Dick Durbin: “I will be very brief because I see my colleague from Connecticut on the floor. Let me say at the outset, in the most…”

“I will be very brief because I see my colleague from Connecticut on the floor. Let me say at the outset, in the most positive way, I thank Senator Cornyn and Senator Klobuchar of Minnesota for their bipartisan effort to bring this issue to the floor and to the Senate Judiciary Committee. We had a hearing in a subcommittee on this subject, and it was heartbreaking to hear about the exploitation of these young women at such a tender age. Unspeakable things were happening to them. Sadly, in many States, when they finally came into the custody of law enforcement, some of them--some of the children--these young girls, were being charged as criminals until it was clear they had been enslaved and they had been exploited for so many years. So thinking on this subject is moving in the right direction. The suggestions of Senator Cornyn and Senator Klobuchar are also in the right direction. So why don't we pass this bill? We have all of this bipartisan support. One provision in this bill turns out to be fraught with controversy. Thirty-nine years ago, a Congressman from Illinois named Henry Hyde offered compromise language on the issue of abortion. It was just a few years after Roe v. Wade. It was still very controversial. He said: We will prohibit the expenditure of taxpayer funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother. For 39 years, that has been the standard.…”