnessed firsthand what is going on. I've gone to Courtney's House. I've gone to many of the shelters and I've talked to the victims.…”